Where and why is this happening?

OSAEC may happen anywhere on the internet, and more often than not, perpetrators are familiar faces for the victims, including relatives, who perform these heinous acts for money. With the accessibility of the internet and its absence in the educational curriculum, online abuse and digital safety of children are at risk. In fact, according to the International Justice Mission, (International Justice Mission, 2022) Philippines remains a global hotspot for OSAEC with findings from UNICEF showing that OSAEC is usually a family-based crime. They found that of the 217 victims where the relationship to the trafficker was known, the abuse was perpetrated by biological parents (41%) and other relatives (42%). Furthermore, of the survivors rescued together, 40% were siblings, and another 13% shared some other familial relationship. (United Nations Children’s Fund, 2022)

According to various studies, OSAEC is usually due to various reasons from financial (need of income), lack of capability by the government to regulate the online space, difficulty in enforcement of OSAEC crimes, lack of digital maturity of minors who populate the digital space, insufficient support infrastructure of the government for OSAEC victims, and insufficient social and economic assistance of the government to OSAEC victims and their families. (United Nations Children’s Fund, 2022)