Four children including 2-year-old twins now safe from online child sexual abuse
Online Sexual Exploitation of Children (OSEC)
August 2023
Last month, police in the Philippines brought four young children to safety from livestreamed child sexual abuse and arrested two suspected traffickers. IJM provided legal support on the operation.
The children - a 9-year-old girl, a 6-year-old boy, and 2-year-old twins - were siblings.
“This should be a warning to all traffickers: you cannot hide behind computer screens,” said Women and Children Protection Center – Visayas Field Unit Acting Chief, PLTCOL. Aladdin E. Dingal.
The young siblings have been placed in the care of social workers who will support them to heal from the abuse they’ve experienced. Their parents have been charged with violating the country’s laws against trafficking in persons, child abuse, cybercrime, and online sexual abuse and exploitation of children.
Atty. Lucille Dejito, IJM Cebu Program Office Director, said: “We at IJM are honoured to support our law enforcement partners who are working tirelessly to rescue victims subjected to online sexual abuse and bring perpetrators to justice.”
Online sexual exploitation of children is a borderless crime. Sex offenders around the world are communicating online with traffickers in the Philippines. Traffickers are often close relatives of the victims. They’re paid to abuse and livestream the sexual exploitation of children.
In 2022, an overwhelming 88.3 million child sexual exploitation-related files were reported to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.
To date, Philippine authorities, supported by IJM and people like you, have brought 1,161 children to safety and apprehended 356 suspected perpetrators, with at least 199 traffickers now convicted.
Learn more about IJM's work to end child sexual abuse and exploitation
*Stock image of child actor; not survivor of online child sexual abuse