Traffickers use online platforms, the social media and the dark web to approach, exploit and control children. The unsupervised use of the Internet and social media by minors can often put them at risk of trafficking. So far this year, the child support team of the International Center “La Strada” has provided assistance in 39 cases of child abuse and sexual exploitation, including three cases of child trafficking for sexual exploitation and three cases of online sexual exploitation, IPN reports.
“La Strada” notes that one in three victims of human trafficking globally is a child. According to international data, children account for a significant proportion of trafficking victims worldwide, with girls being disproportionately affected. “Leave no child behind in the fight against human trafficking” is the slogan of this year’s International Campaign dedicated to the World Day against Trafficking in Persons.
As for the 39 cases of abuse and sexual exploitation of children, five of the victims are girls and one is a boy. Their age is between 13 and 17+ years. The children are from different regions of the country, both from the north and center, as well as from the south. In one of the cases, the minor being in conflictive relations with her mother (she remarried and the minor could not accept the new family status), she often left home and went to her friends where she spent most of her time.
She met a 24-year-old man through the agency of common friends. Shortly afterward, the man offered her to be in a love relationship. Being at the first experience, the minor quickly fell in love with the man, even though he was older than her. The man abused alcohol and drugs and often proposed to the minor to consume with him. Subsequently, he determined the minor to have sexual relations with him. Even though the girl was initially afraid to start her sex life, being in love and not wanting to upset her partner, she accepted the proposal.
Shortly afterward, the man proposed to her to make a video during sexual intercourse, telling her that it would be only for him and the minor accepted. Then, psychologically influencing the minor and providing her with drugs, consuming them together with her, the perpetrator took advantage of the girl’s drug intoxication, filmed the sex act in extremely perverse forms and then sent/sold the video sequences through the social media to unknown persons, charging fees in the form of deposits on bank cards issued in the names of a number of persons.
“In this connection, we reiterate that child trafficking is a crime and a serious violation of human rights which involves the exploitation of minors in various ways. Vulnerable children can be exposed to various forms of exploitation, including forced labor, sexual exploitation, begging, theft, marriage, illegal adoption and other crimes,” said “La Strada”.
Every year, July 30 is marked as the World Day against Trafficking in Persons, being proclaimed by the United Nations General Assembly through Resolution 68/192 on December 18, 2013.
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