The fight against child abuse may have found an unlikely ally in mobile phone technology.
A new app, designed to let children anonymously report abuse was launched in Durban on Wednesday morning.
Developed by private child abuse investigation company, The Guardian, the app is touted as the first of its kind in the world.
Free to children whose school’s subscribe, the app works to ensure that those using it remain anonymous at every stage of the reporting and investigating processes.
School staff access the reports submitted and manage the resultant investigations, but none of them are ever privy to the identities of those whose reports they are handling.
At the launch, director of The Guardian and former police officer with the Child Protection Unit, Marc Hardwick said figures suggested that in South Africa, only 1 in 10 cases of sexual abuse were reported and the app is aimed at increasing this number by allowing children to report such abuse without being afraid of any kind of subsequent victimisation.
But it is also for reporting physical abuse, bullying, drug use or any other challenges children might be facing.
Hardwick said they had conducted a survey to establish how children would engage with an app like this.
“It was based primarily on two questions,” he said, “The first was ‘If you knew you could help a friend anonymously by giving information to the powers that be, would you do that?’ and just over 65% said they would.”
He said the survey also asked children if, knowing that their friends could report on them anonymously would make them less likely to “transgress”.
“And that response came back with more than 85% of them saying it would,” said Hardwick.