ARICA is a two-year project funded by the European Union's Internal Security Fund, which aims to support law enforcement agencies in their fight against child sexual abuse. It develops technologies that will enhance the LEAs’ capabilities in investigations on online child sexual abuse material (CSAM). These technologies will remain free to use for LEA after the end of the project. The duration of the project is 24 months starting from January 2023 till December 2024.
Cases of child sexual exploitation are increasing every year. In 2021, the National Centre for Missing and Exploited Children, the non-governmental organisation responsible for CyberTip reports, received 29.3 million reports of suspected child sexual exploitation*. All these reports are sent to Law Enforcement Agencies globally. This was an increase of nearly 8 million reports from 2020, with predictions that 2022 will see a further increase in investigations.
The European Commission distributes grants to member states and research programs that can help deliver a safer Europe, especially for children. Through an EU grant, a consortium of research institutions, technology companies, and law enforcement agencies are developing a program to identify risks that pose an imminent danger to children and society.
This is a 2-year program, developing a research-backed and tested framework for the use of LEAs. It symbolises the European Commission’s firm priority in the fight against child sexual abuse and exploitation.
