A number of UN human rights experts have warned of the consequences of exploiting vulnerable children during the Covid-19 pandemic, especially orphans, refugees and the inmates of mental health institutions among them who are most vulnerable to prohibited employment, sexual exploitation, domestic servitude, forced begging and other forms of abuse and exploitation.

In a statement issued by UN experts, they urged governments to ensure child protection, executive, and law enforcement services, noting that the loss of these services would expose children to abuse and violence.

The expert statement also warned of the possibility of a high rate of cybercrime, such as online sexual grooming, direct broadcasting of child sexual abuse and the production and distribution of child sexual abuse material.

For her part, the Special Rapporteur on the trafficking and sexual exploitation of children, Maud de Boer-Boccchio, emphasized that quarantine measures and the disruption of child protection services, already limited, globally exacerbate the vulnerability of children living in psychosocial care institutions, the role of Orphans, refugee camps, immigration detention centers and other closed facilities.