Child exploitation is something that’s practiced in order to force a child to work or serve against his/her own will. There are lots of forms out there but the most common ones are prostitution, forced labor, slavery, trafficking, and pornography.

But is there a form that does not involve a gross violation of a child’s rights but still comprises a glimpse of exploitation?

Child and teen beauty pageants are so popular in the US and Europe. Each year, there are certain festivities that show off children dressed in gowns and make up while walking down the catwalk. Several contests even qualify children aged 3 or 4.

Now the general notion is that it’s fun and provides a good training ground for the child’s personality development. But there are groups that seem to disagree. Though there’s actually no physical harm done to them, the pressure from parents to join the contest and win it is somewhat very stressful for a three year old, right?

Apart from that, the presence of hundreds of people watching plus the lights and sound can inflict a sort of fear and misunderstanding for child and feel as if he/she is pushed to join though he/she doesn’t like it anymore.

Anyhow, joining child beauty pageants these days is not against the law obviously. As a parent, it is still within your discretion to allow your child to have fun if you feel he/she isn’t being exploited.

What if you found out that most of the products you are accustomed to buying and consuming are actually made by children forced to work in factories and sweatshops?

According to the United States Department of Labor, there are almost 130 products in the country that are made by enslaved children from around the world. In modest estimates, that’s about 120 million of them working everyday in some of the most awful working conditions you can imagine.

While child exploitation is consist of different forms like sexual abuse and slavery, child labor also has several kinds, you wouldn’t want your child to be victimized by any of it. This includes forcible recruitment to serve in conflict and wars, commercial sex exploit, service as payment for debt, and drug trafficking.

But among those mentioned above, majority of them are subjected to working in harsh conditions in factories for the manufacture of goods we usually buy in the market. It sort of makes us guilty, right? No worries though since most if not all of us aren’t even aware of that fact.

So if you are using these products, you might want to think it over:
1.Cocoa
2.Diamonds
3.Carpets
4.Coal
5.Garments
6.Rice
7.Coffee
8.Tobacco
9.Cotton
10.Gold

Bear in mind that most of these products are part of our daily consumption and it’s really close to impossible preventing the employment of children since manufacturing factories are able to save millions by settling on cheap labor.

If you’re from LA, you’ve probably heard of the “Lost Boy.” At last, federal prosecutors were able to gather enough convincing evidence to prosecute members of this internet forum that actually carry out exchanges of pornographic materials that contain images and videos of young boys sexually abused and exploited.

Lost Boy is just one of the millions of sites that host and provide pedophiles and sex offenders a bunch of multimedia content based on child sexual abuse and exploitation. The chief reason for the continuing practice of this crime is the internet itself. The lack of censorship and filtering enables everyone to do whatever they want on the web and that includes using minors and teens as sexual objects.

Although it seems convenient to get and find everything you need in there, the sad reality is that the internet has become the primary means of exploitation and abuse towards children. It is in a way the best way to conceal and hide the wrongdoings of sex offenders.

As for law enforcement, tracking down these sites like Lost Boy could take up to years of surveillance and gathering of evidence since access is likely limited to members and most culprits do not even use their real names in registration and membership. Additionally, the majority of criminal courts have a very strict policy of admitting electronic data and multimedia evidence and that means a tougher task for prosecutors.

So no matter how thankful we are for the convenience the web has given to us, there are still disadvantages and one of them is the tolerance and sometimes, promotion of child pornography and exploitation. Unfortunate but true.

Law and justice finally extended their hands towards sex offenders and child predators. There has been a significant increase of arrests, prosecution, and convictions for those guilty of the crime. Child exploitation, without a doubt is a very serious offense. But I wonder why there is not much attention given to it up until recently.

The kind of anonymity and concealment the web provides for people who commit these crimes leads them to think they can never be caught. However, the scenario is very different today. Because of the rapid increase of American children subjected to pornography, US state and federal authorities have held a tighter grip to put culprits behind bars.

The web has had its fair share of advantages and disadvantages. Back in the 90s, it served as revolutionary tool that enabled people to go online and do whatever they wanted. Though the internet was introduced decades before, it was in the early 90s that the World Wide Web became what it is now.

Nonetheless, it is also the main reason why so many women and children are exploited and abused through the business of child pornography.

Child pornography is however not a crime born out of the internet age. It has existed long before computers became household tools. Sex offenders and pedophiles sent and received videos tapes, images, and VHS through mail.

But with the invention of online communities, it is easier these days to exchange pornographic material without going through the mail and without disclosing real names and identities. Nevertheless, the convenience brought to offenders and predators also comes with a risk – the risk of being tracked by modern day law enforcement.

Most law enforcement bodies, at least in the US are fully equipped in trapping child sex offenders, molesters, pornographers, and other criminals who rely so much on the internet for their plight. For instance, Asst. US Attorney Steven Debrota of Indiana is one of the vanguards of child pornography crimes. He recently tracked down and prosecuted a massive child porn ring under Operation Nest Egg.

For many other jurisdictions however, it is still very difficult to prosecute suspects due to insufficiency and inadmissibility of evidence to court, absence of laws against child pornography, and lack of law enforcement effort and urgency.

You see, our main concern really is to make people realize how serious the problem is and by doing that, we get to feed them information and statistics showing that every child and minor, even ours can be victims of pornography without us even knowing it.

