A dark picture of child sexual exploitation has emerged in areas occupied by the retreated Daesh forces in Iraq. Swedish children are giving advice to parents: this is what you should do if our nudes are shared online. One of Mexico’s most popular tourist destinations is plagued by the sexual exploitation of children.
We have listed the top ten ECPAT stories from 2019. If you haven’t read them yet, this is your chance.
There is an alarming growth in child sexual abuse material online. A New York Times article just revealed that tech companies reported 45 million online child sexual abuse images and videos last year. ECPAT and other dedicated organisations have been raising this issue for a long time, which is now described as a crisis at its breaking point.
ECPAT Sweden’s reporting hotline conducted research into the types of sexual abuse images that it receives that are taken by children themselves. They analysed 300 images that were received over a period of one month. The images include both girls and boys – of different ages. The team also spoke to children about how they feel about the phenomena.
There is growing recognition of the harms of voluntourism and orphanage tourism for children. The rising popularity of this trend to ‘give back’ has resulted in the unnecessary separation of children from their families and reinforced a negative stereotype that communities and families in ‘developing’ countries need ‘saving’. However, less attention is paid to the link to the sexual abuse and exploitation of children. Sexual exploitation of children in residential care is on the rise and it is increasingly at the hands of foreigners and volunteers.
In a lodge in Baruipur, West Bengal, six girls were recently rescued from a situation of sexual exploitation. This was one of several simple-looking lodges – still under construction, with minimum amenities and no paintings on the wall. A lodge that is typical in the area and often out of the public eye.