Sexual Slavery in Canada's Migrant Worker Program

Sex abuse case highlights vulnerability of workers on visas

Singled out by employer, Mexican woman was forced into sex acts under threat of being sent home
By Susan Noakes, CBC News

OPT meets with Cathy Kolar of Legal Assistance of Windsor.
A human rights tribunal awarded her $150,000 in a case
involving sexual abuse and discrimination

The experience of a Mexican woman, known as OPT, is a poster case for the terrible situation women face when confronted by abuse and the built-in limitations of Canada's temporary foreign workers program.

Brought in from Mexico to work in a fish-packing plant in Wheatley, Ont., she soon was singled out by her employer for special attention, separating her from the other women.

First there were inappropriate remarks, then touching, then he threatened to send her home unless she performed sex acts. He had taken her passport away and she was afraid. Another woman working for the same employer was sent back to Mexico after refusing his advances.

A human rights tribunal would find both women were exposed to sexual solicitation, sexual harassment and discrimination in employment.

And they weren't the only ones.

A group of Thai women who worked for the same employer had already tried to get help in dealing with what the adjudicator in the  human rights tribunal would call a "sexually poisoned workplace."

'Why was the provincial government ignorant of it and why is there no discussion now in light of this ruling, particularly when you have a case of...vulnerable women'
- Cathy Kolar, Legal Assistance of Windsor

In all, 39 women would take part in a criminal and human rights case against Presteve Foods. In the end, only OPT and her sister would stay for the eight years it took to get a judgment.

It was an egregious case of abuse, so much so that it was difficult to believe it happened in a Canadian workplace. How could so many women be left powerless in the face of an employer who used the threat of deportation to force his sexual advances?

"I think the case is so important because it recognizes the vulnerabilities of women under the TFW programs. And it's structural vulnerabilities – not just what happened in this case," said Kerry Preibisch, an expert in migrant workers who gave testimony before the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario.

Employer has all the power

Preibisch points to how being tied to a single employer, with that employer having sole discretion over how much money they make, where they live and when they are sent home,  makes women vulnerable to abuse.

"A poor employer has absolute power in that relationship.  Their ability to work is dependent on a single designated employer," she told CBC News.

There ought to be multiple changes to the federal program that admits foreign workers on visas, she said, but the first should be to allow movement between employers. Otherwise, employers simply threaten to send them home if they complain about working conditions, living conditions, safety or abuse.

In the case of OPT, she was forced into sex acts in a car when her employer was transporting her to a doctor's appointment and later in her bedroom in the home that was owned by the employer – where several migrant workers lived.

Adjudicator Mark Hart awarded $150,000 to OPT and $50,000 to another woman, affirming their rights had been abused, but he stopped short of making recommendations to the federal government about the temporary foreign worker program. He said that was not part of his role as a tribunal adjudicator.

However, his report emphasized the vulnerability of migrant workers "especially in light of the closed work permit which requires them to be tied to one employer and so be under the constant threat and fear of losing their employment and being repatriated without reason and without any avenue for appeal or review."

Presteve Foods - Wheatley, Ontario

Poor and vulnerable

Preibisch said many women admitted to Canada under the temporary foreign workers program are single mothers and the sole support for their family. They have mortgaged the family's land or gone into debt to pay a recruiter for access to a job in Canada. They feel they cannot afford to be sent home.

Under the low-skilled workers program, one of three programs involving temporary worker visas in Canada along with agricultural workers and live-in caregivers, about 65 per cent who are admitted are male.

'I think those who hear of this decision, including employers, should understand that people who come to work here are poor people and they come to work'
- OPT

These women have already beaten the odds to get a job in Canada, overcoming discrimination in hiring practices in their own countries. By choosing to work in Canada, they avoid having to make a dangerous journey with criminal gangs to sneak into the U.S. to work.

Anecdotal reports of sexual harassment in the past have often involved co-workers, Preibisch said.

