E/CN.15/2014/CRP.1 Poverty and migration Direct research on the relationship between poverty and migration patterns, and ICT-facilitated abuse and exploitation of children, is limited. To the extent, however, that poverty and migration represent risk factors for abuse and exploitation of children in general,152 broad associations may also exist in respect of such conduct that also involves ICTs. For example, a family or community member might use traditional offline means to recruit a child for work in another country under the pretence of offering employment such as domestic work. Once in the destination country, however, the child may be forced to engage in commercial sex or in the production of child sexual abuse material.153 One study of children trafficked for the purposes of sexual exploitation in the United States, Canada, and Mexico, identified poverty as the most consistent common trait of victims.154 Age Very young children are increasingly victimized in child sexual abuse material and child sex trafficking. Recent figures from the Internet Watch Foundation suggest that as many as 81 per cent of victims in known child abuse images are ten and under, and three per cent are two years of age or younger. This figure is up from 74 per cent in 2011.155 Another recent study found that 83 per cent of child sexual abuse material-consumers possessed videos or images displaying prepubescent children. Of these, over 80 per cent owned material involving children between the ages of six and 12 years, and around 40 per cent had images of children between the ages of three and five. Alarmingly, 19 per cent of child sexual abuse material-possessors had images of babies and infants under the age of three. 156 Sexual exploiters of children may also engage very young children in commercial sex. The average age of sex tourism victims is estimated to be 14 years, although victimization of children as young as five years old is becoming increasingly common.157 Commercial sexual exploiters of children have capitalized on the growing demand for young children by recruiting increasingly younger victims.158 Adolescents face the highest risk of cyber-enticement, exposure to harmful material, and cyber-bullying, particularly since they may be more prone than younger children to engage more readily in communications with strangers.159 Adolescents are also more likely to post suggestive or indecent pictures of themselves in public and semipublic online forums, despite not necessarily having the necessary skills to recognize and disengage from dangerous situations.160 Studies show that cyber-bullying also peaks during adolescence, at around 13 to 14 years of age,161 with the vast majority of bullying victims aged between 12 and 17 years. The age-range for cyber-bullying victims correlates with that for offline bullying. This is not surprising, given that many instances of cyber-bullying are ancillary to offline bullying. For instance, some bullies may target children at school and then continue to harass their victim out of school time, through online connections. 162 __________________ 152 153 154 155 156 157 158 159 160 161 162 26 Bartlett, S. 2009. Environments of Poverty and What they Mean for Child Protection. Save the Children, Sweden. Trinidad, A.C. 2005. P. 67. Estes, R. J., Weiner, N. A., 2002. Pp. 41-42. IWF, 2014. P. 11. NCMEC, 2005. Child Pornography Possessors Arrested in Internet-Related Crimes: Findings for the National Juvenile Online Victimization Study. Pp. vii, 4. World Vision “Child Sex Tourism Prevention” 2014 http://www.worldvision.org/worldvision/pr.nsf/stable/child_sex_tourism_background. (Noting that children are prostituted in virtually every country around the world. Currently, an estimated two million children worldwide - some as young as 5 years old - are enslaved in the commercial sex trade. Many of these children are forced, coerced or tricked into prostitution) Shared Hope International “FAQs about child sex trafficking” 2014 http://sharedhope.org/learn/faqs/ The Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University, 2008. Pp. 19-20, 39-40. Choo, K. R., 2009. P. 7 (Noting that children are still learning how to communicate effectively so they are less likely to be as socially skilled as adults (internal citations omitted). The Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University, 2008. P. 11. Lenhart, A., 2007. Cyber-bullying and Online Teens. Pew Internet and American Life Project. Available at http://www.pewinternet.org/2007/06/27/cyberbullying/. V.14-03040