What we know
According to the U.S. Department of State, 2017 Trafficking in Persons Report, June 2017, the use of the Internet to conduct sexually explicit and nefarious acts of children has increased at an alarming rate –
“Experts believe tens of thousands of children globally are sexually exploited online, and the number appears to be growing. The victims may be boys or girls, ranging from very young children to adolescents, and hailing from all ethnic and socio-economic backgrounds.”
“The process often begins when an offender gains access to a potential child victim and, through psychological manipulation and coercion, grooms the child for sexual exploitation. The offender then connects via the Internet with a paying client who often specifically requests a child. The child is further victimized through commercial sexual exploitation and abuse and the live-streaming of commercial sex acts.”
“Disturbingly, closed and highly protected online communities dedicated to the sexual abuse of children have proliferated.”
“The low financial cost of this criminal enterprise (an internet connection and a mobile device or computer-linked webcam), coupled with its low risk nature (as seen by the relatively small number of convictions globally) and high profitability are driving the rapid growth of online sexual exploitation of children.”
Based on our research, we have come to understand that there does not currently exist viable data to effectively identify and measure the true number of youth exploited online globally, let alone within global underserved and rural communities.
Protect Us Kids Foundation is working to change that…
We envision that our aggressive efforts will have a widespread impact on an international scale and that our advocacy, research and practical approaches to meaningful solutions will dramatically reverse the rising rate of online child exploitation. We anticipate that our strategic worldwide partnerships will be a key factor in developing cybersecurity international standards, guidelines and best practices and that online commercial sex trafficking will one day be no longer a threat to our youth.