Instances of Online Child Sex Abuse on the Rise

24 February, 2020

A series of reports from tech companies show that, in 2019, there was a peak, of up to50% in comparison with last year, in the number of audiovisual material showing child sex abuse online. The data showed that the tech platforms with most users around the globe, like Facebook or Instragram, have users sharing illegal content, despite their security and privacy policies.

Information Center Filled with Pictures

Image Taken from the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children Facebook Page

The National Center for Missing & Exploited Children is an office with federal jurisdiction in the USA. It works with every public security agency. Last year, this office managed to compile, at least, 70 million pictures and videos with illegal content showing child sex abuse.

The Center reported that the amount of video shared through social media reached a record. Luckily, these illegal videos have always been popular among sex predators, and now these are more easily detected by some of the aforementioned digital companies.

More than 41 million videos were reported, an alarming figure if compared to five years ago, which it did not go over 350 thousand. Many of the pictures and videos were pinned down in multiple occasions as users received them.

The Center shared with the journal department of The New York Times which digital platforms reported the most amount of pictures of child sex abuse. The report details as follows:

Facebook: 60 million pictures and videos. The figure represents more than 85% of the total amount.

Instagram: now from Facebook, was responsible for 1.7 million additional pictures and videos.

Instagram has been the social network of choice by pedophiles; however, Facebook’s Messenger is taking the lead; the number of user can be reason of the increase.

Facebook claims that half the content found does not fully qualified as illegal, but it was reported as such to support the investigations from different public security institutions on this matter.

Snapchat, Twitter, and other social network companies also handed their reports on the pictures taken on their platforms. Moreover, search engines like Google, Microsoft, Dropbox, and the chat platform, Discord, also detected illegal content.

Children are not Adult Entertainment

An adolescent notified the adult web site, Pornhub, which the video of her rape was posted on the platform with very explicit taglines about what the users would watch. Not only the victim had to face the trauma for the rape, but the online exposure made her relive the attack over and over again.

The crime happened back in 2009, when the victim was 14 old. Two men recorded certain moments of the rapping and post them on the web site. Few months later, several people of her school shared the link of Pornhub, where there was various videos posted of the attack she was submitted to.

It was not until she pretended to be a lawyer ready to sue that the aforementioned web page removed the videos. For the victim, each of the 400 thousand views felt as a new attack.

The web site stated that accusations for videos with illegal content date back to 2009, with the previous headboard, and nowadays there are more strict measures and policies to fight unauthorized and illegal content as part of their stand against promotion of material displaying child sex abuse.

Currently, digital platforms use sophisticated technologies based on the experiences of their workers to detect, report, and eliminate any a/v material with illegal content or with child abuse, as well any attempt of sharing said content. Many companies train their own staff, others use third parties like Vobile, specialist in digital identification, who compares all new posts against potentially unauthorized material, and it makes sure that original video does not make it into the platform.

Richard Bucci: Pedophilia does not kill anyone, Abortion does

Rafael Núñez

17 February, 2020

The priest, Richard Bucci, from the church of Providence in Rhode Island, United States, stirred the public opinion with his incendiary declarations on pedophilia and abortion. He claims that child abuse –although horrible- cannot be compare with abortion that kills newborns, even more than those who have been accused. His intention was to promote the debate regarding the priorities of the ecclesiastic institution and the heaviness of the punishments that those who molested children received.

Even more Scandals for the Church

Father Bucci stated that, even though sexual abuse is something hideous, the comparison with abortion is unfair. His words came after it became public a report he wrote in which he excommunicated a group of lawmakers from Rhode Island who supported the state’s abortion law; a law approved in June that established protection for abortion. The 40 lawmakers listed in the report must not:

Receive communion,
Act as godfathers
Read in the mass.

Abortion is considered by the Catholic Church as a grave sin that goes against the moral law; nevertheless, in 2016, Pope Francis extended indefinitely the power Catholic priests had to forgive them.

On the other hand, Carol Hagan McEntee, one of the lawmakers included on the list, said in an interview that claiming pedophilia does not kill anyone is absurd; she also added that “it steals the childhood and soul” of the abused children. In 2019, the same lawmaker presented a bill asking for the extension to limitation statute of the State for victims of child abuse.