Imagine this – there are actually thousands of American children and immigrants who are either forced to work or become child prostitutes each year in the state of Ohio. Though it’s uncommon to label any American state as a hub for sex trafficking, Ohio has in fact become one.

Now let’s see why:

Current numbers show that in a year, more than 1,000 US minors and about 800 immigrants (most entered the country illegally) are placed in sex dens and sweatshops. One of the main reasons why Ohio is an ideal place for this of trade is because of its nearness to the Canadian border and if you’re familiar with it, Toronto Airport is a very popular destination and meeting point of international child trafficking.

The State commission thinks the problem is attributed much to the rapid increase of immigrants. Canadian and American culprits find it more appealing to establish trade in Ohio because of the abundance of commodities – immigrant women and children.
Nonetheless, there’s perhaps the same blame to be placed on state laws as well.

If we carefully look into the state legislation, there is almost zero laws concerning human trafficking and if there is, they’re absolutely weak. Suffice to say, weak laws immediately correspond to weaker law enforcement. The police force cannot act assertively without the basis of a sufficient law to bring offenders to justice.

For instance, child prostitutes are labeled as delinquents so what happens is that blame is placed on the child’s shoulder while the real adult offenders are somehow bailed out for the crime. What needs to be done perhaps is to treat them as victims rather criminals. The ones deserving to be punished are the criminal network groups and offenders who make the issue worse for the whole state.

Most of us think children in developing countries are the usual victims of child trafficking and exploitation, right? But what if I tell you that the likelihood of an American teen, child or minor being trafficked or sexually abused is the same as those of anyone in poorer countries?

As dwellers of this prosperous and developed nation, we always have the notion that there are more people victimized by human trafficking in impoverished countries than in the United States. But statistics don’t lie, and it says otherwise. Not because our nation is rich that it also means we aren’t having trafficking issues.

In fact, the Department of Justice has released data stating that more than 250,000 American children and teens are at high risk of being subjected to domestic trafficking primarily for sexual trade and exploitation. Sex trafficking is both a last resort for children without families and relatives to help them and a big business for sex trafficking rings.

So does this mean child trafficking is an emerging social issue for Americans? I think so. Most of us deny such reality simply because it’s more forbearing to hear a child from Cambodia being trafficked than a kid from Cleveland. We do not invite the idea that more and more American teens are subjected to commercial sex trade because it’s the kind of issue that’s pretty much associated with inferior nations.

In reality however, the number of victims have increased dramatically and that includes not only domestic trafficking but also those who are shipped into the US from other countries. Because of the internet edge, sex offenders get the kind of medium they need to conduct business more discreetly and far from the hands of federal and state laws.

Who says crime prevention does not cross boundaries?

It’s good to know technology has at last contributed a positive effect in the battle against child exploitation and abuse. For more than a decade, web access has encouraged child predators and pedophiles to bring their trade online. Millions of children are becoming victims of child exploitation and until now, authorities find it hard locating culprits.

Recently, law enforcement bodies such as the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), Massachusetts State Police (MSP), and the Office of Homeland Security cracked down a sole operator of child sexual abuse. What’s particularly amazing about it is that the owner of the seized files is actually a continent away.

Through computer forensics, the combined efforts from different police groups enabled the extraction of pornographic data that included thousands of images and disturbing videos of a pedophile sexually exploiting a two-year old boy. INTERPOL coordinated with Amsterdam police and the suspect was apprehended.  

The internet is the major breeding ground of pornography and prostitution – that’s a fact. In this instance however, the web has played the protagonist of good. It’s quite awesome thinking law enforcement in Boston can actually conduct investigation and initiate arrest at the opposite side of the world.

Computer technology makes it easier for the law to produce evidence of child pornography and exploitation and the more offenders rely on computers and internet, the more they become prone to bust and arrest.

Though it sounds unfamiliar, computer forensics is actually just the method of getting a criminal’s footprint as he leaves his crime scene – commonly the web. Most computer data are admissible to court for many jurisdictions and this is specifically a major development towards the fight against child exploitation.

A lot of developed countries these days are seeing a good decline in the number of teens and minors engaging in premarital sex. Of course, the natural effect would be that there’ll be lesser cases of STDs and HIVs as well as unwanted pregnancies.

The case is somewhat very opposite in the United States. But who’s to blame?

According to Laura Wershler, executive director of Sexual Health Access in Alberta, Canada, much of the blame should be placed on the wrong approach towards sex education by American parents.

Earlier this month, Facebook launched a kind of crusade telling users to utilize images and photos of cartoon characters as a sign of support for the fight against child exploitation. It’s kind of amazing really knowing that the issue has gained attention to mainstream media.

Time magazine “person” of the year and Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg may have contributed something big in combating child abuse by letting the world know how serious the problem is. Facts wise, millions of children are trafficked, sexually abuse, and forced to work all over the world and that number may include your very own child.

The United Nations and ECPAT are there to promote international advocacy programs for the rights of children – particularly the Convention on the Rights of the Child. But the problem is, are they significant to stop exploitation and abuse? I think not!

Promoting child and women’s rights isn’t the same as battling those who abuse them, if you know what I mean. You see, you can always tell the whole world you value and respect human rights, but are you able to make valuable contributions to actually prevent people from abusing and exploiting children?

By changing/altering your Facebook profile picture to a cartoon character, you somehow share a dime to fill up a piggy bank. Long journeys always start with the first step and though lots of users question the meaning of such campaign, joining entails no risk whatsoever. So why not? Not unless you’re a child predator yourself.