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revealing her personal potential, professionally
assisting in the realization of civil and social rights
The involvement of minors in sexualized slavery: How do criminals act? How to prevent it?
30.09.2024
In August 2024, it became known about a horrific case of involvement in sexualized slavery: a schoolgirl (not named) from Kyzylorda, Kazakhstan, was forced into prostitution by her classmate and her cousin. In this story, which is striking in its cruelty and the indifference of others, there is torture, blackmail, numerous rapes, beatings, and death threats. There are so many horrors that the girl has experienced that this part of her biography seems to be fiction. But, unfortunately, all this really happened to her.
The schoolgirl was blackmailed into sexualized slavery: a classmate filmed her in the nude and threatened to send videos and photos to all the girl's relatives, and then put them on the Internet. When the girl was sufficiently intimidated, the criminals against her will registered the schoolgirl on a specialized website for the provision of sexual services. So the schoolgirl began to be raped by "clients".
A 16-year-old girl spent about 7 months in sexualized slavery. An acquaintance helped her get out of it, to whom the schoolgirl told her story, although she did not believe that they could help her. An acquaintance convinced the girl to tell her parents the truth, and then they wrote a statement to the police together.
During the entire time that the girl was in slavery, more than 1,000 transactions passed through her card. At the moment, the investigation has identified 13 defendants involved in the case of the sexualized slavery of a 16-year-old schoolgirl, 11 of them have been arrested.
Also, during her time in slavery, the tenth-grader left lessons before the end of the school day, sometimes fell asleep in class, and then did not attend school at all, but the school administration hid this and continued to give the girl marks and credits.
Since the girl often did not spend the night at home, her mother sounded the alarm and contacted the school to find out if she was attending classes, whether the management was aware of her daughter's whereabouts. But they considered the family dysfunctional and replied that the schoolgirl simply did not want to return home, asked not to write a statement about the loss of her daughter, so as not to spoil the characterization. The mother was also threatened that she could be deprived of parental rights, and her daughter sent to a special boarding school. In August, after the truth about the girl's case became known to the public, at the lyceum school where she studied, at the request of the akim (mayor) of Kyzylorda, the director, deputy for educational work, psychologist, social teacher, classroom teachers were dismissed.
This case has received a huge response in the media, but such stories occur everywhere, including in Belarus. Adult men fall in love with schoolgirls and lure them out of nude photos, which they later begin to blackmail. Further developments may be different. Men continue to extort intimate photos for themselves, and sometimes they can go further and force girls into prostitution in order to make money from desperate and intimidated children.
The statistics of children in Belarus involved in human trafficking and/or victims of pedophilia are extremely depressing, as the number of victims is increasing every year.
Statistics on human trafficking in Belarus:
• 210 victims of human trafficking identified in 2022;
• In 2023, there were 381 victims of human trafficking, including 269 minors.
The increase in the number of victims is due to the identification of a significant number of children involved in the production of pornography.
Statistics of minors who suffered from crimes against sexual integrity or sexual freedom in Belarus:
• In 2022, 843 minors were identified as victims of pedophilia.
• In 2023, 1,208 children became victims.
The increase in victims is due to the initiation of multiple criminal cases against serial pedophiles who molested many children.
42.6% of children had not previously known the perpetrators, and 57.4% knew them in one way or another: in 4.5% of cases, the pedophiles were the parents or other relatives of the victims, in 2.6% — stepfathers, cohabitants of the parent, in 0.2% — guardians, carers. At the same time, in 81.8% of cases, the victims' families were prosperous, and only in 18.2% they were dysfunctional.
The Business Women's Club provides assistance to minors affected by human trafficking and related crimes.
• 2023 — assistance was provided to 6 minors, of whom 5 suffered from involvement in the production of pornography, 1 from sexual exploitation.
• 2024 — assistance is provided to 12 minors, of whom 8 suffered from involvement in the production of pornography, 4 from sexual exploitation.
Therefore, we want to share with parents a few recommendations that can save children from falling into sexualized slavery.
1) The child should not be afraid of you. In the story of a girl from Kyzylorda, it all started with the fact that she was afraid of parental anger because of nude videos, even if they were shot against her will. Further, this fear was fueled by the shame and public censure that the schoolgirl would face if the truth came out. After that, death threats were used.
The child should be clearly aware that his parents will be on his side in any case, even if he got into a bad situation through his own fault, and even more so if he was forcibly involved in a bad situation.
2) Know who your child is friends with, be interested in his environment. In fact, it can be difficult to recognize bad people surrounded by children, after all, children also know how to manipulate and pretend. The girl from Kyzylorda was friends with her future pimp, they went to each other's houses, including overnight stays, and the criminal even called the schoolgirl's mother "mommy."
In case of any unforeseen accidents, it is better if you know which friends your child may be with, who you can call and find out where he is now.
3) Cultivate the will in your children. Yes, not all children have leadership qualities and healthy self—esteem, but the child should know that his body is inviolable, and violation of his personal boundaries can be punished by law. Children always have the right to say no, as well as to seek help from adults or law enforcement agencies, even if they are actively discouraged from doing so.
4) Talk to children about internet safety. Explain which content can and should not be shared, and tell us that if any information, photos, videos, etc. gets on the Internet, it can be very difficult to erase it.
It would be useful to discuss the security of personal data. It is illegal to distribute personal information or photographs, especially if they depict minors. Therefore, the child must remember that if he is unwillingly filmed on camera, his parents can apply to law enforcement agencies with a statement.
If you have any questions about countering sexualized violence against minors (including using the Internet), please use the information posted on our website!
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