The lawmaker’s sister, Anne Hagan Webb, said she was abused by a priest from Sacred Heart when she was a little girl. Mc Entee considers that the Catholic Church has not held itself accountable for the abuse accusations against children. She also invited Bucci to visit the State’s Capitol to listen to victims’ testimonies so he can have a complete different opinion. Many of the victims of child abuse by the hands of priest said they lose faith completely.

Putting down Bucci’s Flames

Richard Bucci has not said anything regarding his statements; therefore, in his defense, the Bishop of Providence spoke on behalf of the Catholic Church to calm everyone down, and to shed some light regarding the opinion expressed in the report.

Monsignor Tobin said that both child abuse and abortion are considered, by the Catholic Church, as horrible and immoral actions that carry heavy consequences.

Moreover, he emphasized that “sexual abuse, not matter when or where it happens, causes a lingering and devastating pain that can even last for life for the victims/survivors, their families, and the entire community.”

Likewise, he cleared out that all claims of sexual abuse must be taken seriously, and there needs be joined efforts to protect children and adolescents, to eradicate the abuse, to process the abusers, and to offer assistance to those affected by the abuse.

Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, before becoming Pope, qualified child abuse as “a horrendous sin in the eyes of God”; he also added that people who have committed sexual abuses must not receive the Eucharist without confessing said sin.

On this matter, the victims of child abuse from priests expect heavier actions from the Church to eliminate this problem for the sake of the following generations.

Truth Promises to Reveal Everything about Pedophilia in Hollywood

Rafael Núñez

7 February, 2020

Hollywood has been involved in sex scandals of all sorts. Recently, this topic is back on discussion with the new documentary from Corey Feldman entitled Truth: The rape of 2 Corey. In it, he states that the most powerful film industry hides a pedophilia network.

Corey Feldman’s Truth

Hollywood is the place to go for every actor that dreams with being a star. The epicenter of the movie industry produces films of all kinds, and entertainment for all ages. However, the industry is also known for having sex predators within it, among these predators there are those who abuse children and adolescents.

Corey Feldman and Corey Haim were two child stars in the 80’s. Their fame as teen stars sky rocketed thanks to their performances in the movies Stand by Me, The Goonies, and the very popular Gremlins. Haim past away in estrange circumstances in 2010.

Image Taken from Gianni Rossello’s Facebook Page

Next March, Feldman will premier his documentary exposing the sexual abuses they both suffered when they were children. The documentary will reveal who were the responsible of these abuses.

Corey Feldman raised his voice during Dr. Oz TV show. The actor accused the writer, Jon Grissom, of being one of the protagonists of these abuses, and he revealed other names never revealed before in his memoirs.

After the progress done by the Me Too movement and his confession in Dr. Oz, Feldman decided to do his documentary: Truth: the Rape of 2 Coreys, in which he narrates his and his friend experiences as victims of pedophilia in Hollywood. The documentary will be broadcasted for all audiences.

Hollywood’s Biggest Problem is Pedophilia

Image Taken from Corey Feldman’s Facebook

Feldman says that before doing this documentary, he had to overcome many obstacles and threats he received for it. Nevertheless, this is not the first documentary on this matter; previously, it was An Open Secret that –although it did not have as many obstacles as this one- it had issues with its distribution, up to the point it was transmitted openly.

On this sense, Feldman was not the first to mention the pedophilia issue in the industry. In 2016, Elijah Wood revealed that there is a network of child abusers protected by people in high positions, which makes it even worst.

During an interview for the Sunday Times, the actor from The Lord of the Rings explained: “If you are innocent, if you have little knowledge of the world and you wish to be successful, people with parasitic intentions will see you as prey.” He also added that: “the victims’ voice is not as strong as theirs. The victims can be silenced, and their life damaged anything.”

An Open Secret was a documentary from the film director and Oscar nominee, Amy Berg, on child abuse in Hollywood. The purpose was to uncovered an alleged network that involves important names of the industry.

Image Taken from An Open Secret Official Facebook Page

Berg, known for her documentary Deliver Us from Evil –which explored pedophilia within the Catholic Church-, projected this new documentary in Cannes, apparently the only space where could be shown. After the article on The New York Times about the sexual abuses done by Harvey Weinstein, Berg decided to upload the documentary on the platform Vimeo, so it could be seen gratuitously.

This documentary narrates first-hand the abuses young actress, while still being minors, by managers, publicists, film directors. The testimonies are presented with the support of journalists and psychologists who presented the evidences.

