The Problem
What is happening to children in the Philippines is not a secret. It is well documented. What is missing is enough people who refuse to accept it.
The Philippines has been identified as the number one source country in the world for the production of child sexual exploitation material. This is not a ranking any country wants to hold. And yet, despite years of international attention, the crisis persists and grows.
Online Sexual Abuse and Exploitation of Children (OSAEC) is a specific and devastating form of trafficking. Abusers, often located in Western countries, pay to watch live-streamed abuse of Filipino children. The abuse is facilitated by local traffickers, and in many cases, by family members driven by extreme poverty.
The demand is global. The supply is local. And the children caught in between have no voice and no choice.
#1
The Philippines ranks first in the world for the production of online child sexual exploitation material.
109M
Total population
The Philippines is one of the most populous countries in Southeast Asia, with a young and rapidly growing population.
38.3M
Children under 18
More than one-third of the population are children. Millions of them live in poverty, making them vulnerable to exploitation.
5-7M
Orphaned or abandoned children
Estimates range from 1.8 million to as many as 5 to 7 million orphaned or abandoned children, many living on the streets with no protection.
70%+
OSAEC cases involve a family member
In a majority of documented cases, the exploitation is facilitated by a parent, relative, or caregiver. Poverty drives desperate choices.
Millions of Filipino families live on less than $2 a day. When a foreign buyer offers $50 to livestream a child's abuse, the economic pressure can overwhelm a desperate parent. Poverty does not excuse exploitation, but it creates the conditions where traffickers thrive.
The Philippines has one of the highest rates of social media and internet usage in the world. While connectivity brings opportunity, it has also made it easy for abusers to find, groom, and exploit children online from anywhere on the planet.
Filipino law enforcement, social services, and child welfare agencies are underfunded and overstretched. The number of cases far exceeds the capacity to investigate, prosecute, and care for survivors. Good people are fighting this fight, but they need help.
The buyers of this abuse are overwhelmingly located in wealthy Western nations. The demand is not a Filipino problem. It is a global one. As long as there are people willing to pay, there will be traffickers willing to supply.
Online Sexual Abuse and Exploitation of Children (OSAEC) refers to any form of sexual abuse or exploitation of children that involves the internet. This includes the live-streaming of abuse, the production and distribution of child sexual exploitation material, online grooming, and sextortion.
In the Philippines, the most common form is live-streamed abuse, where foreign buyers pay traffickers to direct the sexual abuse of a child in real-time via video call. The children are often very young. The abuse is severe.
OSAEC is not pornography. It is the documented sexual abuse of real children, produced on demand. Every image represents a crime against a child who cannot consent, cannot escape, and often cannot even ask for help.
The crisis is real. But so is the response. People are fighting back. And we are joining them.