Online Sexual Abuse and Exploitation of Children (Osaec)

ONLINE SEXUAL ABUSE AND EXPLOITATION OF CHILDREN (OSAEC)

By: Atty. Joan Dymphna Saniel Executive Director, Children’s Legal Bureau, Inc,

What is OSEC? Online Sexual Exploitation of Children: In this crime, children are sexually abused by traffickers who then spread or sell images or videos of the exploitation online—even livestreaming the abuse for sex offenders to direct from anywhere in the world. (IJM)

What is OSAEC? Online Sexual Abuse and Exploitation of Children: through internet, mobile phones and other information and communication technologies (ICTs). Sexual abuse refers to “actual or threatened physical intrusion of a sexual nature, whether by force or under unequal or coercive conditions.”

What is OSAEC Sexual exploitation refers to “any actual or attempted abuse of a position of vulnerability, differential power, or trust, for sexual purposes, including, but not limited to, profiting monetarily, socially or politically from the sexual exploitation of another.” (Source: UN Secretary General, UNICEF)

OSAEC Situation during Pandemic According to a report of the Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism (PCIJ) cases of OSAEC surged during the pandemic as many Filipinos lost their jobs. Tech companies reported that more than 1.29 million images and videos of child abuse materials came from the Philippines in 2020. This was more than triple the number in 2019 or before the pandemic hit.

From March 1 to May 24, 2020 – in the early weeks of the lockdown – the Department of Justice (DOJ) reported 202,605 cases of OSEC or a 265% increase compared with the same period the previous year. Social networking giant Facebook also found 279,166 images of child sexual abuse and similar content on its site from March to May 2020.

The Filipino mothers selling their children for online sexual abuse, Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism Source: https://pcij.org/article/6150/thefilipino-mothers-selling-their-children-foronline-sexual-abuse

The Philippines has been tagged as the global epicenter of livestream sexual trafficking of children, based on data from the US-based National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) and the Philippine Internet Crimes Against Children Center (PICACC). 

In particular, Cebu has been identified as a center of Online Sexual Abuse and Exploitation of cases. This is because many cases of OSEC have been reported in Cebu for the last five to ten year period.

This is consistent by recent reports from the Anti Money Laundering Council (AMLAC) on Top 10 provinces/cities with the highest value of OSEC-related local remittances, January 2019 to June 2020 (in PhP) where Cebu is the second highest province (second only to the province of Rizal). Id.

ANTI TRAFFICKING IN PERSONS ACT (IN RELATION WITH OSAEC)

ELEMENTS OF TRAFFICKING ❖ Acts ❖ Means ❖ Exploitative

Purpose

ELEMENT 1 Act/s • • • • • • • • • •

Recruitment Obtaining Hiring Providing Offering Transportation Transfer Maintaining Harboring Receipt of person

✔ ✔

with or without the victim’s consent or knowledge; within or across national borders

ELEMENT 2

The recruitment, transportation, transfer, Means harboring, adoption or receipt of a CHILD for the purpose of ◼ Threat or use of force, or other exploitation OR when the forms of coercion adoption is induced by any ◼ Abduction form of consideration for ◼ Fraud exploitative purposes shall also ◼ Deception be considered as trafficking in ◼ Abuse of power or of position persons even if it does not ◼ Taking advantage of the vulnerability involve any of the means set of a person forth in the law. ◼ The giving or receiving of payments or benefits to achieve the consent of a person having control over another person.

ELEMENT 3 Exploitative Purpose ( at a minimum) ◼ Exploitation or the Prostitution of others or other forms of sexual exploitation ◼ Forced labor or services ◼ Slavery ◼ Servitude ◼ Removal or sale of organs

Other forms of sexual exploitation Sexual Exploitation – refers to participation by a person in prostitution, pornography or the production of pornography, in exchange for money, profit or any other consideration or where the participation is caused or facilitated by any means of intimidation or threat, use of force, or other forms of coercion, abduction, fraud, deception, debt bondage, abuse of power or of position or of legal process, taking advantage of the vulnerability of the person, or giving or receiving of payments or benefits to achieve the consent of a person having control over another person; or in sexual intercourse or lascivious conduct caused or facilitated by any means as provided in this Act.