The producer, Gabe Hoffman, said that what is shown in the documentary is just the tip of the iceberg; it is estimated that for every victim in the documentary, there are five or ten more confirmed victims who wanted their identity to remain hidden.

Image Taken from An Open Secret Official’s Page

The film reveals parties known since 2014 after one of the victims made it public, as well as more customized parties, in which children were the center of the entertainment of older men linked to the industry.

Berg’s documentary and Feldman’s documentary both have the intention of revealing the truth, removing pedophiles from the system, and to help victims of abuse to avoid engaging in self-destructives behavior like alcoholism and substance abuse.

The specialists mentioned that the severity of the sequels it has on the victim will depend on the frequency and the time it lasted the abuse, including the use of threats or violence to enforce the abuse.

Feldman has not been taken very serious due to his erratic behavior and his tendency to consume substances; however, these attitudes clearly show the sequels of a person who was victim of abuse at a young age.

TikTok has to pay millions in fines for storing data from children

Rafael Núñez

27 January, 2020

Tik Tok, the Chinese app that occupies the fourth place in the list of 2019’s most downloaded apps, was fined almost 6 million dollars for storing data from children, making it fertile ground for grooming, since it has absolutely no parental control option. This fine broke the record and is now the highest monetary fine ever imposed on anyone accused of interfering with a child’s privacy.

A space of all your own, and full of danger

According to experts, TikTok is a network in which children and teenagers enjoy space of their own, free of parental interference or supervision, since accounts aren’t shared.

Data provided by Digiday points out that 60% of the network’s users are aged between 16 and 24, though there are probably younger users. The network’s main objective is for its users to have fun creating music videos, duets and challenges; it also has a wide range of creative options, meant to attract members of the GenZ.

The app makes it difficult to verify users’ actual ages. This problem is present in all social media platforms, but in TikTok’s case the issue is more pressing due to the high amount of minors using it.

Image source: Informática y Algo más’ Facebook

This Chinese network has yet to be included in the Global Internet Forum. It’s also under investigation in the United Kingdom due to fears it may become a pedophile magnet. It’s a cyberspace in which victims and aggressors can easily cohabit: cases have been reported of children having been subjected to grooming.

British newspaper The Sun looked into many of them, especially one in which the 8-year-old victims received a number of TikTok messages sent by adults, threatening them in order to gain sexual favors.

Minors still make regular use of the app, unaware of the fact that they can become victims. Even worse, children still don’t know in which servers the videos are stored.

Chicken Nuggets and ice cream

Another social network in the hot seat is Facebook. A new strategy implemented by pedophiles everywhere in order to attract, grow close to or attack children is to pretend to be inanimate objects in order to contact them.

In order to attract potential victims, aggressors use pictures of food as avatars, such as ice cream or chicken nuggets, or names of famous streets. Some use it only to access photos of children, others to contact them.

Previous estimates placed Instagram as the network where most pedophiles contacted children, followed by Facebook. With this new method of attack, perverts have found yet another way to access private photos from minors, by hiding behind a fake profile.

Parents must be aware of the kind of pictures children upload to the web, and not only on social media. Portals such as Musical.ly attract children as young as 5, 6 and 7 since it can be used to lip-sync to their favorite songs, including short videos where they dance as their favorite singers.

A girl whose account had only 20 followers –four of which she didn’t know—received anonymous messages in which someone suggested she would get more likes if she sang in her underwear.

It’s important to know that if a child constantly publishes photos of his or her surrounding, criminals can locate them and potentially attack them. For this and many other reasons, it’s of the utmost importance to monitor all minors’ web activity.

#Pizzagate: Justin Bieber revives conspiracy theory with new videoclip

Rafael Núñez

20 January, 2020

CPIU Pizzagate Justin Bieber revives conspiracy theory with new videoclip 01 — Image source: Ice Cream Conversation Facebook

#Yummy, Justin Bieber’s new promotional video, has brought new life into the #Pizzagate conspiracy theory by trending in social media, where the video is considered an accusation against a Hollywood pedophile network.

Pizza is #Yummy

Bieber’s video is full of tiny details that the singer himself added, including his clothing, as he looks like a sweet pink ice cream cone with a necklace of candy that melts in your mouth.

In the video, four children play symphonic instruments for an audience of presumed millionaires, apparently representing people linked to the music industry. Bieber has previously spoken about the way the music industry is full of pedophiles.

