Offenders worldwide may live-stream more child sexual abuse online
In an interview with Reuters, organisations in Southeast Asia warn that a spike in exploitation may come, especially in the Philippines when the issue is already widespread. They say that as families lose their income, they may see an opportunity in “live-streaming shows'' as the demand from offenders across the world has continued to increase, especially as offenders cannot move or travel. Reports are also coming in from the police that other types of live-streaming are coming up, different to the ones we have been seeing in the Philippines in recent years.'
ECPAT member APLE Cambodia has seen a rise in online child sexual abuse since schools recently closed in the country.
"Child sex offenders online are taking advantage of this situation to get in touch with, groom and lure children to sexual activities."
- Samleang Seila, director of ECPAT member APLE Cambodia.
Grooming children online today - travelling tomorrow
As previously mentioned, both domestic and international offenders sexually exploit children during travels. They are not only tourists but people who have been living abroad long term, diplomats, business travellers and voluntourists, to name a few. Some do use the Internet to get in contact with children and eventually meet with them offline. We anticipate that some are also grooming children online today, to whom they will travel when the COVID-19 crisis is over. There is also a risk that offenders groom local families ‘offline’ affected by the crisis to exploit their children.
Many perpetrators have travelled to Greece to meet young boys they have already connected with online.
These patterns have been identified before, as in the case of ECPAT’s recent report on the sexual exploitation of children in Greece. The report suggests that many perpetrators have travelled to Athens with the intent of meeting young boys, who they have already connected with through the Internet. We expect that this will be exacerbated by the conditions created during and after the COVID-19 lockdown.
Traffickers will find new ways of exploiting children
When entertainment venues that traffickers frequently use to seek customers and exploit child victims are shut down, there is a likelihood that child trafficking patterns will adapt. For example, the use of hidden online channels to discuss transactions and the sale of children in private homes is likely to increase. Several sources have already pointed out that they have detected signs of worsening conditions for children in countries like Vietnam, China and India. Child marriages are also likely to increase as teenagers from rural areas are highly affected by the worsening economic situation, being forced to migrate to urban areas and to live on the streets.
Reduced access to medical services and support
We know from our research, and the ACE study, that the impact of sexual violence on children can be life-long and devastating both physically, psychologically and emotionally. In the global response to COVID-19, health services are under unprecedented demand with minimal capacity to regular service provision, which will prevent child victims and survivors from getting appropriate help and considerably reduce opportunities for early detection and reports.
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