Study: Philippines have the highest rate of online child sex abuse
The International Justice Mission (IJM) aid group’s seven-year study showed that the Philippines are the largest known source of online sexual abuse of children. In a society where poverty is rampant, the report points that, in most cases, parents and relatives were responsible for facilitating the abuse. In many cases, the victims had been abused for years, and among the reported cases, the youngest child was less than a year old.
Fluency in English, along with high-speed connectivity, are opined as reasons which helped the Philippines to become a ’global hotspot’ for child pornography.
Based on the data collected from law enforcement, the report indicates that the proportion of Philippine Internet addresses used to host child pornography has tripled from 2014 to 2017.
It may be mentioned that the United Nations Children‘s Fund (UNICEF) has reported that the Philippines are one of the top global sources of child sex abuse materials, with 600 000 ’sexualized’ photos of children bartered and traded in 2018 alone.
About author
DW Team
The GIP Digital Watch Observatory team, consisting of over 30 digital policy experts from around the world, excels in the fields of research and analysis on digital policy issues. The team is backed by the creative prowess of Creative Lab Diplo and the technical expertise of the Diplo tech team.