EDITORIAL — Child sexual trafficking still an issue

The online exploitation of our children continues.

Sixteen children were recently rescued from different child trafficking operations in Taguig and Nueva Vizcaya. This after the arrest of an Australian national who returned to his home country with child abuse material on his phone, as well as information on where he got those materials.

This operation is believed to have yielded the biggest number of rescued minors here so far, with the youngest victim believed to be only 10 years old.

It is sad that some families can justify exploiting their own children. In such families, fathers, mothers, uncles, aunts, or even family friends reason that the child really isn’t being exploited as long as he or she isn’t being touched by their “customers”. Of course, this twisted reasoning isn’t acceptable.

When it comes to sexually trafficking children, organized criminal syndicates may not be able to carry out such operations as efficiently or as clandestinely as individual families that willfully want to make a business out of this crime.

Compared to organized syndicates, families that deliberately engage in trafficking their children leave smaller digital footprints behind, making them harder to find by authorities.

It also doesn’t take much to set up such an operation, or tear it down when the police come knocking. Even from any home, any room can become a base of operations with just an internet connection, an arranged payment scheme, and some items or props.

Most importantly, unlike with organized syndicates, children who are being exploited by family members or friends don’t know they are being taken advantage of because of the trust they have in their “handlers”.

We have a long way to go when it comes to protecting our children from sex trafficking. According to the US State Department, sexual exploitation is still prevalent in the country. It’s not that we don’t have enough laws; we don’t have enough resources to enforce those laws.