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- An increasing number of children are experiencing online sexual exploitation and abuse.
- Many of these children are offered gifts or money for sexual acts or explicit content.
- Half of these children never tell anyone.
Between 7% and 9% of South African children, aged between 9 and 17, have experienced online sexual exploitation and abuse.
This is according to The Disrupting Harm in South Africa report, which details evidence of online child abuse based on self-reported data. The authors of the report cautioned that there could be a level of underreporting, as the child respondents may have been reluctant to divulge traumatic experiences.
South Africa was one of 13 countries where online child sexual exploitation and abuse was assessed. The other countries were Kenya, Uganda, Thailand, Tanzania, Ethiopia, the Philippines, Vietnam, Namibia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Cambodia, and Mozambique.
The report is a collaboration between ECPAT International, Interpol, and Unicef.
The report found that 9% of the respondents had been offered money or gifts to engage in sexual activities in person, and another 9% said they had been offered money or gifts to share sexual images or videos.
Of the respondents, 7% said they had been threatened or blackmailed to engage in sexual activities. Another 7% said sexual images had been shared without permission.
The perpetrators of online child sexual exploitation and abuse were largely strangers to the children, the report found. Around 45% of the perpetrators were unknown to the child, with family members making up only 3%.
The majority of children who experienced online child sexual exploitation and abuse did not report it to an adult or the authorities. Half of them did not tell anyone, while those that did disclose the abuse, told their friends.
The report estimated that less than 2% of all cases were reported to the police or a helpline. The report stated 71% of frontline workers indicated that a lack of knowledge and understanding about the risks of online child sexual exploitation and abuse was one of the most significant reasons for the lack of reporting, because parents couldn’t provide their children with the appropriate advice.
Cultural barriers and stigma also led to a lack of reporting, the research suggests.
Social Development Minister Lindiwe Zulu said the research findings were "shocking".
She added that the report would form baseline data for her department to use in developing policies, programmes and research.
"The Disrupting Harm in South Africa study is presenting us with national data that we need in our quest to protect our children."