The video represents the singer’s comeback into the music scene and straight into the mouths of everyone, since not only his fans helped revive the conspiracy theory about a pedophile network, but because the promotional campaign was itself very unusual: Bieber posted a number of photos to his social media with nothing but the #Yummy hashtag.

Because of this, many are looking at Katy Perry‘s Bon Appétit video with different eyes. Though it doesn’t seem to claim the existence of a pedophile network, fans can’t stop comparing it with Bieber’s video because both include a bizarre buffet in which the artist is the main course.

Back in 2017, Perry launched her Last Friday Night video in which she took on the role of a teenager after a party that went out of control, portraying herself as a vulnerable person found in the midst of the crazy world of frat parties.

Consider the fact that, in Pizzagate, the allegedly most powerful pedophile networks in the entire world – using minors for all manner of sexual purposes – food items are used as code:

Hotdogs/ children
Pizza/ girls
Ice cream/ male sex workers

What is Pizzagate? How and when did it appear?

Pizzagate is a conspiracy theory about an alleged pedophile network that popped up in the U.S. during the 2016 presidential elections. A number of organizations proved it was false, including the Columbia Metropolitan Police Department in Washington, where it all began.

The information was spread through social media, placing the Comet Ping Pong pizza chain as the center of the supposed scandal, and claimed 2016 presidential candidate Hillary Clinton was involved.

The accusations led to Edgar Maddison Welch to walk into one of the pizza chain’s restaurants shooting a gun, with the supposed purpose of saving children from a network of slavery. Thankfully no one was seriously hurt. Afterwards, the authorities dismissed the existance of the alleged network and that John Podesta, ex-president of Clinton’s presidential campaign had children working as sex slaves in the restaurant.

However, in the last few years, Comet employees have reported a number of smaller attacks and constant online harassment. The restaurant chain was never under police investigation and the absence of evidence only increased the conspiracy theory.

For Michael Barkun, author of the A Culture of Conspiracy: Apocalyptic Visions in Contemporary America, Pizzagate refers to “pizza” and “cheese” as keywords found in Podesta’s e-mails, made public via WikiLeaks. It also talks about the links that James Alefantis, owner of the Comet, has with Democratic donors, which also tinted the case as politically-oriented fake news.

James Broderick, English professor at the New Jersey City University and co-author of Web of Conspiracy: A Guide to Conspiracy Theory Sites on the Internet, also claims that conspiracy theories can help Conspiracy Theorist assimilate terrible news, such as abuse cases including the catholic church, for example.

Man Hacks Security Cam and Talks to an 8-years-old Girl

Rafael Núñez

15 January, 2020

A video recorded in December 2019, with a smart camera Ring, show how an eight year old girl had a conversation with a unknown man that hacked the camera and posed as Santa Claus.

“I am Santa Claus, I am your best friend”

The voice coming out from the system said he was the Christmas character and her best friend. In the video, the girl is seen roaming around the room while asking who the man was. The man, after introducing himself as Santa Claus, also gives the girl permission to do whatever she pleases in the room. For several minutes, the male voice insults the girl and tries to persuade her so she misbehaves.

The video was recorded by the Ring camera, and later shared on social networks by the girl’s parents. The idea was to warn other families about the security measures they can take with this device.

The family said the security system was installed in the bedroom the girl share with her two younger sisters.

The images show a very frightened girl, calling for her mom. After this incident was known, other cases similar to this came became known, the only difference was that the girl was attacked with racial slurs.

Ring is an Amazon product. The company stated that this situation is nowhere related to the security breach. The web site, Motherboard, indicated that some Internet forums offer software to easily access these devices.

Likewise, Amazon’s recommendation was to do the necessary security adjustments like the two steps verification, for example, to prevent these kinds of breaches. IT security experts say that every device connected to the Internet can be compromised if the basic precautions are not taken into consideration.

This incident was about convincing a little girl to misbehave, but this type of privacy violations can expose minors to the wrong people, becoming part of a new type of harassment: grooming.

A Ring for Grooming

Ring security cameras are meant to keep an eye on children while they are alone in their bedrooms, and to watch over their sleep hours. Nevertheless, these cases proved that a voyeur can take advantage of these cameras to spy children in the intimacy of their bedrooms and to get something more than just their privacy.

