More protection for children.

Underage people are the most vulnerable group when it comes to human trafficking in Central America, and this is something people do not talk about, although it is considered the third most profitable illicit business in the world. According to experts, human trafficking needs more social awareness to eradicate it.

Also, children are the ones that do not report this kind of acts, this is the reason why some organizations have taken the lead to express what is happening. Lourdes Gutiérrez, UNODC’s coordinator, explained that human trafficking may occur in these scenarios:

• Within the family.
• Parents may exploit the children.
• Organized crime networks.

The most common form of human trafficking is sexual exploitation. However, there are some others among these:

• Working exploitation.
• Mendicancy.
• Illicit organ extraction.
• Sexual tourism.

The UNODC created the Blue Heart campaign trying to create awareness about human trafficking crimes in the region. Crimes where most of the victims are women and girls.

Honduras became part of the Blue Heart.

Honduras’ sign-up in the UNODC’s campaign is aiming to expose human trafficking crimes in all the possible ways and characteristics, as well as creating awareness on different sectors to achieve real consciousness about this crime.

During Honduras’ sing-up, Karla Cuevas, Minister of Human Rights in the country, was present. She declared that human trafficking is one of the most severe human rights violations and it is considered the new slavery, in the XXI century.

Honduras has rescued at least 194 victims of human trafficking during this year, according to the Interinstitutional Comision Against Commercial Sexual Exploitation and Human Trafficking’s report.

Blue Heart is a campaign created in 2008 —it means the victims’ desolation, the traffickers’ cold heart, and the United Nations’ color—, and its main objective is to prevent this crime, besides encouraging institutions and civil society, so they can denounce, inform, and sensibilize on this scourge, considered the third most profitable illicit business in the world.

The post Human trafficking: Children are the most vulnerable in Central America first appeared on Counter Pedophilia Investigative Unit - Official Site.

How to catch a pedophile

The alarm on three alleged pedophiles in Colombia was given by the United States Immigration and Customs Agency, which has agents dedicated exclusively to the detection of crimes against children.

In the suspects’ records, an Internet load of 287 incriminating files, including images and videos, of the explicit sexual content of children was found. The alert arrived in Colombia and the investigators of the Dijín (National Police of Colombia) started to work. They analyzed the information, made the detection in the neighborhoods and, finally, the arrests.

In the corresponding raids, 25 devices were found —including computers, phones, hard drives, and memories— with hundreds of explicit images showing scenes of child abuse, even under 10 years. In total, 2,900 files that reported the crime were detected.

Although the researchers determined that the detainees are consumers of child pornography. They also indicated that going from the attraction to that kind of material to the children’s physical abuse is very simple.

Kit to avoid pedophiles in the web

The PaPaz Network together with the ICBF created an online toolkit so that parents are aware and can prevent and manage the risk of child and teenage sexual abuse in the digital space.

The guide extends from the definition of online sexual abuse to the different kinds of abusers that can be found on the Internet and how they act with children. The guide also shows different ways to recognize them.

Finally, it offers examples of the conversations that abusers can engage with children to manipulate and guide them towards what they want, including using extortion for kids to submit to abuse. One of the most used trends is known as Grooming, or network seduction, a process of which four phases are generally recognized:

• Hitch
• Fidelity
• Seduction
• Harassment

Although not all pedophiles behave the same, these specific abusers take advantage of the curiosity that naturally guides children and teenagers to know everything, both in love relationships and those of a sexual nature. They gain their trust and open up to talk about these issues with these people, to the point of getting them isolated.

Maintaining communication with children and control with a good guide of what they review on the Internet will help us to protect them from these online predators.

The post How child pornography consumers are detected in Colombia first appeared on Counter Pedophilia Investigative Unit - Official Site.

Increased in demand, increase in victims

The most reputable computer security firm in the world, Kaspersky Lab, says that a single porn network generates about 5 million per month, product of attracting around 100 thousand visitors per day, under the veil of secrecy offered by the web.

Reports published by Spam Nation, Brian Krebs, monthly subscription sites known as Strawberry or Lolitas access, can come into costs of around $ 40. They do not only seek economic benefits; they also look to create exchange groups that have access to such material through these platforms:

Via conventional mail, using coded language to take care of identification

Sending encrypted mail, cloud service or through a USB files.

