Risk and Opportunities of Children Online

The rapid development and increasing accessibility and affordability of technology in the form of computers, mobile gadgets, internet access, and social media platforms have put a new dimension to sexual abuse and exploitation of children worldwide.

The phenomenon of sexual exploitation and abuse of children online continues to grow in size and complexity. In 2014, ECPAT (End Child Prostitution and Trafficking) International, a nongovernmental global network of civil organizations fighting sexual exploitation in children, found that there is a lack of data in all regions to inform policy, programs, legal processes, and resource allocation. In line with this, in 2015, UNICEF Philippines requested for proposals to develop a protocol to review and describe the status of sexual exploitation of children online in the Philippines. This will be used to inform critical stakeholders to understand the breadth and possibly identify “hotspots” so that preventive measures may be taken. The ICHHD with its CANE (Child Abuse, Neglect, and Exploitation) Study Group together with the Institute of Health Policy and Development Studies, the National Telehealth Center, and the Child Protection Network was awarded this competitive grant and collaboratively developed the protocol for the National Study of Sexual Exploitation and Abuse of Children Online.

Literature review, news article reviews, key informant interviews, and expert interviews were used in the protocol development. The resulting protocol listed methods for examining the legal, economic, and technological aspects of sexual exploitation of children online in the country, as well as profiling the victims and offenders. During the development of the protocol, the team conducted a review of multimedia news and articles on sexual abuse of children online in the Philippines. The results of this review were subsequently published.