child sexual exploitation – AMBER Advocate

The International Centre for Missing & Exploited Children (ICMEC) and Clearview AI conducted an operation in Ecuador this past spring that resulted in locating and positively identifying 110 previously unknown child sexual abuse victims. The operation, held in Ecuador and hosted by ICMEC, used Clearview AI’s facial recognition technology as a main resource. Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Peru, and the Dominican Republic were among the countries that worked together on hundreds of cold cases involving previously unknown victims of online child sexual exploitation and abuse.

In 2023, the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC) CyberTipline received a staggering 36.2 million reports of suspected child sexual exploitation. To counter that, a chilling new interactive video, “No Escape Room,” uses dozens of real-life tipline scenarios to immerse parents and caregivers into a child’s online world, often fraught with peril. Throughout the experience, users are prompted to engage in a conversation with someone they think is another teenager. The friendly, flirtatious chat soon involves requests for nude or sexually explicit photos, eventually trapping the child in a blackmail scenario. The video’s immersive viewpoint shows parents firsthand how children are targeted by predators and struggle to navigate dangerous circumstances. At the end of the experience, users are directed to NCMEC’s resources on sextortion.

Mexican law enforcement officers detained more than 1,000 men and women in July during an investigation of sexual exploitation and human trafficking in Juárez. The Mexican Public Safety Ministry said the sweep was part of Mexico's child abduction recovery plan under the new National AMBER Alert Program.

Officers removed people out of 24 bars, 3 hotels, and 2 guest homes and transported them to state police offices. A total of 20 female minors were rescued, and 500 men and 530 women were detained on suspicion of human trafficking and sexual exploitation.

On the same day of the operation, the AMBER Alert operation was launched, and Mexican officials issued an Alba Alert for an 18-year-old girl who went missing on her way to apply for a job in downtown Juárez. The alert was sent to U.S. immigration authorities in case she crossed the international bridge.