The Scale of Harm study project was initiated in March 2021 by IJM’s Center to End Online Sexual Exploitation of Children. IJM recognized the urgent need to measure the national prevalence of a specific form of online child exploitation that, for years, devastated the lives of young Filipino children: namely, the trafficking of children to produce child sexual exploitation material, including via livestreaming. This is the in-person sexual abuse of children by adults in the Philippines while foreign sex offenders watch and direct the abuse online for a fee in video calls using popular video-chat apps (also called ‘live-distance child abuse’ or Livestreaming).
Survivor leader Ruby* from Philippine Survivor Network at the Manila Scale of Harm study launch
IJM’s Center to End OSEC joined IJM UK in London to host parliamentary roundtable with MP Sarah Champion
April 2024, Scale of Harm launched in Canada through a parliamentary briefing and Press Conference
Background on livestreamed child sexual abuse and the need for Scale of Harm
Online sexual exploitation of children (OSEC), including financially motivated offending to produce and sell child sexual exploitation material, are global, borderless crimes. The production of child sexual exploitation material (CSEM)—in images and videos, and via live video or livestream—is a crime that plagues communities worldwide. In fact, cases of children being sexually abused to produce and sell newly produced CSEM are easy to find (2). Increasingly, global law enforcement and experts report the growing threat to children of being sexually abused in live video streamed to offenders globally (3). EUROPOL warned that “livestreaming of child sexual abuse increased and became even more popular during the COVID-19 pandemic.”(4). This echoes evidence from INTERPOL that livestreaming for payment is increasing as demand surged during the pandemic as an alternative to ‘in-person’ abuse (5).
In the Philippines and other countries, sex offenders communicate online with traffickers (often financially motivated family members or close relatives of the victims (6)), paying them to livestream new sexual abuse and exploitation of children directed by the remote offender in real-time. This is a form of child sex trafficking and child sexual abuse material (CSAM) production and dissemination. The Philippines is the global epicenter for this financially motivated CSEM production, especially via live video streams (7).
In 2023, the U.S. National Center for Missing and Exploited Children’s (NCMEC) CyberTipline received over 36 million reports of child sexual exploitation containing 105 million images, videos, and other files relating to child sexual exploitation (8). Most of these illegal images and videos were found by technology designed to detect previously identified CSEM in the form of photos and videos, along with grooming or online enticement. Yet these tools fail to detect a significant form of CSEM—live video streams, which sometimes occur on encrypted platforms, and as such no viable public tech sector data existed (or exists today) on this type of online child sexual exploitation.
Identifying financially motivated CSEM production and sale, along with live video child sexual exploitation for sale, requires an advanced method to measure the scale of these crimes. Zero research and data on the scale or prevalence of financially motivated CSEM offending existed, whether in the Philippines or elsewhere. To evidence the scale and improve the global response to this crime, IJM launched the Scale of Harm project.
Scale of Harm leveraged multi-sector partnerships to develop a robust, mixed-methods prevalence research approach
In 2021, IJM and the University of Nottingham Rights Lab convened an External Advisory Council (EAC) of multi-sector experts, researchers, and field practitioners from organizations across the technology, financial, government, and non-government/child protection sectors (9). Throughout the Scale of Harm’s methodology development phase, the EAC members advised on the design and validity of a methodology estimating prevalence in the Philippines. Multi-sector input on the viability of a methodology was critical in considering the effectiveness of the research approach given the complexity of financially motivated CSEM production in the Philippines.
The EAC’s expertise was critical to producing a mixed-method research approach that combined national household surveys using the Network Scale-up Method (NSUM) with data science analysis of a range of secondary datasets. Methodology implementation began in May 2022 and ended in June 2023.
Scale of Harm results reveal massive exploitation of Filipino children and provide global recommendations
In September 2023, IJM and the University of Nottingham’s Rights Lab released the Scale of Harm study report, estimating that nearly half a million Filipino children (1 in every 100) were sexually abused to create new CSEM, including livestreamed abuse, for sale to offenders around the world (10). These numbers represent the lives of Filipino children that are impacted by the horrors of this crime. In addition, the study estimated that nearly a quarter of a million adults in the Philippines were engaged in trafficking children for this purpose in 2022.
The study recommended a stronger, more effective, and scalable multi-sector response to protect these vulnerable children. The Scale of Harm study includes seven recommendations from its findings, informed by survivor leaders.
