A little girl, aged between 11 and 13, takes her little sister and holds her naked in front of a computer camera. According to a report in The Sun, the above is an example of a new form of online sexual exploitation, where pedophiles manipulate children into engaging in sexual activity with their siblings.
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Before showing her sister to the camera, the older girl appears to be interacting with someone on the computer or tablet.
According to an expert from the Internet Watch Foundation (IWF), who discovered this new trend, it's not that one sibling is exploiting the other at will.
“The child has been manipulated into doing this. It's not something they want to do“.
The worrying thing is that due to the pandemic, most children are at home and spending many hours in front of a screen. So, the problem has worsened.
During the first 15 weeks of the pandemic, the IWF saw a 50% increase in reports of illegal web content.
Susie Hargreaves, CEO of the IWF, said the problem has increased dramatically.
“Before the first lockdown, the police believed that 100,000 perpetrators were online at any given time. The number reached 300,000 when we went into lockdown,” he said.
Between September and December 2020, the IWF discovered 511 child sexual exploitation images , taken by children and depicting their siblings, some of whom were as young as 3 years old or younger.
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During this period, experts discovered an average of 8 images or videos of child sexual exploitation each day.
46% of these were classified as “Category A”, which is the worst, as it contains “images involving penetrative sexual activity”.
The average age of the youngest sibling was 10 years, while the average age of the oldest was 12.
Manipulation and coercion
The IWF said it was clear that these children were “manipulated or coerced” into such activity by pedophiles via live stream.
What's worse is that the perpetrators didn't keep the videos and images of child sexual exploitation just for themselves. The material was then shared on various online platforms.
In another example, an expert saw two siblings aged between three and six engaging in sexual activity on a bed, after the girl was taking instructions from someone on the screen.
"Then they go back to the screen. We can only see one side, but I imagine they copy what they see or take instructions and then resume sexual activity," the expert said.
See also: 113 people arrested for publishing child sexual abuse material
Children are being tricked into engaging in sexual activity with their siblings
"We see some very shocking things in our work, but then you see something that's even worse than what you've already seen," Ms Hargreaves said.
“To start seeing children – and some very young children – who are with a sibling or a close friend and are being encouraged and tricked into having sexual acts is really, really disturbing“.
In another example, two boys are seen in a bedroom, where the younger boy, aged between 7 and 10, was wearing a T-shirt with a cartoon character.
“It happens in ‘normal’ bathrooms and in ‘normal’ homes, across all ages, genders, nationalities and backgrounds,” the expert said.
Unfortunately, any child can be abused like this.
Ms Hargreaves said that parents in most cases are unaware of what is happening.
He cited an example of an 11-year-old girl sitting on her bed, naked. In the middle of the video, someone outside the room can be heard shouting, "Dinner is ready."
It's an image that will shock any parent.
“The adult clearly doesn’t know what’s going on,” Ms Hargreaves said.
“We shouldn't blame parents. Parents just need to know what their kids are doing online and who they are talking to. You need to have honest conversations with your kids. Don't ignore this, it really is a problem. Prevention is the answer here“.
The lockdown has brought a new reality and children are spending a lot of time in front of a screen. Therefore, parents need to monitor their children's online activities and understand the risks so they can explain them to their children.
The IWF has removed 153,000 webpages containing child sexual exploitation material (the most ever removed).
"We saw a huge increase. It makes sense, unfortunately, because kids were connected all day and so were the perpetrators," Ms Hargreaves said.
The IWF does not know exactly which games and apps the children were using, but anything with a live chat functionis dangerous.
“What we can see is that children are looking at a laptop or tablet screen and answering questions or reading comments,” Ms Hargreaves said.
“Sometimes we hear them talking to the person on the other side of the camera, but clearly, the kids have no idea who they are really talking to and they obviously have no idea that they are being recorded and that this is being shared on a child sexual exploitation site.“.
Analysts concluded that the children involved in sexual activity were siblings, observing the common appearance, environment, behavior, and language they used with each other.
From their conversations, it was clear that the pedophiles were showing children sexual material and asking them to copy it, sometimes in the form of a game or challenge.
Pedophiles first gain the trust of children
Tink Palmer, CEO of the Marie Collins Foundation, which helps children who are being abused online, explained how pedophiles gain a child's trust.
Criminals try to befriend children and make them feel special.
"Once they have this child under their control, they start threatening. The child is afraid of what will happen if they don't do what is asked of them."
In most cases, the images and videos depicted two siblings with a small age difference, although sometimes they may have had a slightly larger age difference (up to 5 years).
Ms Palmer said that pedophiles usually target specific ages. They are children just before puberty who are not as developed socially, emotionally and psychologically.
“They listen to adults without questioning them, while teenagers are more likely to resist what an adult tells them“.
As for the long-term effect on these children, Ms. Palmer says the impact is different for each child.
"What we hear from victims is that they felt they made a mistake," he said.
“They are likely to feel confused… This situation will almost inevitably cause problematic behaviors or perceptions about relationships“.
“Unfortunately, a child is very unlikely to tell an adult that they have been sexually abused online because they believe that they let it happen.” Of course, that’s not the case. It’s their fault that they were manipulated by the pedophile, but they feel guilty.
Source: news.com.au
