A/HRC/28/56 relationship. While initial concern was in respect of offenders who sought to meet the child offline and sexually assault them, the behaviour has changed. It is common now for the solicitation to consist of persuading the child to engage in sexual activity in front of a webcam, the footage of which will then be recorded, or to send sexualized photographs to the offender. Once the footage or photographs have been gathered they will either be distributed or used by an offender for “sextortion”, namely the sexual blackmailing of a child or his or her family. 39. Identifying how often grooming occurs is problematic because many victims will not report the abuse. Almost one in three children in Europe aged 9–16 communicated with someone they did not know online.31 In Latin America a slightly higher percentage (some 40 per cent) did so.32 Not all of those contacts may be harmful but it has been estimated that between 13 and 19 per cent of children have experienced unwanted sexual solicitation.33 However if countries become aware of the problem and adopt measures to tackle grooming, such as awareness-raising and the establishment of specialist training programmes, a reduction of harm can be achieved.34 40. It seems that girls are more likely to be at risk of grooming than boys.35 Most victims of grooming tend to be post-pubescent, partly because groomers play on the fact that children who are going through puberty are interested in sex. Group-localized grooming can lead to trafficking in children by offenders within the locality of child victims. Such trafficking is often facilitated through new technologies, particularly mobile telephones.36 41. Grooming is featured in the Council of Europe Convention on the Protection of Children against Sexual Exploitation and Sexual Abuse (art. 23). A number of countries have also developed specific legislation designed to tackle that behaviour,37 which can have an important deterrent effect, especially by raising awareness that this type of behaviour is explicitly criminalized. 5. Online streaming of child abuse 42. The growth of Internet speed has meant that live streaming — which can be broadly equated to broadcasting over the Internet — becomes technically feasible. There have been reported instances of people having a child in a room while a number of users log onto the video feed to interact with those in the room and suggest ways that a child can be abused.38 The online streaming of child abuse is an emerging threat with the potential to involve large numbers of offenders. For instance, in 2014, the Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre of the United Kingdom conducted three investigations into that type of abuse which identified over 733 suspects. 39 Those operations have shown that child victims are often in 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 Stephen Webster et al., European Online Grooming Project: Final Report (2012), pp. 24–25. ECPAT International, Understanding the use of ICTs by children and young people: a youth-led study in Latin America (2012), p. 38. Helen Whittle et al., “A review of young people’s vulnerabilities to online grooming: Characteristics and concerns”, Aggression and Violent Behaviour, No. 18 (2013), p. 65. For example, the United States reported a 53 per cent decrease in incidences of unwanted sexual solicitation, after adopting such measures. Mitchell et al., “Key Trends in Unwanted Sexual Solicitations” (University of New Hampshire, 2014). Webster et al., European Online Grooming Project, p. 25, and Mitchell and Jones “Internet-facilitated commercial sexual exploitation of children”, p. 6. McAlinden, “Grooming”. For example, the Philippines, the United Kingdom and the United States. See, for example, “Operation Endeavour” undertaken by the Virtual Global Taskforce. National Crime Agency, “Live online child abuse – 29 international arrests made”. Available from www.nationalcrimeagency.gov.uk/news/312-live-online-child-abuse-29-international-arrests-made. 11