Country Number of children subjected to abuse Percentage of subjected to abuse Philippines 1434301 12.5 Serbia 3764 1 Tanzania 134991 2.6 Thailand 364495 7.9 Uganda 293588 12.4 Viet Nam 24218 0.3 Sum 5553348 Average Percentage 5% Commentary: Across the 21 countries in the study, children’s exposure to these forms of sexual exploitation ranged from 0.3 per cent to 12.5 per cent, with an overall average of 5 per cent. This demonstrates a wide variation between countries, highlighting that children’s experiences differ substantially across contexts, with similar caveats as in relation to overall prevalence. The findings highlight the financial dimension of technology-facilitated sexual exploitation and abuse of children. As is evident in qualitative interviews, in some contexts, perpetrators exploit children’s financial insecurity and unmet economic needs, manipulating or coercing them into sexual exploitation in exchange for money, goods or other forms of financial support. While these experiences are often linked to economic vulnerability, the qualitative data from Disrupting Harm also point in some settings to the involvement of organized networks engaged in the sexual exploitation and trafficking of children. Commercial sexual exploitation is not always recognized by children as exploitation. For some, sharing sexual content for money was viewed as providing a degree of financial independence and autonomy. These findings underscore how economic vulnerability, unequal power relations and limited recognition of exploitation can shape children’s experiences, making financially motivated sexual exploitation particularly difficult to identify and address. Through Children’s Eyes Appendix 56

Select target paragraph3