In Ring’s case, the two-step verification is the best solution to shield your security system, and to avoid these cases of invasion of privacy. Online harassment, or grooming, can be prevented with the followings measures:

Do not give or make accessible any personal information or picture that can be used for other purposes.
Preserve the confidentiality of your account user and computer through passwords.
Do not give in to blackmail under any circumstance.
Do not doubt in asking for help before any new situation that causes great emotional stress
As adults, we must control and supervise children’s access to Internet
Grow awareness on children about the existing dangers on the Internet
Keep an open communication channel with your children to create an environment of trust
Instal an antivirus or parental control softwarefor the device the child uses so it can be protected before any situation
As parents, we have to analyze what crimes or an illegal action has the stalker done, and which can be proved when reporting the harassment. Gather all the evidence of said crime.

Recently, Microsoft presented a tool that can identify sexual predators that chat with minors. This tool uses an automatic technique which analyzes the conversation history and then decides if the thread should be notified. Afterwards, it scores the level of threat.

This tool is part of the Artemis project to fight grooming. It will be implemented in the text-based chats’ histories to evaluate and assets the characteristics of the conversation, and then it will score the content.

Human moderators will intervene to check the tool when the company considers it necessary. They will be able to identify the threat or a possible case of exploitation and child abuse, and report it to the police.

Hacker speaks to young girl through Ring camera

SO CREEPY! A hacker can be heard on an Amazon Ring camera speaking to a young girl watching TV. The man's voice said: “What are you watching? Hey, What show is that? I’ve seen that show before. What season are you on?” STORY: http://bit.ly/2RQxmUy

Posted by FOX 13 News – Tampa Bay on Friday, December 13, 2019

An 8-Year-Old Had A Terrifying Exchange With A Stranger After He Hacked Into Her Family's Ring Camera

A stranger hacked into the LeMay family's Ring security system and interacted with Alyssa for nearly 10 minutes. Alyssa's mom wants to know how hackers were able to break the Amazon-owned product and compromise their privacy. Read more here: https://bzfd.it/2YW6eF2

Posted by BuzzFeed News on Monday, December 16, 2019

Pedophilia in French Literature

Rafael Núñez

8 January, 2020

French writer, Vanessa Springora, published her memoirs titled Le Consentement (“Consented”). The previews, given to the press, show the way the author depicts, in her book, how she was seduced by a famous writer when she was only 14 years of age.

Consent, at 14 years of age?

On January 2nd, the memoirs of 47-years-old Vanessa Springora were on sale with the title Consented. In her books, she narrates how she was seduced by the famous writer, Gabriel Matzneff when he 50 years old, and she was 14 years old.

“How can you admit you were abused when you cannot deny you gave your consent, and when you felt that adult did not waste any time to take advantage of it? I too will have to deal with feeling this victim complex for years”.

Like this, Springora, editor of Julliard, shakes the literary world with a 200-pages book, describing the influence the writer had in their relationship. Moreover, the book deals with the ambiguity existing back in the 80’s, in which sexual liberation and defense of pedophilia were intertwined, and where Matzneff provoked the fascination of the literary world.

Image Taken from the Daily Journal’s Official Facebook Page

By 1990, the Canadian writer, Denise Bombardier, described him as “one of those men that lure children with candies”, during Bernard Pivot’s show called Apostrophes, after Matzneff’s journals, Mes amours decomposes, became public between 1983 and 1984. Matzneff describes his sexual adventures with underage children of both sex, as well as his trip to Manila, the Philippines, where he abused children of ages 11 and 12.

At that moment, the writer was asked to retire, without taking away from him his taste for minors, the so-called libertine pleasure, as the press called it when they defended Matzneff from the Canadian writer’s accusation.

Springora analyzes the limits of consent in her newest book, especially in such an unbalanced relationship as the one presented in the book. She also criticizes the French intellectuals of that moment who never stood against people like him; on the contrary, they gave him the Renaudot award in 2013, thus proving that every institution failed to stop individuals such as Matzneff.

Literature was more Important than Moral in the 70s and 80s

This fact was recently acknowledged by Pivot in his Social Networks. He added that now moral is more important than literature, which is a step forward, understanding that writers are the intellectual and moral product of a country and their time.

Nowadays, Matzneff, age 83, writes about spirituality and religion for the magazine Le Point. He acknowledges how sad he is for a “hostile, harmful, and clearly driven to bring him down.”

