UK is third largest market, says new report which estimates up to half a million children could be affected
Thousands of children in the Philippines are being sexually abused to order on live-video streams, much of which is being directed by paedophiles in the UK, according to a new report.
The University of Nottingham and the International Justice Mission, a human-rights NGO, have estimated that the number of children being abused in the south-east Asian country could be as high as 500,000 – or one in every 100 Filipino children.
It comes after the National Crime Agency warned the Philippines is the global hotspot for the production of live-streamed child sexual abuse and the UK is the third largest consumer.
The researchers ran a national household survey covering 150 municipalities, asking locals if they knew of child victims or adults selling such content. They then scaled up the data to create a country-wide estimate.