Tougher Laws Vital of Child Porn is to be Stopped
The Universe
(October 26, 2003)
When Pia, the girl I wrote about last week who was abused and exploited in the making of child pornography by a German sex tourist in the Philippines, was referred to the PREDA Children’s Home where I work, she received affirmation therapy and counseling.
She soon recovered and was strong enough and willing to prosecute her abuser. We tracked him down in Germany and had him brought to trial. Pia bravely testified and he was convicted.
Today she is 19 and is taking a course to become a nursing aide. She is an active advocate of children’s rights and was recently in Germany giving press conferences and participating in talk shows to spread the message that victims of abuse can have a meaningful active life.
In the Philippines, her courage helped empower children by giving them a public voice and changing the stigma that abused children were somehow ‘damaged persons’.
Pia proved otherwise and today children are being taught to ‘run and tell’, when an adult molests them.
But while crimes are brought to light with increasing frequency, some prosecutors can be easily influenced to drop charges despite overwhelming evidence. British suspect Barry Raymond Edwards, 58, was arrested and charged in the Philippines last month. Hundreds of video images of children being sexually abused were found in his hotel room, but he walked free after a prosecutor dropped rape charges against him.
He reportedly boasted how he has paid off the families of the minors he had abused and secretly videotaped. A campaign by PREDA brought a wave of protest and a flood of letters to the Philippines Department of Justice and his arrest has been ordered.
He brought his child prostitutes from a string of nightclubs set up by a former RUC sergeant Richard Agnew, who is now a millionaire.. he has been arrested for providing child prostitutes and, if convicted, could face up to 20 years in a Philippine prison rated as the worst hellhole in Asia.
The recent discovery of another huge worldwide child pornography distribution network in 166 countries with as many as 26,500 customers has shocked the world. The operation confiscated in Germany alone 745 computers, 35,000 compact discs and 5,800 videos all with images of children been held in Germany.
The police in Germany deserve credit for uncovering the biggest syndicate in history for peddling child pornography. We must support them in this difficult and challenging curb the making and distribution of these images.
