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By Emma Elshaw With the emergence of COVID-19, the world has been spending more and more time online. We have seen over the last two weeks the risk predators pose to kids and youth online, as well as the importance of having intentional conversations with your kids about online safety. In a world where kids enjoy spending time online, it’s important to make sure that we, as parents, continue to be involved in our kids’ lives, whether that is online or offline.
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By Emma Elshaw The world is moving online. Due to COVID-19 and the government’s mandates that everyone stay home as much as possible, many people are spending more time online. Because of the internet, many of us are able to connect with our family and friends in this time of social distancing; however, predators are also going online.
By Emma Elshaw With the whole world experiencing an unprecedented pandemic, with a vast array of advice coming from multiple directions – whether it be family, friends or politicians – and circumstances changing daily, the emotions of the world are likely as unprecedented as the pandemic itself. And coupled with the unprecedented nature of this pandemic is the opportunity it presents to online predators.
Through globalization and technology, the world has become increasingly interconnected. Businesses have the opportunity to market products on a global stage. In an instant, a buyer can purchase a product from the opposite side of the world. With mobile devices, people can consume what they want, whenever they want. The rapid increase for demand of instantaneous services has developed beyond material products and household items. Instant consumerism has been capitalized by the sex industry.
By Sydney MacDonald In 2018 it was discovered by Statista (2019), that there were 2.65 billion people using at least one form of social media, and 3.1 billion users were projected to accumulate by 2021 (Clement, 2019). This is a staggering amount of people consistently being exposed to millions upon millions of advertisements and posts per year. Unfortunately, this creates an opportunity for criminals and predators to make contact with vulnerable individuals and can lead to a darker form: online human trafficking.
Often times, when thinking of trafficking, it is easy to think of the issue as one that happens in other places of the world. Not something that happens in our own backyard. In reality, this is a local issue that happens right here in Toronto. According to Status of Women Canada, over 90% of trafficking cases are domestic in Canada. This means those trafficked come from within our boarders and are trafficked within our boarders. The other 10% of women are trafficked from outside our country. It is important to be aware of the situation around us.
The majority of human trafficking victims are children and women between the ages of 18 and 24 with 43% of them being sold into the sex trade. The masterminds of these criminal operations gross approximately $32 billion per year.
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