"Women are working in masculine environments and these women are seen as sexually available by their co-workers," she said.

Many are socially isolated, either because they cannot speak English, they are working in rural areas, or they work long hours. And very few know their rights in the workplace.

The only reason OPT and her sister were able to carry their case to completion was because an migrant workers rights group and a union got involved.

Justicia for Migrant Workers initially worked with a unionized group of 29 Thai workers from Presteve Foods. These women turned to their Justicia for help because they said they were not being paid as they'd been promised.

It was while these Thai women were talking to Justicia about their working conditions that the first stories of sexual abuse in the workplace began to emerge. There was an attempt to decertify the union, Unifor, but the workers voted to remain unionized, clearing the way for Unifor to push their case forward.

'Sexually poisoned' workplace

Unifor added an additional 10 Mexican women, who were hired by the same company, to a complaint that eventually ended up on the desk of the human rights tribunal. There were initially 17 complaints before the tribunal, six of them involving sexual misconduct.

The case first went to a criminal trial, where the owner of Presteve Foods was convicted only of a single charge of assault.

In the meantime, some of the women were sent home, some went of their own accord, some who worked for a recruiter were able to transfer to another job. A number of the women accepted a settlement from Presteve Foods. For many, the experience was too traumatic for them to want to stay.

Only OPT and her sister lasted to the end, eight years after the abuse started.

"The work I did was as a fish filleter, but the manner that we were treated was very, very ugly," OPT told CBC News. "He was always angry, we were yelled at, we were humiliated.

"I think those who hear of this decision, including employers, should understand that people who come to work here are poor people and they come to work," she said.

OPT said she hoped her case would help make other women brave.

"I hope that there will be a difference, that people will be able to talk, and that they will not be silent."

Cathy Kolar of Legal Assistance of Windsor worked closely with the two women and has questions for the federal and provincial governments now that the human rights case has closed.

"Why was the provincial government ignorant of it and why is there no discussion now in light of this ruling, particularly when you have a case of...vulnerable women," she said.

"It is now up to the federal and provincial government to ask what happened in the program. We've very clearly articulated problems within the program."

Unfortunately, this article doesn't name the owner of Presteve Foods; nor does it state who has to pay the awards.

Fortunately, thanks to the Windsor Star, we can fill in a lot of the holes in her story. We now know that the fish processing and packaging plant’s former owner was Jose Pratas, 74. The awards must be paid by Pratas and Presteve Foods, which is now owned by Pratas’s son. 

Combined they are the largest award in the tribunal’s history.

The Star also reports: O.P.T. testified that Pratas also took their passports, work permits, and so-called “green cards” that allowed them access to the Canadian health care system.

Pratas had the women sign a form granting permission for him to hold their documents for safe keeping, but O.P.T. testified she did not know what she was signing because she did not speak English.

While Pratas was charged with sexual assault, he was only ever convicted of inappropriate touching. Jose Pratas was granted a conditional discharge with three months of probation after making an admission of guilt.

Charges of sexual assault were withdrawn by assistant Crown attorney Randy Semeniuk. One can't help but wonder if Pratas' lawyer sliced and diced the Crown attorneys. 

One also can't help but wonder why it took 8 years to resolve this case? It all seems like a sad commentary on Canadian justice and our attitude toward vulnerable women. It's disgraceful!

Lord Janner to Face Justice After DPP Ruling Overturned

Pressure grows on director of public prosecutions Alison Saunders to resign as it emerges trial of facts will take place after sex abuse allegations

 Lord (Greville) Janner, pictured in 2005. Alison Saunders said it was not
 in the public interest to charge him because he had dementia.
 Photograph: Nick Razzell/Rex Shutterstock

Pressure is growing on the director of public prosecutions, Alison Saunders, to resign after her decision not to charge Lord Janner with a string of sexual abuse charges dating back to the 1960s was overturned in a review by an independent QC.

Janner is to face justice in a trial of the facts following a review from an unnamed QC, the Crown Prosecution Service will announce on Monday.

