Child Sexual Abuse Online - Tracking Down Perpetrators
January 22, 2025
Back in 2009, the United Nations estimated that 750,000 pedophiles were online at any one time. Fifteen years later, experts believe that figure has tripled.
Believing themselves to be shielded by the apparent anonymity of chatrooms, these men - most of the perpetrators are men - exchange ideas on how best to approach and manipulate a child into supplying explicit material.
They also give each other tips on how to rape a child known to them and share images with others without being caught. Some enquire about commissioning the rape of a child to their exact specifications on the other side of the world - and to witness this live via Skype or WhatsApp for less than a hundred dollars.
A nightmare that is part of everyday life for child protection organizations and law enforcement agencies, who are faced with the challenge of identifying victims of abuse, tracking down the perpetrators and preventing the proliferation of pedocriminal content.
For four years, director Laetitia Ohnona observed the day-to-day work of relevant agencies in Germany, France, Britain, North America and the Philippines: accompanying French police from the new central office for the protection of minors, undercover American special agents from the Homeland Security Investigations agency, the Public Prosecutor General’s Office in Frankfurt and German police officers responsible for taking down darknet pages, as well as employees of reporting platforms tracking down pedocriminal content. On a visit to the European Commission, she learned that it plans to impose stricter rules on IT companies.
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