The editorial, Gallimard, in an independent course of action, has interrupted the sales of the writer’s journals, and it has removed the printed editions from bookshelves. This action is followed by the decision of the Ministry of Culture of taking away the economic aid for French writers with economic struggles; an aid Matzneff has enjoyed for 20 years. Likewise, they will review all the acknowledgments he received during his career.

An Investigation for Lack of Consent

Image Taken from the Official Facebook Page

Paris’ prosecutor office opened a preliminary investigation against Gabriel Matzneff for raping a 15 years-old minor, after analyzing the book Consent. The investigations are in charge of the Central Office for Reduction of Violence against People (CORVP), who will focus, specifically, on Springora.

The accusation’s aim is to find more victims of the writer, since in many of his works, like Les moins de seize ans (“Under sixteen”); he narrates sexual encounters with teenagers, boys, and girls of 11 years of age.

The prosecution’s motivation is to begin with the process and to provide answer to the victims, although it is likely the process stops due to prescription of crime, when there is a possible case of rape and sexual aggression against a minor.

On top of that, there is the opinion of the secretary of State for equality and child protection, who said that the cases of pedophilia must be firmly fought and they applaud Spingora’s courage for publishing her book.

Abused Children Become Victims once again in the Pursuit of Justice

Rafael Núñez

16 December, 2019

According to the date from the Organization for Cooperation and Economic Development (OCED), Mexico is in first place regarding sex crimes towards children. On the other hand, the organization Guardians warns that parents do not know how to identify sex abuse on their children; moreover, victims of this crime go through painful legal processes that make them feel like victims once again.

When the Aggressors are Close

During 2016, the School Montessori Matatena was in the eye of the storm after several complaints to the owner’s husband of the institution for sex abuse.

One the victims, age four, not only was abused very young, but he had to experience a rocky legal process that lasted, at least, three years until there was a sentence.

The boy’s mother stated that the legal process affected him more the abuse itself, it created a feeling of intimidation and threat that the legal system should have protected him.

The boy was submitted up to 20 hours of questioning, testifying time and again on the incident; something very hard, even for an adult. For the boy’s parents, the entire process felt as a double abuse: sexual and psychological, since the child suffered a regression in their recovery every time he was exposed to these endless questionings.

The trial lasted for three years and took a toll on everyone, adding to the media attention it had because a prestige school was involved.

The little boy had collateral effects like being submitted to HIV tests to clear is there was any contagion of this virus at early age.

Sequels of Sex Abuse in Childhood

The sequels of abuse are very deep, especially during the first years. In the report Violence in the First Childhood, the organization Guardians shows the importance of education during the first six years, and how much it affects the child an abuse experience at that stage of life.

Besides not knowing, in many cases, how to identify and deal with a sex abuse situation, many parents do not know their rights and which civil laws exist to file the complaint, even when having the will of reporting these cases of abuse.

The sequels this type of abuse leaves on children are extremely deep. These are some of those:

Regression of development
Sleep alterations
Social isolation
Teen pregnancies
STDs
Drug use

Abuse can happen progressively: the aggressor starts with groping, following it with seduction, and finally sexual interaction. Once this moment is reached, a change can be noticed in the child, which leads to discovery, which can happen on accident, by being caught in the act or by the child revealing it, via drawings verbally, or by playing.

Extreme violence happens when the aggressor goes straight for physical contact, attacking the victim and threatening them.

Abuse is harder to detect in younger children, since they don’t have the necessary tools to express themselves. Generally, the aggressor is part of their environment, which is why it’s important for parents to believe children when they make accusations, take the appropriate legal steps and find professional support for the child, in order to help them recover some semblance of normalcy in their everyday lives.

Child Victims Act now Available in Spanish

Rafael Núñez

27 November, 2019

CPIU Child Victims Act now Available in Spanish 01 — Image Taken from the Safe Horizon Official Facebook Page

Last August came into form the Child Victims Act, and thousands of Spanish speakers went of looking for information on this new legislation. This fact lead the organization Safe Horizon to publish on their web page a translation to Spanish so people can know about the protection it provides to one of the most vulnerable parts of our society: children.

Child Victims Act in New York

The organization Safe Horizon announced that more than 2000 Spanish-speaking users visited the web page looking for information about this law since it came into force. This number represents 1/3 of total amount of visits, reason enough to translate the Act so the information accessible in a clear manner for those interested.

