It is estimated that around one in five children in Europe is a victim of some form of sexual violence and that in around 80% of cases the abuser is someone the child knows. Online child sexual abuse and exploitation is on the rise internationally and is a widespread problem, with no signs of slowing. According to the latest data fromInternet watch foundation, 2023 was the year in which the presence of images of sexual abuse of minors on the web reached its maximum: the institute evaluated 392,665 reports, confirming that 275,652 web pages contained images or videos of children victims of sexual abuse.
Learn more about the consequences
Exploring the consequences of sexual exploitation against children and adolescents, with an eye on the international panorama and highlighting the relationship between abuse and digital, was the objective of the event organized yesterday in Rome, in view of the national day for the fight against pedophilia and child pornography, by the SOSTelefono azzurro foundation in collaboration with the Italian embassy to the Holy See and the Child foundation, entitled ‘The dignity of children in the digital world’.
The landscape of horror
“It is now evident – it emerged during the event – that the panorama of abuse is vast and insidious: from the financial exploitation of children through online requests for money, to the dark and immoral trade in images of child abuse increasingly generated through the use of artificial intelligence to the point of grooming, or the solicitation of minors for sexual purposes”. According to a recent IWF report, in just one month, 20,254 images generated by artificial intelligence were published in a Csam (Child sexual abuse materials) forum on the dark web. Of these, 11,108 contained child pornography.
Like offline abuse
In addition to witnessing an increase in numbers at an international level, there is also a greater complexity of cases and types of sexual violence. “Also thanks to technological innovation – the experts said – child abuse in the virtual world has become significantly more complex than in the past, with devastating effects that persist over time and new forms, often more subtle and complex to identify”. A wide range of psychological consequences similar to those reported among victims of offline sexual abuse (such as psychological distress, self-harming or suicidal behavior, sleep problems, trust problems, compromised relationships, and difficulties in school) have been identified in victims of abuse assisted by technology.
The victims: males aged 14 to 17
The persistence of images of the abuse online further complicates the impact of the abuse itself and can lead to more intense feelings of guilt, as well as re-enactment of the traumatic experience. For example, according to the American FBI, from September 2021 to March 2023, at least 20 minors in the United States committed suicide after being victims of sextortion. According to data from the Postal and Communications Police service, it is mainly male children, aged between 14 and 17, who report and ask for help from the postal police as victims of sextortion, as also shown by the data from Blue phone.
The executioners
Generally the abuse is committed by people known to the minor, due to family ties or for educational or care reasons. Despite increased awareness, there is little precise information on how much child sexual abuse occurs in institutional settings and how many victims there are. Given the difficulty of victims in reporting abuse, the culture and dynamics of power and abuse inherent in institutional contexts create further barriers. If it happens, it typically happens many years later and much available information on the experience of child sexual abuse in institutional settings is based on the testimony of survivors of non-recent abuse (Centre of expertise on child sexual abuse, 2023).
#Minors #children #victim #sexual #violence
– 2024-05-04 09:38:34