It will be the first time that allegations against Janner – which have been investigated in the past in three failed police investigations – will be aired in a courtroom.

Actually, they weren't 'failed' police investigations, they were 'sabotaged' police investigations.

Saunders said in April it was not in the public interest to charge Janner, because he had dementia, which meant he was unfit to enter a plea. Her decision was challenged by alleged victims in a formal process known as the right to review. It is believed to be one of the first times that alleged victims have overturned a DPP’s decision.

Saunders overruled a specialist QC, Eleanor Laws, an expert in child abuse law, who recommended that the peer be charged. The DPP’s decision led to an extraordinary rift with Leicestershire police, who spent two years investigating Janner in the latest inquiry and said Saunders’ failure to charge him was “perverse”. The force threatened legal action to overturn the DPP’s decision.

The family of the 86-year-old peer have said he is innocent of any of the allegations.

Alleged victims of Janner said that they had received hand-delivered letters on Saturday informing them that the CPS’s decision not to prosecute had been reversed.

One, who has asked to remain anonymous, said: “It shouldn’t have taken this long – 45 years for some – to get to this point. Saunders should go because she has tried to stop the truth from coming out.”

Another alleged victim, Paul Miller, accused Alison Saunders of incompetence.

Miller, 53, from Leicester, claimed he was groped by the former Labour MP at the Palace of Westminster during a school trip when he was nine. He told the Sunday Express: “It’s great news but Alison Saunders should be sacked. She’s been proved to be incompetent in not making the right decision in the first place. Her position is now untenable.”

Simon Danczuk, the Labour MP for Rochdale, led calls on Friday for Saunders to resign following initial reports that the decision would be overturned.

“All suggestions are that Saunders reached the wrong conclusion in April and this is not the first time she has made a major mistake,” he said. “She has struggled in some of her decisions to pursue journalists through the courts, too. Her job is all about judgment.”

David Davis, the Conservative MP and former shadow home secretary, said this was the right decision but questioned why it had taken Saunders so long to come to this “unusual” conclusion.

“It is hard to know why she decided not to have a trial of the facts in the first place, only to decide to do so after the huge political furore,” he said. “This has been a terrible process which has prolonged the misery not just for the alleged victims but also for Janner and his family.” He stopped short of calling for her to resign, saying to do so would be premature.

John Mann, the MP for Bassetlaw who has called for criminal inquiries into other historical claims of child abuse against former and existing Parliamentarians, said the decision should be welcomed because it would open doors for new inquiries. “This decision is a huge breakthrough. Hopefully, we will be able to look at the way MPs and peers have used privilege and their connections to stop inquiries into their alleged conduct,” he said.

Mann added that he did not want Saunders to leave her post. “This would be a distraction from the job in hand of uncovering the truth about alleged child abuse. She should be shouting much louder to get enough resources to properly resource her prosecutors who are looking into historical child abuse claims.”

In a “trial of facts”, the jury is asked to decide – on the basis of evidence adduced by prosecution lawyers and by lawyers appointed by the court to put the case for the defence – whether or not the accused did the acts he was charged with. Because the defendant cannot put forward a defence, there can be no verdict of guilty and the court cannot pass sentence. All the court can do is to make a hospital order, a supervision order or an order for the defendant’s absolute discharge.

Liz Dux, a lawyer from Slater and Gordon representing a number of the alleged victims, said: “My clients are delighted by this decision. It is a total vindication of why they challenged the original decision of the DPP. All they have ever wanted was to give their evidence in a court and have findings of fact established. They have been denied this right for many many years but now their faith in British justice is restored and they look forward to being listened to after so long.”

Bill to Fund Erin's Law Game Changer

From Erin Merryn
Erin's Law

WASHINGTON D.C. – Such EXCITING news to share! My biggest battle the past 5 years getting Erin’s Law passed in each state is that it is an unfunded mandate. Well, that is about to change.

