About 1.5 mn internet-using children in Pakistan experienced at least one form of technology-facilitated sexual exploitation or abuse in a single year, according to a new study.
The study published jointly by UNICEF, ECPAT International and Interpol in Sept challenges the perception that online abuse is mainly perpetrated by strangers, the Dawn newspaper reported.In 85% of the incidents cited by children, the perpetrator was someone they already knew. Social media accounted for 44% of reported instances of abuse, making it the most commonly reported digital setting.
Nearly one in 16 internet-using children aged 12 to 17 in Pakistan, approximately 1.5 mn children, experienced at least one form of technology-facilitated sexual exploitation or abuse in a single year, the study said.
Fear, stigma and possible repercussions at home often prevent children from seeking help.
Victims may fear being blamed, humiliated or subjected to restrictions by their families. Boys, too, risk being overlooked because of social expectations about masculinity and the reluctance to discuss sexual abuse.
UNICEF says more than half of children who experienced technology-facilitated sexual exploitation or abuse did not tell anyone. None of the children surveyed reported their experiences through formal channels such as helplines, social workers or the police. Online abuse is part of a wider child-protection challenge shaped by poverty, displacement and disrupted access to essential services.
Meanwhile, presenting her final report to the UN General Assembly on Monday, Najat Maalla M'jid, the UN Secretary-General's Special Representative on Violence Against Children, urged governments to strengthen protections for children facing multiple and overlapping crises, the Dawn report said.
“Almost 45 million children are displaced because of conflict, but also because of natural disasters, because of the climate crisis,” she told journalists at the UN headquarters in New York.
Rapid advances in technology are creating new risks alongside opportunities for children to learn and communicate. Artificial intelligence has opened “huge avenues for child sexual exploitation”, as well as cyberbullying, deepfakes and the "recruitment of children into criminal activities", M'jid warned.
Despite progress, she said, the world continued to face complex and overlapping crises in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The UN General Assembly on Monday identified AI-generated sexual material as an emerging risk. The abuses include unwanted sexual images or conversations, demands for intimate photographs, the non-consensual sharing of children's images, and sexual threats or blackmail. - PTI
