From AI-generated abuse imagery to trafficking risks in global supply chains, emerging threats are reshaping safeguarding. Anita Punwani, founder & chair, IRM Environmental & Social Governance Group says risk professionals have a critical role in identifying and managing risks to children across digital platforms and data systems.
As risk professionals, we need an understanding of risks posed to all groups in society but there are certain groups we need to focus on in particular, namely children - they are a special interest group.
Use of social media presents particular risks; a charity, The Internet Watch Foundation, discovered images of girls between 11 and 13 appears to have been created by an AI tool on a global social media platform.
The matter of online safety is gaining greater attention and some governments are now identifying the risks of ICT to children’s mental health, notably in Australia where legal measures are being introduced to limit the use of social media by children. This is an action to protect children but follows the widespread acceptance in society of children having access to content online, and the spread of child data online.
During my time working with an international children’s charity, I learnt that safeguarding children needs an understanding not only of physical risks to children but also risks posed to them by holding their data and engaging in online communities. In the modern context, all sectors need to protect children by managing their data through proactive efforts to identify internal risks but also holding ICT firms in their global supply chains to account for own their measures to protect children.
News coverage of the Epstein scandal has focused on reputational risks, but at its heart, this is a matter of failures in child safeguarding measures and risks posed to certain groups from human trafficking.
Having been involved in developing standards in modern slavery and human trafficking - with a particular interest in eradicating the risks to children in global supply chains - I believe risk-based standards are an effective way to hold organisations to account for the effectiveness of their policies, processes and practices in managing risks.
In the UK, news coverage this week on Ian Huntley, reminded me of the murders of two schoolgirls, Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman, and the place of risk management in safeguarding.
As a risk professional, my role on a police programme - set up to implement the recommendations of the review which followed the killings - sought to enable police forces to share information and flag individuals posing a risk to children; cooperation was essential to the efforts of various police forces working together on the programme.
In the context of handling the risks arising from modern-day threats to children, we need a specific focus to handling risks facing these key members of society. Ethics, child-centric policies and standards are needed, as well legislation and regulations, for us as risk professionals to take a leadership role in ensuring risks to children are actually protected in practice.
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