On this World Day Against Trafficking in Persons, the United Nations states that one in three victims of human trafficking is a child.
This World Day Against Trafficking in Persons, the UN Secretary-General is calling for stronger protections for children, including child-sensitive justice mechanisms, as part of this year's global theme, "leave no child behind in the fight against human trafficking".
Tragically, one in 100 children in the Philippines are trafficked to produce child sexual abuse material for paying online offenders, including from Australia.
That's according to International Justice Mission's prevalence study of online sexual exploitation of children in the Philippines, which is regarded as the global hotspot for this trafficking crime.
As part of IJM's mission to protect people in poverty from violence, we are working to protect children in the Philippines from being trafficked for online sexual exploitation and abuse.
We do this by working with our partners to rescue children, bring offenders to justice, and restore survivors to wholeness.
Since 2011, IJM has supported 415 law enforcement operations to relieve 1,322 survivors - almost half of whom were under 12 years old at the time of rescue - and have so far seen the conviction of 239 local perpetrators, and the restoration of 374 survivors.
Today, the UN Secretary-General is calling on tech companies to protect children from being trafficked for sexual exploitation, as facilitated by online platforms across country borders.
Considering that Australians are the third-largest consumers of online child sexual abuse material from the Philippines, according to the Philippine Anti-Money Laundering Council, IJM Australia is calling for stronger measures in Australia's Online Safety Act to deter domestic child sex offenders from abusing children on online platforms.
If Australia requires big tech companies operating on our shores to actively detect and disrupt livestreamed child sexual abuse on their platforms, Australian offenders will find it far more difficult to exploit children online – whether in the Philippines or anywhere in the world.
On this World Day Against Trafficking in Persons, you can partner with IJM to help bring protection to half a million children in the Philippines who are trafficked for online sexual exploitation.
Join the fight to end online sexual exploitation of children by giving today or signing up to receive information about how you can advocate with us at ijm.org.au/get-updates.
Until all are free,
David Braga
Country Director, IJM Australia
