Displaying items by tag: cybersex

In January bold judgments in Philippine courts have been protecting children, and global collaboration is tackling a form of modern slavery that was unimaginable before the digital age. Trafficking convictions, secured in courts across the Philippines, held four Filipina women accountable for abusing and exploiting children, and sharing that abuse with predators around the world who were willing to pay. The Philippine government receives thousands of cybersex trafficking case referrals like these every month - cases in which paying customers around the world can easily connect online with an adult in the Philippines who has access to vulnerable children. With just an internet connection and a webcam or mobile device, these traffickers abuse boys and girls, or force them to perform sex acts, for the foreign customers who are paying to watch. The cases reaching court judgments last month represented over a dozen young survivors - the youngest only three years old.

Cybersex trafficking is a new and devastating form of slavery. It is a rapidly growing problem as internet access increases everywhere. Now, paedophiles worldwide can direct the live sexual abuse of boys and girls, many under ten years old. For a crime, it’s low risk, easy to do, with high potential reward. 54% of victims rescued in International Justice Mission (IJM) cases are between one and twelve years old. Victims can be exploited in any location with a computer and the internet, or just a mobile phone. Philippine authorities are already receiving thousands of referrals a month, like Cassie, who was tricked to move to Manila when she was twelve. She had big dreams, but what she found was a nightmare - being forced to perform sex acts in front of a camera.