CHILD WEBCAM SEX TRADE BOOMING

There’s a shift in these centres from the Philippines to Thailand, says UN

DEMAND for sex with children is an emerging cause of human trafficking in the Mekong region, the United Nations said yesterday, as it pointed to a shift in child sex webcam centres from the Philippines to Thailand.

The problem had grown so much that demand for child webcam sex tourism is “outstripping the supply”, Deanna Davy, senior research consultant at the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), said at the launch of a new trafficking report here.

Thailand is a regional hub for the smuggling and trafficking of people from countries such as Cambodia and Myanmar.

Many are forced to work in Thailand’s sex industry and in labour intensive sectors, such as fishing, construction and agriculture, where they are sometimes subject to abuse, according to investigations by rights groups.

Four million migrants live in Thailand, according to 2015 government data.

UNODC estimates that between four and 23 per cent are trafficking victims.

Jeremy Douglas, regional representative of UNODC, said recent intelligence showed a shift in child sex abuse webcam centres to Thailand from the Philippines, where authorities have tried to crack down on the illegal trade.

“It used to be the Philippines, but we’ve found that it’s moving here.”

A spokesman for the Thai government was not able to comment immediately on the UNODC findings.

A report last year by the UN children’s agency said poor families in the Philippines were pushing their children into performing live sex online for paedophiles around the globe, calling it a form of “child slavery”.

UNODC pointed yesterday to child sex abuse, along with trafficked migrant labour for illegal logging purposes, as emerging trafficking issues of concern in the region. Reuters