A FEDERAL bill has been introduced – with bipartisan support by U.S. Senators Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), Dean Heller (R-NV), and Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) – that will FUND Erin’s Law in EVERY state!

These three senators are my heroes for today. And if they get this bill through, they will be much bigger heroes.

This is an answer to my PRAYERS! You have no idea how EXCITED I am and what this means. I can’t being to tell you how many times I have heard from legislators, “Who is going to fund this? We don’t money for this in the budget? This is an unfunded mandate? etc.”

What this will mean if this bill passes is there will be funds (millions) that schools can use to pay for prevention educators to come in and teach Erin’s Law, purchase curriculum, etc. It will cost the schools NOTHING if this federal bill passes. The bill already has strong support from the US Senate Education Committee. Will keep everyone updated as bill is voted on.

This is the press release that just went out an hour ago.

U.S. Senators Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), Dean Heller (R-NV), and Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) today introduced bipartisan legislation to help protect children from sexual abuse by funding school programs that provide age-appropriate lessons to primary and secondary school students on how to recognize and safely report sexual abuse. Twenty-six states have passed a version of “Erin’s Law,” legislation that requires public schools to provide child sexual abuse prevention education to students and professional development for school personnel. Gillibrand, Heller and Feinstein’s Child Sexual Abuse Awareness and Prevention Act provides federal funding for schools to develop and implement or expand these programs for students, parents and guardians. In 2013, there were a total of 60,956 instances of child sexual abuse reported to Child Protective Services agencies in the U.S. However, this estimate only represents cases of child sexual abuse reported to and confirmed by child protection authorities. Many such cases are never reported to welfare or legal systems.

“Our children need to have an age-appropriate understanding of sexual abuse and know how to safely report to an adult if they have been victimized,” said Senator Gillibrand. “Erin’s Law is helping to fill an important gap in our prevention and awareness work, and the Child Sexual Abuse Awareness and Prevention Act will make sure schools have the resources needed to develop or expand these programs and provide parents, guardians and school personnel with the tools to help prevent and respond to child sexual abuse.”

“As a father of four children, I know parents want to protect their children and provide the safest possible learning environment for them,” said Senator Heller. “This legislation equips local school districts with the resources they need to develop or enhance child sexual abuse awareness and prevention efforts. Providing parents and children with the information to recognize child sexual abuse is a key weapon in stopping these heinous crimes. I’m proud to introduce this bipartisan legislation with my colleague, Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, to ensure states, like Nevada, have the tools to help stop child sexual abuse.”

“Sexual abuse can scar children for life and we must do everything we can to prevent it,” said Senator Feinstein. “Children are more likely to heal if abuse is detected early, which is why we must ensure they are taught what to do if they are being abused and school personnel are trained to spot the warning signs.”

“For five years I have been traveling from one state capital to another trying to pass Erin’s law in my mission of all fifty states requiring that personal body safety be taught,” said Erin Merryn, Erin’s Law Founder and President. “The biggest hurdle I face in each state is Erin’s law being an unfunded mandate. It is my biggest road block. With this bill passing it will play a significant role in Erin’s law getting passed in the next 24 states. This funding will be an answer to my prayers in my biggest battle for Erin’s law. Kids’ lives are waiting to be saved and we must educate them. I didn’t have a voice but I am going to ensure every child in America has theirs.”

“When it comes to stopping sexual violence and ensuring its victims get the help they need and deserve, knowledge is power,” Scott Berkowitz, RAINN Founder and President. “This legislation will help educators learn to spot abuse and will help kids recognize when it happens to them and empower them to reach out for help. We are grateful for the leadership of Sens. Gillibrand, Heller and Feinstein and for survivors like Erin Merryn, who bravely step forward and remind us all that while we’ve made tremendous strides, our work is far from done. We look forward to working with Congress to pass this law to address sexual violence and protect America’s children.”

