The implementation of remote learning set-up during the pandemic significantly increased our use of technology. Consequently, minors became more exposed to the cyber space for their developmental benefit and otherwise.

There were recent reports, uncovered by Senator Risa Hontiveros, of online groups and channels from various social media platforms openly engaging in digital sexual abuse and exploitation of children. She explained in detail how predators use social media platforms to advertise, sell, and trade photos and videos of minors, some of which are large enough in volume to require the services of cloud storage.

The Commission on Human Rights (CHR), as the country’s Gender Ombud, strongly denounces the existence of online spaces that perpetuates and promotes the exploitation of children. We reiterate that this is a heinous crime that tramples over the rights of minors, and causes lifelong consequences to victims and their families.

CHR, once again, echoes its support for the passage of Senate Bill No. 2209 or the Anti-Sexual Abuse and Exploitation of Children (OSAEC) Law. This key legislation will strengthen the role of law enforcement in pursuing offenders as well as improve government coordination and response through the establishment of the National Coordinating Center against OSAEC under the Inter Agency Council against Trafficking (IACAT). Further, it will require active responsibility from media platforms and internet service providers to take down and delete illegal contents related to the abuse and trafficking of minors.

With the law in place, CHR will be equipped with a stronger legal aegis to protect young people against child abusers and predators.

The fight against a complex digital network of perpetrators requires a holistic approach. Fortifying media and information literacy especially amid the implementation of virtual and blended learning is a must to teach users to be on alert against the dangers of the web. Efforts to make defense and complaints mechanisms accessible to everyone must also be prioritized in order to provide ample support for victims of cyber trafficking, most especially children and their families.

Thus, we call on the general public to be proactive and vigilant social media users and join us in our efforts to provide evidence and report such pages, groups, and other virtual channels engaging in OSAEC-related crimes to authorities.

It takes a community to raise a child, all the more with the uncertainties of growing up in a tech-savvy generation. CHR enjoins all to share the responsibility of embodying the role of digital guardians to make online spaces inclusive and safe for all—most especially for the vulnerable, most especially for children. ###