Online child sex abuse soars in Thailand as predators exploit coronavirus crisis
- A police task force has rescued more than 100 children in the last two months – almost double the 53 victims helped in 2018
- Experts urge Thailand to enact a law that will criminalise grooming of children for sexual abuse
The police-led Internet Crimes Against Children (TICAC) task force has rescued more than 100 children in the last two months – almost double the 53 victims helped in 2018, which was the highest annual figure since its foundation in 2016.
“Children aren’t going to school and criminals are taking advantage of this to look for income during unemployment,” said police colonel Thakoon Nimsomboon, head of TICAC.
Officials and activists have seen child cybersex abuse worsen under the coronavirus pandemic as families have struggled to earn a living while children have been at home and online, fuelling calls for better child education on internet safety.
Since mid-April, the police task force has recovered more than 150,000 files of child sexual abuse material and opened 53 cases. In 2019, they had 72 cases involving 46 victims.
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“There is a high possibility that figures this year will reach a record high, especially since officers have time to investigate due to less crime on the streets,” said Thakoon, who is also deputy commander of the anti-trafficking unit.
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Wirawan Mosby, director of the HUG Project, a charity that helps trafficked children, said the government should improve school internet safety policies, especially when children are learning from home.
“Having such high figures is not something to be proud of, and law enforcement is not solving the problem at the root cause,” she said.
Child rights experts are urging Thailand to enact a law that will criminalise grooming of children for sexual abuse, which will help protect them from being sex trafficked.
“Since we don’t have this law yet, children need to become victims first in order to press charges [towards the offender],” Wirawan said. “This is why we need to focus on prevention and educating children.”