This article is written by Isabelle Ereñeta, Program Director for development, planning, implementation and monitoring at ChildFund Philippines, and Danielle Lilly, Policy Advisor at ChildFund International. ChildFund has received a grant from the Out of the Shadows Index Advocacy Fund, which supports this article series.

“I didn’t understand what was happening,” says Magiting, a Filipina teenager whom neighbours coerced into sexual exploitation that was streamed online.

“What they were doing was not good and not right. I was scared that somebody would tell the police and I’d be put in jail.”

Magiting, whose name has been changed to protect her privacy, is not alone in her experience. Online sexual abuse and exploitation of children (OSEC) is growing exponentially every year. In 2018, there were 18.4 million reports of child sexual abuse imagery that included 45 million images and videos, more than double the number of images and videos reported in 2017. This quote is from a research study that ChildFund Philippines conducted in partnership with the Psychosocial Support and Children’s Rights Resource Center in the Philippines.

OSEC is the production and online publication of visuals depicting the sexual abuse and exploitation of children, including pre-recorded videos and photographs as well as live-streaming of abusive acts. OSEC may show a child undressed, a perpetrator sexually abusing a child, or a child coerced into performing sexual acts alone or with others. The crime is often cross-national, with materials shared among many offenders, many of whom live thousands of miles away from survivors.

The horrific crime damages children’s psychosocial well-being and development and increases their vulnerability to further abuse and exploitation, including trafficking.

The increasing threat of OSEC goes hand-in-hand with the spread of easily available and cheap internet access worldwide. Few countries suffer more from this disturbing correlation than the Philippines.

Along with its meteoric 3,250% increase in internet users since 2000 — from just 2 million online users then to 69 million today — the country has become one of the world’s hotbeds for OSEC. One in three internet users in the Philippines are children, and an estimated 80% of those children are at risk of online abuse.

Underreported and unresolved

Fueling the problem is a lack of understanding of OSEC’s prevalence in the Philippines, partly because it is severely underreported.

Many survivors do not come forward because they fear stigma, feel trapped in their abusive situations or mistakenly fear legal ramifications. Further hampering reporting is the fact that it is often the survivors’ own family members facilitating the abuse, trying to lift their families out of poverty and erroneously assuming that the virtual, ephemeral nature of the crime makes it a harmless way to earn money.

Even with underreporting, the Philippines Department of Justice’s Office of Cybercrime received over 45,000 tips in 2017. Still, perpetrators often go undetected, are difficult to track and frequently live overseas, outside local law enforcement’s reach. Police departments also typically lack the necessary resources, tools and manpower to investigate every report. As a result, only 27 people in the Philippines were convicted of OSEC in 2018.

While the Philippine government has formally committed to tackle OSEC, including signing on to the WeProtect Statement of Action by Governments in 2015, the problem persists.

One reason for this is that the government does not collect data on the prevalence of OSEC. Without a complete picture of the problem, it is impossible to identify which areas and populations are most affected or vulnerable, crucial information for effectively fighting OSEC.

Despite the scale of the problem, current coverage of OSEC is sporadic and often sensationalised, ignoring the harm this could have on survivors and the public’s perception of this complex and devastating crime

The government could rectify this by designating and resourcing a central government agency or research entity to collect and analyse prevalence data. Robust data would provide a basis from which to create profiles of potential victims and offenders that could be shared with other governments to support cross-national efforts to bring offenders to justice.

Alliances for good

ChildFund works with the Child Rights Network (CRN), the Philippines’ largest alliance of child-focused organisations and agencies, to urge the government to prioritise OSEC and take stronger actions to address the issue.

The CRN has a long history of successfully rallying its 55 members, which range from civil society organisations to government agencies, to advocate for important issues affecting Filipino children, including passage of legislation on early childhood development, education and child protection. CRN members have united around a package of legislative priorities, JUS+ICE, which stands for juvenile justice, universal birth registration, statutory rape, positive discipline, inclusive education, child and early marriage, and exploitation.

ChildFund is leading on the last priority, exploitation, with a specific focus on OSEC. We are using CRN’s collective expertise and voice to increase policymakers’ understanding of OSEC and the importance of data. Additionally, ChildFund and CRN are examining the Philippines’ legal framework to identify how best to update laws and policies to reflect the virtual nature of OSEC.

Technology providers should develop solutions to halt OSEC’s spread, remove criminal images and videos faster from their platforms, and better identify perpetrators

Media outlets also have much to offer in the fight against OSEC.

Like in many countries, the media in the Philippines play a key role in raising awareness on issues and influencing both policymakers and the general public. Despite the scale of the problem, however, current coverage of OSEC is sporadic and often sensationalised, ignoring the harm this could have on survivors and the public’s perception of this complex and devastating crime.

To combat this, we are conducting a baseline study to examine how the media report on OSEC and identify opportunities to improve and increase coverage. We plan to share our findings with reporters and ask them to collaborate with child protection experts to create reporting guidelines that ensure survivors’ dignity, safety and privacy. Through this innovative practice, we believe journalists will better understand the value of such guidelines, abide by and share them, and increase the quantity and quality of their OSEC coverage.

Beginning of the end of abuse

We recognise these are the first steps on a long, tough road, and there are other promising interventions that could be applied in the Philippines and elsewhere.

For example, awareness-raising activities, such as social media campaigns and education and training for children, parents and teachers, could increase communities’ understanding of OSEC’s risks and consequences. Training sessions could educate children on the dangers they face online and how they can protect themselves, teach parents about how OSEC could harm their children and show teachers how to incorporate digital safety skills into their curricula.

Efforts could be made to strengthen community-led child protection systems and increase the capacity of law enforcement, social service providers and legal professionals to recognise, respond to and prevent OSEC. Furthermore, technology providers should develop solutions to halt OSEC’s spread, remove criminal images and videos faster from their platforms, and better identify perpetrators.

Additionally, governments should increase cross-border coordination on OSEC, including collaborating on a consistent legal framework to eliminate barriers that prevent law enforcement agencies from working together and sharing data.

While we believe ending OSEC, in the Philippines or globally, is not an insurmountable challenge, it will require a strong, lasting commitment from a wide range of stakeholders. Together, we can achieve a safer environment for children, both online and off. — Isabelle Ereñeta and Danielle Lilly

ChildFund International partners with communities throughout Asia, Africa and the Americas - including the United States - to create lasting, positive change for children. Our programs address the underlying conditions that prevent children and youth from achieving their full potential. Last year, we reached 11.4 million children and family members. Approximately 200,000 Americans support our work by sponsoring individual children or investing in ChildFund programs. Learn more at www.ChildFund.org.

(Picture credit: Unsplash)