Online recordings add to trauma of child sexual abuse, victims tell child protection centre

Child sexual abuse is more likely to be recorded and it's leaving survivors with an additional layer of trauma, a new survey from the Canadian Centre for Child Protection says.

The Winnipeg-based centre developed the International Survivors' Survey, which collected information from 150 survivors from around the world who had their abuse recorded either in still images or on video.

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Sixty-one per cent believed the abuse had been shared online and the rest were unsure, but the vast majority said they worried about being recognized by someone who'd seen the recording.

"When every terrible moment you endured as a child was recorded or documented in some way, it feels like your abuser behind bars loosens their grip, but they'll always have a hold on you," said a survivor who participated in the survey in a news release.

"I have blocked so many of those memories out to survive and even just the possibility of anyone being able to relive those moments and enjoy them denies me any form of closure, any kind of peace."

Among the survivors surveyed, 82 per cent of their abusers were parents or extended family and the majority said the abuse began before they were 12 years old.

Eighty-five per cent of survivors said they would need ongoing therapy to deal with what happened.

Lianna McDonald, executive director of the Canadian Centre for Child Protection, said the survey shows the new realities faced by victims of child sexual abuse.

"While technology never created this problem, it definitely has facilitated the ongoing abuse of children … and we need to do more about it," she said. 

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The information also shows society needs to change its expectation that vulnerable children are going to come forward, McDonald said, particularly when most said the abuse was done or facilitated by family. There needs to be better training for teachers, police and within the health-care system to spot signs of child sexual abuse, she said. 

"When you look at the circumstances around these individuals, it's important that society take a closer look at the issue of child sexual abuse," she said. "It's absolutely critical. It's a dark subject, it's something we don't want to talk about, but it's absolutely necessary." 

Stopping the images from spreading online is a challenge for law enforcement agencies around the world.

A Winnipeg man was arrested on Monday after an investigation into online child sexual abuse imagery by police in Switzerland.

During an investigation, Swiss police found an IP address — a string of numbers that identify a computer and its location — in Winnipeg and they notified the local internet child exploitation (ICE) unit. A 24-year-old Winnipeg man was arrested and charged with possesion and sale of child porn. 

An arrest in August came following a tip from Australian authorities.

Australian investigators notified Winnipeg police on Aug. 25 of a child sexual assault imagery investigation with a link to Winnipeg. A 28-year-old man was arrested in East Kildonan and was charged with possessing and publication of child pornography.

The Canadian Centre for Child Protection has said it receives 3,500 reports of child sexual abuse imagery a month from Canadians.

The centre launched a new automated tool called Project Arachnid last January to find and eliminate child sexual abuse material online.

If Arachnid finds child sexual abuse, it can detect where the images and videos are publicly available and then a notice is sent to the provider hosting the content to request its removal. If it's not removed voluntarily, police are notified.

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But more can be done, McDonald said.

An international working group of experts used the survey's information to create four recommendations:

• Reduce the availability of both new and existing child sexual abuse images and videos on the public internet.
• Improve education and training on the issue of child sexual abuse among professionals to empower them to recognize and respond appropriately.
• Strengthen the co-ordination and communication between all systems and entities that intersect with victims of child sexual abuse and online exploitation. This includes, but is not limited to, child welfare, schools, hotlines, therapists, police, industry, child-serving organizations and advocacy centres.
• Develop comprehensive systems and remedies to properly recognize the rights and unique needs of victims whose abuse was recorded. 

McDonald said it is time to map out a global plan of action "because this is our new reality."

Anyone who believes a child is being sexually assualted should call police immediately. If a person comes across possible child sexual abuse imagery, it can be reported at cybertip.ca. For more information, visit The Canadian Centre for Child Protection.