“Twenty-six states across the country have passed a version of Erin’s Law, named after childhood sexual assault survivor and advocate Erin Merryn. Erin’s Law emphasizes the importance of educational programs that help prevent sexual abuse by using age-appropriate techniques to instruct children on how to recognize and report sexual abuse. Research has consistently shown that educational programs designed to prevent child sexual abuse are effective at teaching children skills to identify dangerous situations and prevent abuse. Such programs have also shown to be effective at promoting disclosure and reducing self-blame by victims. Two other critical aspects of Erin’s Law include professional development for school personnel and information for parents and guardians in how to recognize signs of child sexual abuse, talk to children about child sexual abuse, and how to respond when a child discloses sexual abuse.”

“The Child Sexual Abuse Awareness and Prevention Act provides additional funding to advance Erin’s Law. Erin’s Law requires all public schools in states to implement prevention-oriented child sexual abuse programs. The programs established through the federal grants can be developed in partnership with community-based services and non-profit organizations with expertise in child sexual abuse prevention or response. The initiatives can be designed to include topics on how to recognize child sexual abuse, how to safely report child sexual abuse and how to discuss child sexual abuse with children. Gillibrand, Heller and Feinstein’s legislation serves as a complement to the Helping Our Schools Protect Our Children Act, allowing states and school districts to use federal grants to provide professional development to school personnel regarding how to recognize child sexual abuse. These personnel include: teachers, principals, specialized instructional support personnel, and paraprofessionals.”

Let us pray for speedy passage of this legislation and support it however we can. This will save a lot of children from some horrific sex abuse and the crippling mental and emotional damage that often results from it.

Police Files on Child Sex Abuse at Royal's School Have Vanished

Victims of teacher at school that taught royals are frustrated in search for truth

 Gordonstoun school in 1962. Former pupils are being sent letters asking if they
 were sexually abused. Photograph: Fox Photos/Getty Images

Alex Renton
The Guardian

Official files on police investigations of child abuse at Gordonstoun, the school in the Scottish Highlands that educated the Queen’s sons and Prince Philip, appear to have gone missing or been destroyed.

In a case investigated by the Observer, a teacher named Derek Jones seriously sexually assaulted a number of children attending the junior school around 1990. He was twice questioned by police in the following years after the children told their parents what had happened. Files were forwarded to the Procurator Fiscal, Scotland’s prosecution service, but it was decided not to prosecute. The files would normally be retained, but Scotland’s Crown Office says they now cannot be found.

Jones died in a car crash in Kenya six years ago. But two of his victims, now in their 30s, want to discover why he was not prosecuted. Gordonstoun sacked Jones, who had been an English teacher in the junior school for three months. The school’s bursar told the boys’ parents that the school would ensure he never taught again.

One of the boys, John Findlay, was drugged, photographed naked and sexually assaulted in his dormitory bed at Aberlour House, Gordonstoun’s junior school. He told his parents what had happened soon afterwards. A police investigation was launched, but the Findlays decided, after pressure from the school, not to press for a prosecution.

Another man, who does not want to be named, has told the Observer he was groomed and taught to masturbate by Jones when he was 12. He said that Jones also performed oral sex on him and showed him pictures of boys at another school who had also been the teacher’s “favourites”, implying that they also had sex with him.

He told his parents about the assault a year later. His family went to the local police, who mounted an investigation and assured them that a prosecution would happen because other complaints had been received about Jones. But shortly before the court date, the Procurator Fiscal told the boy’s mother that there would be no prosecution. No reason was given.

Findlay believes that Jones did go on to teach again. He has already served a freedom of information request on Police Scotland. He asked the force to reveal the details of all their inquiries at the time of Jones’s assault on him, first detailed in an Observer magazine investigation in April that also uncovered allegations of the rapes of two 12-year-old girls at Aberlour House.

The FOI request was refused on grounds of privacy and excessive cost. Findlay plans to appeal. “If there has been a tradition of abuse and cover-up anywhere children are looked after by people who aren’t their parents, it needs to be known by the public,” he says.

