IOM Costa Rica carries out informative actions against sex cyber-crimes
The International Organization for Migration (IOM) in Costa Rica is working alongside the Judicial Investigation Organization (OIJ), the General Directorate of Migration and Aliens (DGME) and its Management Unit forTrafficking in Persons and Smuggling of Migrants, to prevent sexual cyber-crime in the wake of the COVID-19. In contexts of crisis, risk and exposure to trafficking in persons are heightened, and in this case social media can be promoted as a means of recruitment for this and other crimes.
“Despite the fact that being all at home we could feel like we have better surveillance of our children, social media are places where we remain exposed. Sex crimes don’t stop, and Costa Rica is a place where child pornography is being watched, produced and exported. Therefore we need to talk about this danger and about the parents’ responsibility”, explained Sandra Chaves Esquivel, from the Management Unit for Trafficking in Persons and Migrant Smuggling at the DGME.
As part of the strategy, a live chat was hosted on Facebook last May 6th about sex cyber crimes and practical recommendations to protect people against trafficking in persons. In the video participated expert representatives of the collaborating institutions. The activity focused on the risks that children and adolescents can face online.
Among other topics, the broadcast addressed consent and privacy violations among teenagers, parental controls for the monitoring of their minor children’s activities online and ways in which to report cyber-crime. The broadcast reached over 33.000 viewers, and can be rewatched here. The strategy will continue with another session on the same subject but addressed directly at young people.
This activity was developed within the framework of the Regional Program on Migration Mesoamerica- The Caribbean, funded by the U.S. Department of State Bureau of Population, Refugees and Migration (PRM).