The number of cases of online sex exploitation, including of children, appeared to skyrocket last year as people spent more time on computers. The est

Pandemic Lockdowns Aided Predators Worldwide, Especially Online, U.S. Says

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2021-07-02 00:30:05

The number of cases of online sex exploitation, including of children, appeared to skyrocket last year as people spent more time on computers.

The estimate we often cite is that nearly 25 million people worldwide are victims of human trafficking. Many are compelled into commercial sex work. Many are forced to work in factories or fields or to join armed groups. Millions of trafficking victims are children. This crime is an affront to human rights. It’s an affront to human dignity. We also report on what’s happening in Xinjiang, in the autonomous region of China. The Chinese government has detained more than one million people in as many as 1,200 state-run internment camps throughout Xinjiang. Many detainees are subjected to physical violence, sexual abuse and torture to induce them to work, producing apparel, electronics, solar equipment, agricultural products. And while the practices are the most egregious in Xinjiang, this year’s report notes that China has subjected its citizens to coercive labor practices in other parts of the country as well. Human traffickers seized the opportunity to grow their operations. People who are pushed into dire economic circumstances by the pandemic became more vulnerable to exploitation. And as more people spent hours online for school and work, traffickers used the internet to groom and recruit potential victims. So we must do everything we can as a country, but also as a global community to stop trafficking wherever it occurs.

WASHINGTON — Predators worldwide took advantage of pandemic restrictions last year to draw more people into forced labor and sex trafficking, including children who spent their days online under government-imposed stay-at-home orders, according to a new State Department report.