- Cases Sexual abuse of minors increases in Spain: packs, virtual harassment and the aggressor in the home
95.1% of child sexual abusers on the Internet have no criminal record and almost half are completely unknown to minors. This is extracted from Save the Children's report 'For justice at the level of childhood. Analysis of sentences on sexual abuse of children in Spain', which analyses almost 400 court sentences in cases of this type of violence in Spain.
According to the latest data from the Ministry of the Interior, in 2022, 954 complaints were filed in Spain for sexual crimes over the Internet in which the victim was a child or adolescent. This accounts for 84% of the total number of reports of this type of crime, which makes minors a "particularly vulnerable" group in cases of 'grooming' – when an adult impersonates a minor or tries to establish a relationship of trust with minors through the Internet to abuse them. "The abuser gradually gains their trust to engage them in sexual activity, which can be anything from talking about sex and obtaining photos or videos to having a sexual encounter," says Catalina Perazzo, director of social and political advocacy at Save the Children.
57.4 per cent of victims of online abuse are girls, while boys account for 42.6 per cent of cases. In the case of physical sexual abuse, the number of girls is higher: eight out of ten are women.
Cintia Espada, Social Action technician at Save the Children, tells how a case of online grooming was discovered that had two children aged 14 and 15 as victims: "We detected that a supposed friend of the children, after talking to them for time and gaining their trust, began to ask them for money in exchange for photographs and videos of sexual content through a social network. They also stated that they had never seen him in person. We activated our protocols and, after reporting it to the police, we discovered that he was an adult man who had already abused more boys and girls through the internet."
Save the Children is concerned about the length of time legal proceedings are taking In 67 per cent of the cases, the judicial process took between two and three years. From this organization, they ask the Government to create specialized courts for the care of child victims of violence, the creation of a specific prosecutor's office for violence against children, more training for legal operators and the strengthening of legal assistance to victims. In addition, they advocate providing minors with "tools to prevent" these situations and so that they themselves can identify the situations in which they may be at risk.
- Sexual Abuse