In this regard, the ads of public services on the organization’s Social Networks received twice the visits that the English version (112,500 vs. 54,000, respectively); moreover, it is the most shared post. It has the most amounts of comment and reactions with emojis.

This new act gives sexual abuse victim survivors an extra five years to press charges against the perpetrators. On that note, the limit age for pressing charges for a sexual abuse case during childhood changed to 28 years old to establish a new “statute of limitations.”

Image Taken from the Safe Horizon Official Facebook Page

As to civil procedures, survivor can press charges in a civil trial against their abusers, an individual subject, but also against any institution that had allowed the abuse to happen, no matter the how old the victim is or when did the abuse took place.

Thanks to the Child Victims Act coming into force, a retroactive window for victims that could not press charges, due to the time limit being over, can do so against their aggressors.

Safe Horizons works under the idea of the Hispanic community in New York knowing their rights, and they focus on campaigns to motivate people to get help or to talk about the abuses they suffered.

Invaluables Testimonies

To promote this initiative, Safe Horizon used the testimony, in Spanish, of a victim of child abuse: State Assembly Catalina Cruz, of Colombian origin and representative of the neighborhood with the highest Hispanic representation in Queens: Corona, Elmhurst, and Jackson Heights.

Cruz accepted to be part of the campaign to educate the community. She explained that fear and shame are associated to this topic, that is why many survivor keep silence, because they feel alone and afraid of the repercussions.

A Safe Horizon

The organization Safe Horizon is one of the most important service suppliers of protection and support to victims that suffered abuse and violence in New York City.

The organization’s mission is to support victims of crimes and abuse. They also work on preventing violence and promoting justice for survivors, their families, and communities. thus positioning as the main victim assistance organization in the United States.

All year long, Safe Horizon has a support hot-line with qualifies staff that can help in Spanish and in any other language. This line has councilors ready to help any given moment.

Colombia: National Protest against child sexual abuse

Rafael Núñez

22 November, 2019

The Bolívar Square in Manizales, Colombia, was the location for the National Plantón (a type of pacifist protest) against child sexual abuse, convened by the international organization Aldeas Intantiles SOS, under the #SoySuVoz campaign. Signs and toys, silent witnesses of the abuse suffered by children, were the protagonists of this initiative.

#SoySuVoz (#IAmTheirVoice)

Unfortunately, many cases of child abuse happen in the closest environment of the child who is a victim. Their toys are usually silent witnesses of these facts and faithful companions of boys and girls in their moments of greatest pain.

This is the reason why the NGO Aldeas Infantiles SOS, Colombia headquarters, gathered at least 700 dolls in the Plaza Bolívar, in Manizales, in the so-called National Plantón against child sexual abuse. The activity – to which another seven cities in the country also joined- aimed to create consciousness among the attendees and request the competent authorities:

Disseminate prevention measures
Urge institutions to improve the judgment systems for abusers
Strengthen the ability of families to protect children
Provide adequate attention to the victims

Source: Aldeas Infantiles SOS Colombia’s official Facebook

The numbers of cases of child sexual abuse are increasing and society is forced to generate protection mechanisms for children to live a happy childhood. The National Plantón was a protest that gave the children a voice to say “no more” to child sexual abuse.

Likewise, a call was made to prevent children from being separated from their families, since it creates a condition of re-victimization. However, some cases require the children to move away from their family environment to protect them.

Aldeas Infantiles SOS Colombia called on the State to make concrete moves against the infants non-inclusion in institutions and to take stronger measures against those who commit crimes of child abuse; children must not be doubly victims of events which they are not responsible of.

In Colombia alone, more than 83 thousand children are victims of child sexual abuse, many of them live in an orphanage and have not been able to see their families in a long time.

70 years of Aldeas Infantiles

Aldeas Infantiles SOS is an international organization that provides direct attention to children and adolescents; it has been fighting for the infants’ rights for over 70 years and it is present in 135 countries and territories.

This NGO has been based in Colombia for half a century, promoting projects in alliance with other organizations, accompanying the children and adolescents’ development, offering a family-based model, providing them with protective capacities in the upbringing of their sons and daughters.

Through the #SoySuVoz campaign, the organization calls to demand that children grow up in a family that protects them.