The Procurator Fiscal’s office told the Observer: “We do not have a record of a case against Derek Jones on the system and we are unable to establish at this stage if we did receive a report from the police and if so what the reason was for not prosecuting.”

But police in Elgin have assured the victims that files did go to the prosecutor, and found the reference number of one of the original complaints.

The Procurator Fiscal’s office said that such files would normally be kept, even if the decision was made not to proceed with a prosecution. But the cases all precede computerisation of the prosecutors’ archive.

The office was unable to say whether all records relating to abuse complaints at Gordonstoun, of which there have been several since the 1970s, had gone missing or just the documents that were concerned with the Jones allegations.

In England and Scotland, lost police files have been a recurring problem in the current wave of revelations around historical abuse in childcare institutions.

One of the reasons for setting up an inquiry, which is soon to begin in England under a New Zealand judge, Lowell Goddard, was the fact that the Home Office had lost files of allegations concerning important people given by Geoffrey Dickens MP to the then home secretary, Leon Brittan. Both men have since died.

The Scottish government has announced its own inquiry into abuse of children in institutions. After protests, its remit was extended to private boarding schools. Police Scotland recently announced that its National Child Abuse Investigation Unit had started inquiries into 45 institutions, including 17 schools.

I hope this inquiry and the one in Britain will investigate the loss of police and prosecution files and assign blame where it is due. It's almost certainly too late to prosecute anyone in this case, or in the VIP scandal in England. If stiff punishment can't be administered, at least some 'big names' can be shamed. It's a disgraceful practice to destroy evidence, and must not be tolerated at all.

Long History of Child Sex Abuse Ends with 105 Year Sentence

LUCEDALE, Mississippi -- A Grand Bay, Ala., man was sentenced today to 105 years in prison for his years of sexual abuse against children, District Attorney Tony Lawrence said.

Billy Carol Anderson Sr., 62, was found guilty of seven counts of touching a child for lustful purposes after a week-long trial.

On Jan. 29, 2009, Billy Carol Anderson,
 of Grand Bay, turned himself in to
authorities to face one count of
third-degree domestic violence.
On Friday, June 26, 2015, he was
 sentenced to 105 years in a Mississippi
child sex abuse case. (Courtesy of the
Mobile County Sheriff's Office)

"The number of lives and childhoods that this defendant has destroyed is unlike any case I have ever seen," said Assistant District Attorney Angel Myers, who tried the case along with ADA Justin Lovorn.

"I can only hope today's verdict and sentence will be a catalyst to start the healing for the victim in this case and the victims of past," she said.

Circuit Judge Robert Krebs sentenced Anderson to 105 years to serve day-for-day in custody of the Mississippi Department of Corrections.

The man was indicted on July 23, 2013, for sexually abusing a female child between the ages of 12 and 15 for more than two years.

The George County Sheriff's Office investigated the case, which led to the discovery of Anderson's long history of abusing children.

"The defendant's ability to manipulate, control and abuse children ended today," Lovorn said. "I am proud of the verdict and the strong sentence handed down by the court."

Lawrence said Anderson's ability to harm children in George County is over.

"Sometimes I wish the wheels of justice can turn faster, but in this case they turned true and correct," Lawrence said. "This man will never have the ability to touch or harm another child for his sexual purposes."

Yezidi Sex Slave Girls Commit Suicide - Fed to Dogs

At least 150 Yazidi women and girls killed themselves after they were forced to become Islamic State sex slaves, according to a woman working with some of the survivors who managed to escape.

In one of the most comprehensive accounts of the effects of Islamic State brutality, details emerged of the ordeals faced by hundreds of Yazidi women, very often after their male relatives were butchered by Islamic State members.

Irifan Mahdi, who is trying to help the women rehabilitate into some semblance of normative society spoke of the horrors in an interview with the Sputnik news organization’s Arabic website.