Pornography – refers to any representation, through publication, exhibition, cinematography, indecent shows, information technology, or by whatever means, of a person engaged in real or simulated explicit sexual activities or any representation of the sexual parts of a person for primarily sexual purposes

ACTS OF TRAFFICKING IN PERSONS ● ● ● ● ● ● ●

Match-making a Filipina to a foreigner for profit Marriages for exploitation Travel and Tour Plans with Sex and Pornography Adoptions to Exploit Hiring a person to engage in prostitution or pornography Organs for Sale Forced labor, Slavery, Debt bondage and Involuntary servitude

REPUBLIC ACT NO. 9775 ANTI-CHILD PORNOGRAPHY ACT OF 2009

DEFINITION OF TERMS Child- a person • Below eighteen (18) years of age • Over 18, but is unable to fully take care of himself/herself from abuse, neglect, cruelty, exploitation or discrimination because of a physical or mental disability or condition.

OTHERS CONSIDERED CHILD For the purpose of this Act, a child shall also refer to: (1) a person regardless of age who is presented, depicted or portrayed as a child as defined herein; and (2) computer-generated, digitally or manually crafted images or graphics of a person who is represented or who is made to appear to be a child as defined herein.

NOTE!!! CHILD IS NOT NECESSARILY A REAL CHILD ◼Depicted as a CHILD

◼Adult

◼Computer generated

DEFINITION OF TERMS ◼Child Pornography- refers to any representation, whether visual, audio, or written combination thereof, by electronic, mechanical, digital, optical, magnetic or any other means, of child engaged or involved in real or simulated explicit sexual activities

◼Explicit Sexual Activity- includes actual or simulated 1)As to form: (i) sexual intercourse or lascivious act including, but not limited to, contact involving genital to genital, oral to genital, anal to genital, or oral to anal, whether between persons of the same or opposite sex

2) 3) 4) 5)

bestiality; masturbation; sadistic or masochistic abuse; lascivious exhibition of the genitals, buttocks, breasts, pubic area and/or anus; or 6) use of any object or instrument for lascivious acts

◼Grooming - refers to the act of preparing a child or someone who the offender believes to be a child for sexual activity or sexual relationship by communicating any form of child pornography. It includes online enticement or enticement through any other means.

◼Luring - refers to the act of communicating, by means of a computer system, with a child or someone who the offender believes to be a child for the purpose of facilitating the commission of sexual activity or production of any form of child pornography

DEFINITION OF TERMS

◼Pandering - refers to the act of offering, advertising, promoting, representing or distributing through any means any material or purported material that is intended to cause another to believe that the material or purported material contains any form of child pornography, regardless of the actual content of the material or purported material.

UNLAWFUL OR PROHIBITED ACTS a) Hiring a child for child pornography; b) Production; c) Publishing and distributing; d) Possession with the intent to sell, distribute, publish, or broadcast: e) Providing venue

f) Distribution by film distributors, theaters and telecommunication companies g) Permitting a child to perform h) Luring or grooming of a child; i) Pandering j) Willfully accessing; k) Conspiracy l) Possession.

SYNDICATED CHILD PORNOGRAPHY ◼The crime of child pornography is deemed committed by a syndicate if carried out by a group of three (3) or more persons conspiring or confederating with one another

Under Cyber Crime Prevention Act (RA 10175)

Child Pornography. — The unlawful or prohibited acts defined and punishable by Republic Act No. 9775 or the Anti-Child Pornography Act of 2009, committed through a computer system: Provided, That the penalty to be imposed shall be (1) one degree higher than that provided for in Republic Act No. 9775

GAPS IN THE LAWS No “all-encompassing” law that clearly includes the full range of OSEC activities like grooming, recruitment, online technology, stages of commission, participation in the offense, and their corresponding penalties.

GAPS IN THE LAWS Present laws fail to define OSEC as a distinct and separate crime and impose specific punishments against it, the groups have said. Lack of accountability on the part of private entities whose services are being used by pedophiles – banks, internet cafes, money remittance centers, credit card companies, hotels, inns and lessors.

Thank you and Good afternoon!