Philippines wants global action to combat cyber sex trafficking

This article is more than 12 months old

Mar 27, 2018 06:00 am

MANILA The Philippines' fight to end cyber sex trafficking needs other countries to get tougher with sexual predators who pay to watch children being abused over webcam, a Filipina senator said.

Organisations such as the United Nations' children's agency (Unicef) say the Philippines is the epicentre of a growing cyber sex trafficking trade, with many children forced to perform sex acts in front of a webcam.

The Philippines receives at least 3,000 reports per month from other countries of possible cases of its children being sexually exploited online, said the Department of Justice.

Senator Loren Legarda said the South-east Asian nation must better enforce its anti-trafficking law, which carries the threat of life imprisonment, but there must be global action to stop cybersex trafficking.

"This calls for amending the lenient sentences that their laws mete upon those who prey on Filipino children... raise the penalties to lower the demand," she added. - REUTERS