Online child sex tourism: Dutch men accused of live-stream sex abuse of Philippine kids

Two Dutch men are on trial this week for watching the sexual abuse of Philippine children via a livestream connection. Child sex tourism is moving increasingly online, and that is very concerning because it is much harder to detect, the Public Prosecution Service (OM) told NOS.

Today, a 55-year-old man from Almelo is on trial for allegedly paying to watch the sexual abuse of two minor girls in the Philippines. The police discovered the case by chance when a cop saw him receive a nude photo during a traffic check. When the officer asked about it, he admitted it was child pornography. Further investigation revealed that he paid to watch the girls’ sexual abuse via livestream.

According to the Telegraaf, the suspect is Gerard V. and will appear in the court in Dordrecht on Monday. He is accused of paying to watch at least two girls commit sexual acts on a live stream from 8 December 2022 to 21 October 2023.

In a separate case, a 26-year-old man from Spijk will appear in court on Friday. He is also accused of paying for Philippine children to perform sexual acts in front of a webcam.

“These are new forms of old-fashioned child sex tourism,” public prosecutor Linda van den Oever told the broadcaster. “The customer in a Western country pays for the abuse of a child on the other side of the world. Unfortunately, we have seen this happening more and more since the coronavirus pandemic. Not only in the Netherlands but all over the world. We are increasingly encountering images that originate from livestream moments.”

According to Van den Oever, online child sex abuse is considered an easy way to earn money in the Philippines, where many families live in poverty. The continuing demand from the West keeps it going. Many victims are under the age of 12 and are forced to cooperate by family members. “These family members are often women who are very close to the children, such as older sisters, cousins, and sometimes even mothers,” the prosecutor said.

It is very rare for Dutch perpetrators to come to trial. According to the OM, it is extremely challenging to track down clients in the West. “We often do not see that the abuse is taking place,” Van den Oever said. “There is one-on-one contact between the client and the victim, and the live streams are usually not recorded.” The abuse typically also happens via chat and video apps that encrypt their content.

If the police do encounter abuse footage, they first try to identify the children and remove them from the abusive situation. The Dutch police work closely with the Philippines on this.

A report by the aid organization International Justice Mission (IJM) and the British University of Nottingham showed that an estimated 470,000 children were sexually abused in the Philippines in 2022. That amounts to 1 in 100 children on the archipelago. According to the report, the high level of poverty, good internet connection, and English-speaking population make the Philippines ideal for this type of abuse.

“There has also always been a lot of child sex tourism,” IJM spokesperson Gertjan de Jong told NOS. “In the past, this mainly took place in bars, but that has been greatly reduced. Now, the abuse is more often hidden and difficult for the authorities to get a picture of.”