According to UNO children are chased on Internet every second by 750,000 onlinepedophiles.
Their playgrounds are numerous, whether dating sites, teenagers’ forums, social networks, applications and online videogames, and their well-establishedtechniques. Unfortunately, this is expanding full gear. Internet Pedophile contents have been multiplied by 10 over the last ten years!
« Live streaming »:a growing threat to Philippine teenagers
Darkweb might be the key host to hundreds of thousands of predators to seek, download and exchange child pornographic photos and videos. Darkweb is an invisible part to the classic web surfers, requiring specific protocols including access anonymity functions. Darkweb is the root of numerous criminal activities (narcotic traffic, weapon traffic, stolen bank credit cards etc.) especially on human traffic and children sexual exploitation.
« Live streaming » is a new kind of pedophile criminal act that has been developing worldwide for some ten years and striking hard the Philippines. While 20% of the population live under the poverty line, Internet access is widespread, counting an average of 4 hours a day using the social networks. In the country about 7 million children are victims of sexual violence every year, perpetrated mainly within the family. Remote rapes are an additional threat to teenagers. For a few euros, pedophiles order children’s aggressions and torture -filmed livefor their benefit!
CAMELEON’s Action in the Philippines
In 2019 Manilla Police arrested 30 pedophiles for « live streaming » infractions. CAMELEON acts in advocacy, training and international cooperation.
With our partner « La Voix de l’Enfant » association we currently work on the display of a specialized medical and legal unit in the Philippines (Iloilo) to take in the words of the children victims of sexual violence. We also act together with other associations fighting child sexual exploitation within the Child Rights Network.
Child sexual abuse is often discreetly perpetrated by the victim’s parents, in their own homes. The offenders are not necessarily aware of the traumatic impact on their child or future consequences in their adult life. Awareness raising and prevention campaigns are regularly organized in the villages and communities. This is done by our young Child Rights Ambassadors, the Voice of Cameleon’s Children (VCC).
CAMELEON’s action in France
Francs counts 100,000 child pornography content downloads and 165,000children victims of sexual abuse every year. Teenagers spend several hours daily on Internet with no parental supervision – therefore they can be the victims of pedophiles or cyberharassment. One third of our children possess a touchpad; 80% of our teenagers are registered with social networks.
Our « Actions écoles » (in-school actions) programprovides awareness raising to Children Rights and Good Computer Practices. Underaged web surfers are exposed to plenty of risks like child pornography, adult sexual solicitations, grooming… We organize playful workshops and debates so they can be better protected and adopt a responsible behavior on Internet. En savoir plus.
We also conduct advocacy actions to alert public opinion and make the Law improve as France is one of the leading countries in terms of child pornography. January 13, 2020 a French airline pilot, aged 50, was found guilty and sentenced to 56 years in jail after he watched live sexual violence on Philippineteenage girls. It was the first time that « live streaming » was condemned on the territory. This is a strong signal by the Ministry of Justice to fight remote sexual crime.
We ask our Government for more means as resources seriously lack to compare with the magnitude of the facts. There are only 13 Investigators specializing in fight against sexual cyberviolence on underaged for the whole country, comparing with 250 agents in the UK or 120 in the Netherlands! They respond to the OCRVP (Central Office for the Suppression of Violence against Persons). Their mission is to identify and locate victims to put them in safety and seek and arrest the attackers.
Have you witnessed a shocking online content or behavior? Act to make Internet safer for children, report it to the PHAROS platform.
Are you willing to support our prevention, awareness raising and advocacy actions? You can donate, distribute our publications or contact us to volunteer.
Sources: documentary « Pédophiles, sur la trace des prédateurs »(Pedophiles, tracking the predators) – M6, Enfants du Mékong,(Children in Mekong)Talk on cyberviolence by the Victimology Center for Underaged.