When family Or friends are the ones behind child pornography

Volume of such material sent over the internet rising in recent years: Experts

- Christine Tan

Cassie (not her real name) attended school by day, and posed nude in front of leering men on webcams by night.

The 12-year-old Filipina was coerced to be an online sex model in Manila by a man who promised her family to pay for her education.

If she refused to comply, he would hit and forcibly undress her.

This went on for five years before she was rescued by police and human rights organisation International Iustice Mission (IIM).

Now 26, Cassie is still scarred from the experience.

She told The Sunday Times: "I hated myself because I felt that I was a dirty woman, because I 'allowed' these customers (and) my trafficker to abuse me."

But Cassie was a child, like the thousands of others exploited in child sexual abuse material (CSAM) cases.

Most people know CSAM as child pornography, and experts told ST the amount disseminated over the internet has been increasing in recent years.

A global threat assessment in 2023 found an 87 per cent rise in such reports since 2019.

The scenes depicted in such material are intensely graphic and harrowing, with some involving children performing sex acts on each other or being tortured.

The Covid-19 pandemic worsened the situation.

Ms Sinni Lim, IIM's regional strategy and impact director in Asia Pacific, told ST via e-mail that reports from Interpol and Europol noted a surge in demand for such material then.

Experts agreed that lockdowns and social distancing made it easier for online abuse to happen, she said.

A 2023 report by the International Centre for Missing and Exploited Children wrote that during the pandemic, offenders took to the internet more often and had more opportunities to exploit victims remotely.

Children who stayed home due to lockdowns had an increased risk of being exploited online, or being confined at home with their abuser, noted the report.