Minaa Nawab, december 2023
In today’s climate, where the internet is so readily available, child abuse and exploitation is becoming widespread online. This can take the form of grooming, extortion, sharing of sexual content with or concerning children. The Internet Watch Foundation (IWF), report a “tenfold increase in child sexual abuse material online since the COVID-19 pandemic”. Governments now have the challenge of regulating and enforcing laws surrounding such practices and Peru has taken its first big step in the right direction.
Child sexual abuse refers to any activity of sexual nature perpetrated against a child. Exploitation is similar, but requires an exchange of a good or service (e.g. money, shelter, protection etc.) ECPAT (End Child Prostitution and Trafficking), in collaboration with the WeProtect Global Alliance conducted a study in six countries, including Peru, where they interviewed young survivors and first respondents, aiming to include children in the narrative. They observed that although boys and girls were targeted equally, girls requested and received support more often. This, in turn, often skews data, underestimating the impact of abuse on males. On average, boys were younger when affected than girls, 20% of cases reported in girls under 11 versus 32% in boys. In both cases a vast majority fall in the 11 to 17 years of age bracket.
In the studies conducted, children emphasise the need for awareness. Young women suggested that campaigns should be widespread, and accessible to not only children but to their parents. They criticised the lack of information regarding channels to report abuse. Campaigns should specifically include the risk of being exposed, as many children are unaware of the existence of this form of abuse. This knowledge gap was also confirmed by the respondents, most of them judging access to information as “poor”. This means that there is a lack of training within institutions offering aid to survivors.
Another point to address is to reduce the stigma around survivors and victims. This contributes to under-reporting, as well as many other factors, as illustrated in figure 1. Finally, it is essential to guarantee that support received by victims is useful and accessible. The support that will be provided should cover psychological, legal, medical and financial aspects.
Figure 1 : factors limiting disclosure
A new law has been implemented to tackle online child abuse, Law No. 31664. This law imposes responsibility upon internet service providers to inform their users the need to install applications that block harmful content. These are in addition to the laws already in place, namely; “Act No. 27337, Code of Children and Adolescents”, and “Act No. 30254, Promotion Law for the safe and responsible use of Information and Communication Technologies by Children and Adolescents and the Multi-Sectoral National Policy for Girls, Boys and Adolescents”. Additionally, Safe Online has funded CHS Alternativo, an initiative which raises awareness and strengthens response mechanisms. This is a clear example of how a government's policy can help safeguard children’s rights.1 The future challenge now is the implementation and further enforcement of these laws..
Bibliography :
ECPAT : “Briefing Paper – Child Sexual Exploitation and Abuse Online: Survivors’ Perspectives in Peru. Accessed 6 December 2023
Survivors’ Perspectives - WeProtect Global Alliance’, 27 January 2022. https://www.weprotect.org/survivors-perspectives/.