CITY OF SAN FERNANDO, Pampanga — Child and youth advocates amplified the alarm over the escalating cases of sexual abuse and exploitation among children.
End Child Prostitution, Child Pornography and the Trafficking of Children for Sexual Purposes (ECPAT) Philippines launched ‘ePotectKids’ which rallies the safe use of the internet among children to combat the recurring problems of online child abuse.
Said program connects the ECPAT Philippines Internet Hotline to a global network of hotlines that receives reports of child sexual abuse materials on the Internet and quickly removes them.
“When we see something which should not be on social media or the internet as it may cause harm to the children, we could report it to ecpat.org.ph/report. As of February 19, we have removed 91 child sexual abuse materials from the internet,” ECPAT Youth and Child Advocate (EYCA) from Angeles City Eric Dela Cruz said.
In recent reports, ECPAT Philippines says that the country is a top source of online child sexual abuse materials globally.
In addition, ECPAT Philippines and its partnering agencies are taking the lead to raise awareness about sexual exploitation to the children.
“Being a man does not mean that I would not raise the advocacy of the protection of young women. As child and youth advocates, we are trained as to how to handle someone if they open up about being abused. Then, we will raise that problem to our organization heads, and report to the social workers or local government units,” Dela Cruz added.
ECPAT Philippines, and partner local government units of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) Council for the Welfare of Children (CWC) are also teaching the EYCA members on how to communicate to their fellows especially at this time that children have become more open to their peers than their parents.
Meanwhile, as the agency which serves a stronghold for child protection, DSWD Central Luzon CWC Regional Coordinator Aple Shayne Lomoljo said they are planning to establish localized information, education, and communication materials to communicate the rights of the children to the members of the community.
“Now at the time of the coronavirus disease pandemic, it is difficult to get on the children and give them information,” she claimed.
The agency will also be working out to release digital materials as children are engaged in social media platforms.
Moreover, ECPAT Philippines is conducting web seminars involving the parents with topics about the rights of their children; and the children on lessons about their rights, and how to prevent, and report abuses.
“We divide the topic per age bracket to ensure that the approach is correct, and that the children could understand. Sometimes, other lessons might be too heavy for children at young ages. By this, topics could be more interactive even though it is through a webinar,” Dela Cruz explained.
For her part, EYCA member Chinna Quiazon disclosed that based on the organization’s research, poverty is the main reason of child abuse among children as it is oftentimes the parents themselves who are engaging their children in sexual trafficking.
“We are raising our voices as women advocates in the Philippines. We want the children to know that we are here to listen to them wherever they are in the corners of the world,” she said.
National Baseline Study on Violence Against Children says that 43.8 percent or almost half of Filipino children have experienced cyberviolence or online violence.
In the Philippines, studies by UNICEF revealed that estimated 60,000 to 100,000 children are involved in the sex industry.