Scale of Harm centred on survivor engagement throughout the study and launches
Survivor engagement was a critical component to validating the findings and recommendations, but also to leading and designing foundational elements of the research project. Survivor consultants and leaders informed and co-designed the survey by drawing from their lived experience of exploitation and community knowledge in the Philippines. Survivor consultants also co-designed and facilitated focus group discussions with survivor leaders from the Philippine Survivor Network to better understand survivor perspectives and experiences. Survivor Leader Ruby* was one of the survivors who consulted with IJM and the Rights Lab on the Scale of Harm study. She noted in her WeProtect Global Alliance op-ed:
“As someone who experienced the harm of online sexual abuse, I would say that no one can validate study results like Scale of Harm the way survivors can. My advocacy work is equally important as my other jobs. I was there, experienced and witnessed the horrors of online sexual abuse. Because of that, I am fully committed to protecting children from this crime. I cannot imagine other children going through similar, and maybe even worse, trauma.” (11).
*Pseudonym
For me this study is important because our voices will be heard, and this form of online sexual exploitation will be known to other people for them to have awareness that the experience of survivors isn’t easy.
Joy (pseudonym). A survivor leader from the Philippine Survivor Network.
[…] I know we were not the only ones who were victimized by OSEC*. Some victims are just quiet because they do not know yet what to do. Therefore, I think this research can be helpful in opening their minds.
*OSEC is online sexual exploitation of children
Chaya (pseudonym). A survivor leader from the Philippine Survivor Network.
Scale of Harm continues with launches, collaboration and in demand-side countries
Scale of Harm’s impact continues to reverberate around the world as we present it within key demand-side countries to spearhead action on the study’s recommendations. In March 2024, IJM’s Center to End OSEC joined IJM UK in London to host a parliamentary roundtable with MP Sarah Champion. The discussion centered around facilitating a stronger response to livestreamed child sexual abuse committed by UK-based demand-side offenders. Panelists included the National Crime Agency, Internet Watch Foundation, SafeToNet, the University of Nottingham Rights Lab, IJM, and Cassie* a survivor leader from the Philippine Survivor Network.
*Pseudonym
In April 2024, Scale of Harm launched in Canada through a parliamentary briefing and Press Conference. The Center to End OSEC, IJM Canada, along with the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) to End Modern Slavery and Human Trafficking, called on the Government of Canada, civil society, and non-government organizations to spearhead new efforts to prevent Canadian-based demand-side offenders from committing these crimes.
1) “Scale of Harm: Estimating the Prevalence of Trafficking to Produce Child Sexual Exploitation Material in the Philippines,” International Justice Mission and University of Nottingham Rights Lab (September 2023), 53, https://assets.ijm.app/IJM_Scale_of_Harm_2023_Full_Report_5f292593a9.pdf.
2) For instance, according to Canada’s National Financial Intelligence Unit, FINTRAC, the top 10 jurisdictions receiving money transfers from Canadians linked to online child sexual exploitation are: Philippines, Thailand, Colombia, the United States, Ghana, Ukraine, Dominican Republic, Romania, Jamaica and Russia. See Mike Harrison, “Project Shadow,” WeProtect Global Alliance, 2 August 2022, https://www.weprotect.org/case-study/project-shadow/. For specific cases, see Colombia February 2023 case where police safeguarded three children aged 19 months, seven and nine years, and arrested their mother and aunt accused of livestreaming child sexual abuse for profit, see “Horror En Medellín: Madre Obligaba a Sus Tres Hijos de 19 Meses, 7 Y 9 Años a Grabar Pornografía Infantil,” Semana.com, 27 February 2023, https://www.semana.com/nacion/articulo/horror-en-medellin-madre-obligaba-a-sus-tres-hijos-de-19-meses-7-y-9-anos-a-grabar-pornografia-infantil/202311/.; “Brazil: Two Arrested in Global Hunt to Catch Child Predators,” INTERPOL, accessed 9 May 2024, https://www.interpol.int/en/News-and-Events/News/2021/Brazil-Two-arrested-in-global-hunt-to-catch-child-predators#:~:text=The%20coordinated%20police%20actions%20follow; Sask, “Appeal Court Increases Sentence for Child Pornographer Philip Chicoine,” Global News, accessed 9 May 2024, https://globalnews.ca/news/6042218/appeal-court-increases-sentence-for-child-pornographer-philip-chicoine/; “Victorian Man Pleads Guilty to Seeking Violent Sex Abuse Images from Source in Thailand,” ABC News, 24 July 2023, https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-07-24/arslan-safdar-guilty-in-sex-transmission-case/102641592.
IJM is a global organization that protects people in poverty from violence by partnering with local authorities to rescue victims, bring criminals to justice, restore survivors, and strengthen justice systems. Read more about our proven Community Protection Model: www.ijm.org/our-work
About IJM’s Center to End Online Sexual Exploitation of Children
IJM’s Center to End Online Sexual Exploitation of Children protects children in the Philippines and scales the fight against this crime globally. The Center leverages and shares effective practices and models from IJM’s Philippines program to enhance justice system and private sector responses to online sexual exploitation, resulting in sustainable child protection and offender accountability. Learn more about the Center’s work at ijm.org.ph/center and on LinkedIn. Contact us at endosec@ijm.org
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