COVID-19 Present Increased Risk of Child Sexual Exploitation - This is what we can do to safeguard children
Due to school closings as a result of COVID-19, experts agree that children will have an increased online presence and be in a position that puts them at an inadvertent risk. This week the FBI was seeking to warn parents, educators, caregivers, and children about the dangers of online sexual exploitation and signs of child abuse with this article: https://www.fbi.gov/news/pressrel/press-releases/school-closings-due-to-covid-19-present-potential-for-increased-risk-of-child-exploitation
Dating back to 2015, NetClean issue a yearly report on child sexual abuse. Our data is gathered across the world from police officers who specialize in child sexual abuse crimes. We have over the years collected data on the material found in child sexual abuse investigations and this what we have found out about grooming and sexual extortion.
Images produced as a result of grooming
These images have been produced and sent to the offender as a result of grooming. Grooming is a process whereby the offender slowly builds up a relationship with a child to win their trust and confidence.
Images produced as a result of sexual extortion
These images have been produced as the result of threats and extortion, often referred to as “sextortion”. Grooming can develop into sextortion, or the offender might threaten the child from the start.
In the grooming process the offender builds a relationship with the child to win their trust and confidence. Sexual extortion is when children are threatened into sending images or videos of themselves.
Grooming and extortion material is on the rise
Two thirds of the police officers in the NetClean Report 2018 answered that images and videos that have been produced as a result of grooming are common or very common in their investigations. Nearly as many reported that sexual extortion is equally common. More than half of the respondents said that both these types of material are increasing.
Data from NCMEC (the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children) confirms these trends, but points to an even steeper increase in these types of material. They also comment that there are a large number of hidden cases, as the majority of victims don’t come forward and report the abuse.
Age of the children (victims) depicted in the material
NCMEC report that 78 percent of the children in their reported cases are girls, in the ages between 8 to 17. The surveyed police officers in the NetClean Report 2018 reported that they see even younger children than that. Though 8-16 were reported to be the most common ages, 16 percent of the surveyed police officers reported that they had seen cases with children younger than 5 years old.
Extorted for images
The children in those cases are most commonly extorted for more undressed images. More than 96 percent of the surveyed police officers answered that children were extorted for more images. In some cases they are also extorted for money, but this is less common.
Types of threats
The most common threat that children are subjected to is that the images of them will be posted online or sent to someone that they know. 97 percent of the surveyed police officers answered that. Sometimes threats are also made towards the child’s family, or other types of threats are made, but again this is less common.
Live-streamed child sexual abuse material
Half of the surveyed police officers also reported that live-streamed material as a result of grooming or sexual extortion is common or very common. One third answered that this is the most common type of live-streamed material that they see in their investigations.
A brighter future for children
Parents and guardians regardless of country can take the measures FBI is proposing in the article to help educate and prevent children from becoming victims of child predators and sexual exploitation during this time of global emergency.
But the responsibility to safeguard children cannot only be put on the parents or the children themselves. To effectively fight the spread of child sexual abuse material, different technologies must be applied by all who use the internet and have an interest in making it a safe space for future generations. If all businesses and organisations in the world – billions of computers and networks – took appropriate action, the opportunity to find and disrupt the spread of online child sexual material would increase infinitely.
Read more at https://www.netclean.com/the-netclean-report/
Originally published on Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/covid-19-present-increased-risk-child-sexual-what-we-anna-borgstr%C3%B6m/
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