Ecosystems created to distribute child pornography online are composed by infrastructure known as BulletProf, shaped by networks or service providers hosting that by their geographic location or political conditions make it very difficult to trace or performance of any legal action. It is there where they are stored and from where the images are distributed.

There are payment systems processing anonymously, exclusively designed for operations related to this market to shield themselves from any kind of persecution by the authorities. The appearance of cryptocurrency is another factor that has facilitated financial transactions of these groups.

The architecture in the web to perform these operations translates into greater access and greater demand, which means that the number of victims. It is amazing how these webs are designed to not limit access but to make it as anonymously as possible, so their clients does not leave any kind of traces behind to eventually lead to them. Thousands of children registered in pictures and videos are victimized again and again, while the material go viral in transnational groups of pedophiles.

A slow and mild response

Cybercrimes of child pornography have increased and so has increased the urgency to hasten the time of research, generate prevention and knowledge of society, in addition to closing the loopholes that give a clear advantage to criminals. Most of the time what happens is that the authorities, government and such, does not have in their knowledge the proper notion of these crimes, to give them the weight they really deserve on the crime level and decide what punishment would be more apropiate.

All this support makes people charged with child pornography have no history, allowing them to receive easy sentences and return home immediately. Similarly, there are gray areas in many of the cases they have. Some lawyers consider that cybercrime of child pornography should be amended and generate discussions to promote a comprehensive reform of cybercrime figures.

Globally, security agencies, groups of cyber patrolling and other institutions of child protection work to deter, disrupt and investigate these practices. But it is a difficult process, as these pedophile networks reach millions of users who hide their crimes behind the use of encrypted technologies. It would also be useful to involve in this crusade to giants like Google and Facebook. With their help it would be fairly easy to find ways to track down most of these networks and even though it would be still difficult to shut them down, just finding them and start an ongoing tracking of their activities would mean a lot for the purpose of stopping these pedophile organizations.

The post Child pornography networks: up to 100,000 users per day first appeared on Counter Pedophilia Investigative Unit - Official Site.

Videotape

Such is the name of the 23-minutes-long short film that tells the story of two girls, aged 10 and 13, who face the horrors of child abuse after one of them is raped by her uncle.

The nominee explains that the film is meant to tell the story of thousands of boys and girls. The film is set in the 90s, a time of great political and social unrest borne from the crisis the country was going through.

The film’s plot centers around the victim and her friend, who wish to have revenge against the attacker – the uncle – due to his abuse of one of them; at the end of the film, they must reframe their revenge plan.

Reynoso explains that the idea for the film came to her during her time at Ciudad de Mexico’s Moviemaking Training Center (CCC, in Spanish). Afterwards, she says, the idea grew and bloomed. According to the research data she compiled for the movie, back in 2015 Mexico was third in the list of countries with most child abuse cases; it is currently number one on that list, both when it comes to abuse and the consumption of child porn.

Videotape took two years from conception to premiere: the script took 6 months to write; the filming took 13 days. Post-production took another 6 months.

The film was premiered at the 2018 Morelia Film Festival, though it toured other festivals at the national level. The film was also nominated for the 2019 Ariel award and will be screened at the Shanghai Movie Fest.

Sexual violence against children

Sexual violence is a reality in all countries and social groups and takes the form of sexual abuse, harassment, rape or sexual exploitation in both prostitution and pornography. It can also take place in homes, schools, work places or tourist and entertainment spots, among others.

Nowadays, smart devices and the internet expose children to the dangers of sexual violence, since pedophiles can use these tools to try to have sex with minors. There has also been an increase in both the numbers and circulation of child abuse photos.

Back in 2002, the WHO estimated that around 150 million girls and 73 million boys, aged younger than 18, were victims of forced sexual relations or other types of sexual violence that include physical contact.

Many of these children are sexually exploited every year through prostitution or pornography. However, most of the children or their families choose not to report these cases due to fear of stigma or lack of trust in the authorities, making them more vulnerable to aggressors that may be lurking around them. Abused children face a long life of physical and emotional issues.

The post «Videotape»: A new film about child abuse first appeared on Counter Pedophilia Investigative Unit - Official Site.