It feels like forever since our plans were laid down for five simultaneous raids that were set for February. Unfortunately Coronavirus hit and just as we were scheduled to be in the field both the host countries and the deploying countries began closing borders.
Our partners on the ground have continued to work around the clock and have secured several individual arrests and rescues, however, the large scale impact that we worked so hard for was flouted by Coronavirus. Some of these cases will require revalidation prior to an arrest, but the bulk of the work has been done and we know where and who we’re targeting in that city. For those curious, revalidation takes far less time and resource.
We’ve just drawn up plans for a new office space in South-East Asia and should begin building soon. This is a crucial step in further establishing ourselves in-country. Up until now we have borrowed an office space and registered from there.
Online Sexual Exploitation Cases continue to rise all around the world, and it should come as no surprise that Online Sexual Exploitation Cases are surging particularly in countries with solid internet access but lower GDP. This creates a power dynamic where foreign currencies like the Australian Dollar and the US Dollar make it worthwhile for traffickers to produce content at an exponential rate. The wealthy nations are the prime drivers of this trend, so we need to be the ones to empower these nations to fight it. The Australian Centre for Countering Child Exploitation has seen a 120% jump (1731 visits per month up from 776 last year) in online child sexual exploitation material accessed by Aussies in, much of it during these COVID-19 affected months. Likewise the US National Center for Missing and Exploited Children has seen an increase from 980,000 reports to over 2,000,000 reports.
We plan to get back in the cyber game towards the end of this year and would love you to reach out if you have the requisite skills to assist (whether you’re able to train or operate, or if you know of people who can).