She told the story of Jilan Barjess-Naif, 17, “a beautiful green-eyed girl, with rare blonde hair, who slashed her own wrists in a public bathhouse near Mosul, northern Iraq, which is under Islamic State control.”

She was separated from the less attractive girls and singled out for special rape treatment before being put up for sale in a sex market.

After she committed suicide, Islamic State members threw her body from the bathhouse into the nearest garbage dumpster.

Jilan’s sister, Jihan, committed suicide a few days after being captured and transferred, along with other girls, to A-Raqqa, the Islamic State’s capital, in order to be sold at a slave market.

Their pregnant mother, also captured, gave birth to a child in a cave. She was freed recently and returned home “as a mad woman” after the suicides of her daughters.

As if all of this was not enough, Islamic State executed six of Jilan and Jihan’s siblings and their father and arrested 20 other members of the family. The whereabouts of some are still unknown.

The fate of the Barjess-Naif family from Qar-Aziz in the Sinjar region of Iraq is by no means unique, according to Majid.

Mahdi said she knows of 150 Yazidis who committed suicide and believes the real figure is considerably higher.

“They preferred to die than to live in brutal sexual slavery and violence by organization members,” she said.

“The bodies of some who committed suicide were thrown to the dogs,” said Yazidi nurse Amal Hasou, who works in an IDP (internally displaced people) camp.

Hasou said Islamic State members even told the girls that if one commits suicide her body would be thrown into the garbage and served as a meal for dogs.

Most of the girls cut their wrists or used the hijabs they had been forced to wear to hang themselves. Some threw themselves to their deaths from the vehicles used to transport them.

Why is it we tolerate this incredible evil? It is to our great shame, and it will be the death of us all.

Another Disillusioned Woman Returns from ISIS 'Sect'

Gaziantep (Turkey) (AFP) - She wanted to move to a land where "the laws of Allah apply" but found herself trapped in a world of arbitrary beatings and violence where women are treated as sexual objects.

This June 18, 2015 photo shows the hands of a 22-year old French woman
who was recruited by Islamic State

Nadia (not her real name), a 21-year-old French woman, was recruited earlier this spring by Islamic State (IS) jihadists on Internet chatrooms and then travelled to the militants' self-declared capital of Raqa, in Syria.

But she quickly grew disenchanted, finding the highly-radicalised militants "fantasise more about the Kalashnikov than the Koran".
t
During a tumultuous three months with IS in Raqa, she married and then separated from a jihadist, was twice thrown in jail and then managed to cross into Turkey where she was detained by police.

Agence France-Presse correspondents were given unprecedented access last week to the woman, who cannot be named for security reasons, in the city of Gaziantep where she was detained pending deportation.

Turkey is keen to make an example of such detentions to reject Western accusations it is not doing enough to halt the flow of jihadists across its borders.

Nadia met AFP voluntarily and said she wanted to speak out to deter other women in her position from joining IS.

Wearing a long skirt and a headscarf that still exposed the locks of her brown hair, she spoke confidently and cogently, even as questions remain about parts of her testimony.

"I am talking to open the eyes of the young girls who say 'the West is against us and Daesh is the caliphate'," she told AFP, using an Arabic acronym for IS.

"But it's not a caliphate, it's a sect," she said.

Nadia was deported to France on Tuesday and immediately arrested on arrival.

- 'You go to Raqa' -

Closeted in her bedroom, staring at a computer screen every day, Nadia said she slowly drifted apart from her parents and dropped out of university.

She spent days communicating with IS recruiters who told her she was living in a country hostile to Islam and would end up in hell.

"You quickly get scared (...) and then you withdraw into yourself," she said. "Finally, you say 'yes' and you decide to go to a land where the laws of Allah hold sway."

A Kurdish People's Protection Units flag is seen through a car window
 on June 22, 2015

She says recruiters on the Internet first sent her a false cheque for 1,800 euros ($2,000) that she could cash before it bounced.

