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Pedophile Used Facebook to Lure a Child for Sexual AbuseAT, 25, from Strumica used the social network Facebook aiming to meet 10 years old child and when they agreed to meet he lured him to go somewhere else in order to abuse him sexually. The case was reported to the police by child’s mother.

AT is charged for luring for sexual abuse and other sexual activities against a minor who has not turned 14. According to the investigation the suspect started chatting with the ten years old child through Facebook on 18 March and soon he started persuading him to meet. The child agreed and met the suspect two times in next three days. On the second meeting At tried to persuade the child to go near the church where they should have sexual intercourse. The child was frightened and ran away and told his mother about what happened, and she reported to the police. Unofficially, this was not the first time of the suspect meeting children on internet. Investigation will prove if he had abused other children. This is a first time Ministry of Interior to reveal and charge someone who lures children for sexual abuse via internet. Until this case, police had not revealed any case of Macedonian citizen who abused children posting on internet photos of them when naked or scenes of sexual acts with them, or sexually abused children after contacting them on internet. There are more and more raped or killed children who were lured by pedophiles via social networks where they have fake accounts. From the First Children’s Embassy in the World Megjashi they say that on the SOS helpline 0800 1 2222 they have registered calls about sexual abuse of children on internet.

“There are more and more adults who report inappropriate photos on Facebook accounts of adults or children. There are reports about video materials with sexual content and juveniles posted to destroy the reputation of another juvenile. Children and youths often use the possibilities for direct communication on internet to talk and confide with unknown people, and often to meet them.

“Instead of talking to their parents, children prefer to talk about their first sexual desires and experiences confide to the “online friend,” say from Megjashi. From the Children’s Embassy they say that last year they received a call about former suspect for sexual abuse of minors who still lured children for sexual intercourse via Facebook. The Department for Cyber-Criminal and the Direction for Personal Data Protection had been informed immediately. Social networks are recommended for teenagers, who turned 15, as parental advisory is not ethical, but it’s still needed to talk about their privacy and safety on internet. Parental Advisory Is the Best Protection According to the latest UNICEF report there are more than 750 000 pedophiles lurking on internet. There are over four million web pages where sexually abused children and babies are posted. 200 new photos are posted everyday, while a number of 10 000 to 100 000 juveniles are victims of online predators. Children’s pornography is problem that grows parallel with the development of new technologies, while it’s business worth over 20 billion dollars. Facebook also joined the fight against internet pedophilia. From early March they started deleting accounts of 20 000 children a day, as they’re too young to use the network. World’s largest network has mechanism for revealing children who lie about their age. Facebook enables opening accounts for children at age of 13 or more.

“Parents and guardians play essential role in children’s protection on internet. Parents have to be aware about the way their children use the internet. Parents should set time limit for using internet. Despite the parents, teachers should also take care about children’s and youths’ safety on internet and should help the child who has bad experience with contacts on internet,” say from Megjashi. From the Embassy recommend people to visit the web site www.crisp.org.mk, as there are a lot of useful information about using the internet for students, parents and teachers. It’s available on Macedonian an Albanian.

http://dnevnik.com.mk/?ItemID=6D29B2BF163C6C4CB18A54197D1AC8BE  

Translateef by Petar Atanasov