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Internet leads to increased child sexual exploitation: Research
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Against sexual abuse -- School students sign a banner calling for greater protection from child sexual exploitation via the internet during a peaceful rally held by Children Forums from Bantul, Sleman and Yogyakarta at Titik Nol (Zero Point) in the center of Yogyakarta City on Sept. 2. (JP/Bambang Muryanto)
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esearch commissioned by three non-governmental organizations involved in child protection work reveals that internet use among children has increased the number of victims of child sexual exploitation.
Most of the children accessed the internet at home via smartphones or laptops.
“Around 60 percent of children who accessed the internet had once seen, watched or received pornographic pictures or videos in which the models or actors were children or teenagers,” said research team representative Thomas Bambang Pamungkas on Saturday.
The research, which involved three child protection NGOs, namely Yayasan Sekretariat Anak Merdeka Indonesia (SAMIN) Yogyakarta, Yayasan Kakak Solo and Yayasan Setara Semarang, was conducted from March through December. It collected data and information from 830 children from nine cities. They comprised three cities in the Yogyakarta Special Administrative Region, namely Bantul, Sleman and Yogyakarta; two cities in Central Java, namely Semarang and Surakarta; Bandung in West Java; Jakarta and Mataram in West Nusa Tenggara.
Bambang claimed it was the nation’s first piece of research on the impact of internet usage on child sexual exploitation.
“Thirty percent out of the total respondents admitted they had been once persuaded by someone to agree to take a selfie or record a video of themselves committing vulgar acts.”
Researcher Nining Sholikhah said she hoped governments, families and people in general had a willingness to monitor internet usage among children. Many families were aware of the impact of internet usage on child sexual exploitation but they did not know how to tackle it.
“The government needs to develop a program to prevent unhealthy internet usage. There also should be education programs for families about healthy internet usage.” (ebf)
