A/HRC/43/40 the absence of adequate reporting mechanisms and the deeply embedded culture of silence, shame and stigma surrounding child sexual abuse and commercial sexual exploitation are inhibiting the reporting of cases. 17. According to anecdotal evidence, child sexual exploitation, including sexual abuse within the inner circle of trust, and the use of children in prostitution are a reality in all parts of the world. These crimes appear to be most prevalent against marginalized children struck by poverty, conflict, social exclusion and discrimination; children on move; children with disabilities; children living in residential care; and children left behind by their parents. 18. Global developments such as the fast-paced expansion of information and communications technology (ICT), migration flows, natural disasters, conflicts, climaterelated changes and increasing recourse to assisted reproductive technology, combined with the harmful attitudes and social tolerance, further facilitate the conditions in which the sexual exploitation of children can thrive. 1. Sexual exploitation of children online 19. As laid out in her first report (A/69/262), the link between ICT and the sexual exploitation of children was one of the issues on which the Special Rapporteur focused during her tenure. A significant number of submissions received by the Special Rapporteur in response to her call for input point to the increased use of ICT to facilitate the production, distribution and selling of child sexual abuse material, consumed both online and offline. In 2014, the Special Rapporteur dedicated her first thematic report to this issue (A/HRC/28/56). 20. Five years later, the scale of the problem is alarming yet constantly growing. 3 Children are using the Internet at increasingly younger ages. 4 While ICT has brought many positive aspects to the lives of children, it has also offered the secrecy, anonymity and opacity that facilitate the commission of illegal activities with utter impunity. In 2017, the Internet Watch Foundation identified 78,589 Internet web pages as containing child sexual abuse material.5 In 2018, the Foundation found an increase of 32 per cent in the number of such sites. 6 In 2019, the International Child Sexual Exploitation database, of the International Criminal Police Organization (INTERPOL), held over 1.5 million images and videos.7 Studies show an extremely alarming pattern of increasingly younger victims often being subjected to severe abuse, with 28 per cent of the victims younger than 10 years old. 8 21. A variety of tools, such as live streaming services, encrypted communication systems and peer-to-peer platforms, and anonymous payment applications are used by perpetrators to create safe spaces for themselves online, share child sexual abuse material and communicate with each other and with victims with anonymity. 9 Technical experts warn about the growing use of sites that are purposefully hidden and can only be accessed through virtual private networks and peer-to-peer file-sharing networks.10 This considerably reduces the capacity of law enforcement to identify those at the origin of the production and dissemination of harmful material stored and shared online. 11 Offenders, traffickers and criminal groups use Internet tools, such as social media, to identify child victims more 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 4 See www.missingkids.com/ourwork/ncmecdata and www.inhope.org/EN/the-facts. UNICEF, The State of the World’s Children 2017: Children in a Digital World (New York, 2017), p. 1. Internet Watch Foundation, Annual Report 2017 (Cambridge, United Kingdom, 2018), p. 15. Internet Watch Foundation, Annual Report 2018: Once upon a Year (Cambridge, United Kingdom, 2019), p. 26. See www.interpol.int/Crimes/Crimes-against-children/International-Child-Sexual-Exploitationdatabase. Internet Watch Foundation, “IWF research on child sex abuse live-streaming reveals 98% of victims are 13 or under”, 15 May 2018. See the submission from Foundation ECPAT International. All submissions are available at www.ohchr.org/EN/Issues/Children/Pages/Submissionreceived.aspx. Centre for the Analysis of Social Media, “Online child sexual abuse imagery”, Technology Briefing Series, No. 1, 22 January 2018. Gabriel J.X. Dance, “Fighting the good fight against online child sexual abuse”, New York Times, 23 December 2019.