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Speaking to Crux, German Jesuit Father Hans Zollner said advancing developments in technology, are "allowing new forms of abuse online to take root."

"The internet and new technologies represent fertile ground in which the sexual abuse and harm of minors and young children finds new forms of expression. This includes sexting, sextortion, grooming, and live distant child abuse through the exchange, or sending, receiving, sharing, and distribution of images and sexually explicit video content," Zollner said.

This kind of abuse has increased "dramatically" during the coronavirus pandemic.

With much of the world increasingly dependent on the internet and digital platforms to function, the number of people accessing websites that offer child sexual abuse material "have been much higher since the onset of the pandemic."

"Thus, those who work in the tech industry have an even bigger civil duty to educate themselves about abuse and how children are more vulnerable than ever before due to technology," he said.

Zollner said closer collaboration between child protection experts and tech industry leaders is "crucial" to prevention, and he stressed the need for clear safeguards on websites or platforms where children can be groomed.

At the close of a 2017 World Congress on Child Dignity in the Digital Age, Pope Francis called on those involved in politics, research, and law enforcement, as well as representatives of international organizations and religious leaders, to work more closely in online abuse prevention.

He stressed the need for big tech companies to help prevent online abuse, "to invest a substantial amount of the money they earn in creating more safety measures for children."

"Unfortunately, the resistance to do so is strong, and that's why we need to push this concern and do our part to educate, build awareness, and provide safeguarding tools," Zollner said.

Sources

Crux Now

He says the increased screen time and isolation due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic is putting young people at greater risk than usual.

As a result of the pandemic, almost every nation has had young people spending a lot more time at home, "alone, online with no supervision or being checked on," he says.

At the same time, "pornographic material also becomes more accessible" to predators and from them, to children who have no limits on what they can access and no guidance on what they should do to protect themselves from people contacting them online.

"We have to educate about protecting the dignity and respect of vulnerable people, especially young people," Zollner says.

Zollner, who is also a professor of psychology and president of the Centre for Child Protection at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome, spoke of his concerns at a "Safeguarding Webinar Series", focusing on "safeguarding online in times of lockdown" and highlighted the kind of risks facing minors online.

Even children under the age of two are targeted with online grooming, sexting (which often takes place among peers), live streamed sexual abuse, cyber bullying and intimidation, he says.

Zollner says FBI research estimates that "at any one time, as many as 750,000 child predators are online over the internet seeking children to abuse online, and two-thirds of the world has no specific laws to combat online grooming of children for sex exploitation."

"During the lockdown in Australia, downloading images of abuse shot up by 86 percent in the three weeks after 21 March."

In addition, Zollner says the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children in the U.S. "has registered a 106% increase in reports of suspected (child sexual abuse) - rising from 983,734 reports in March 2019 to 2,027,520 in the very same month in 2020."

The increase may be because of offenders' isolation during lockdown and their inability to travel, which makes them more likely to turn to abuse livestreamed or distributed online, Zollner suggests.

At the same time, places like schools or social services for reporting abuse or harassment have been disrupted or reduced and many enforcement agencies' focus is putting a lower priority on online child sexual exploitation in favour of enforcing regulations for handling the pandemic.

Vulnerable minors can be safeguarded by parents and caregivers by using software that allows for parental controls on what people can do online - even though kids sometimes find ways to circumvent it.

Catholic schools also have an important role to play in educating kids about staying safe online, Zollner says.

Source

• Vatican news
• America Magazine
• Image: ChildSafeNet

Analysts and human rights groups in the region are pointing to a rise in online abuse, as Pacific communities grapple with translating their culture to the digital meeting house.

Online abuse is not easily detected when local languages are used.

Facebook would not disclose the number of staff per language or dialect but a spokesperson said it had the capacity to review content in over 50 languages, including Samoan.

Samoa's Prime Minister Tuilaepa Sailele Malielegaoi last week said he had had enough.

He is frustrated by his inability to control relentless attacks against him on Facebook.

In an interview with TV1Samoa last week, Tuilaepa announced he had instructed the Attorney General's office to begin the extradition process for blogger Malele Paulo, also known as King Faipopo, who lives in Australia.

In a Facebook live video, which has since been viewed 110,000 times, Mr Paulo issued a response: "Come and get me."

Lani Wendt-Young is an outspoken advocate of LGBTQI rights and critic of child sexual abuse - both contentious issues in conservative Samoa. She said she has faced a torrent of abuse numbering the hundreds of pages since she was targeted by an anonymous Samoan blog with a sizeable Facebook presence.

After several unsuccessful attempts at reporting the comments to Facebook, Wendt-Young said the company relented only when she provided English translations for the abuse in Samoan.

Even if posts are written in English with an apparent Samoan translation below - a common sight in online Pacific communities - it's often not what it seems, she said.

"The abusers are actually quite crafty. They will write really, really extra-disgusting things in Samoan because they know that obviously people at Facebook aren't really good at translating.

"So, that's I think a reason why they are getting away with some of the things they do."

Source

• radionz.co.nz
• Image: resistanceinventerre.wordpress.com