Instructed by her handlers not to fly from France and not to wear Islamic dress, she headed to Geneva on March 4 and then flew to Istanbul.

She was met by two men who paid the bus fare for the long journey to the Turkish province of Sanliurfa on the Syrian border. Here she was told to wear the niqab, or face-covering veil, and escorted by two other men.

"We went into the illegal border areas... we walked for 20 minutes, we climbed through the barbed wire, then they found a car for us," she said.

She was then driven to the Syrian town of Tal Abyad -- at the time controlled by IS but now captured by Kurds -- just over the border.

- 'They buy us'-

She arrived in Raqa on March 7 where she was locked up in a house with several other women.

"They told me 'if you want to leave the house, you must get married otherwise you stay here for life'," she said, speaking in a calm voice.

"You are not allowed to call your parents, you have no access to the Internet, everything is forbidden."

She said she finally consented after two weeks to marrying her recruiter, whose mother tongue was French.

But she annulled the "marriage" after a day and was allowed to go and live with two other French women.

But she said her roommates then found a business card linking her to French intelligence, which had interviewed her in the past over a cousin's links with jihadists.

"They called the (IS) police which came for me and put me in prison."

After enduring solitary confinement and beatings in an underground cell operated by IS, she was released and driven by a man to the Turkish border.

"I was told 'you can go back to France but you keep your mouth shut and you forget everything'," she said.

Quite how this came about remains unclear -- very few people have returned to Europe after cooperating with IS and she did not explain why the jihadists would have actively helped her leave.

After crossing into Turkey, she was detained on June 1 by police acting on a tip from French authorities.

French security sources have confirmed that Nadia did indeed travel to Syria, joined IS, married a jihadist and then returned to Turkey.

How she managed to leave IS-controlled territory and return north is a mystery.

- 'Merchandise for men' -

She said by the time she was freed by the jihadists she had grown disillusioned with the IS doctrine and tactics.

"It was not Islam... It was not the Koran, it was just arms, arms and people in battle dress in a kind of fantasy of war," she said.

"They tell us it's just to satisfy God but they buy us through religion."

Portraying the lives of IS militants, she said: "They practice Islam very little. There is very little reading of the Koran, they live just with war chants."

"The majority are converts to Islam, they barely know the religion and they had to quickly get to know Syria."

And women cooperating with IS only serve as outlets for the fighters' sexual desires.

"We are merchandise for the men, they have a list: 'I want a brunette, a blonde, I want this kind of woman of that age'."

She dreams about a new life in France -- better relations with her parents and cutting herself off from the Internet.

"I want to live properly like all the young girls of my age in France. It's strange to be able to go out and see the sun and feel the air."

So, the idealism they preach on the internet in recruiting the romantically minded, doesn't exist; not in ISIS, nor, indeed, anywhere in Islam. In a fallen world the idyllic is never a reality under any religion or without religion. 

But the Kingdom of God is near when you seek the truth with all your heart. "When you search for Me, you will find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart".

Yezidi Sex Slave Girls Prizes in Ramadan Contest

ISIS has already committed countless unspeakable acts on Yezidi and Christian girls and women in Iraq, but the terrorist army may have reached a new low with a twisted new contest in which female slaves captured in war are given away as "prizes" to fighters who show they have mastered the Koran.

ISIS bulletin circulated on Twitter, lists prizes for Koran memorization contest.
The numerals are for money prizes, but above them are listed
 the top prizes - female slaves. (Clarion Project, Reuters)

The shocking practice of giving away human beings as prizes, called "sibya," (They have a name for it in Islam) was organized by the Da'wa and Mosques Department in Al-Baraka province in Syria in honor of the beginning of the holy month of Ramadan and was announced June 19 on ISIS Twitter accounts, according to the Middle East Media Research Institute and the Clarion Project, two independent research institutes that track social media accounts linked to terrorist groups.

“By showcasing its slavery, ISIS is boasting that it practices Islam in its most literal interpretation, doesn't capitulate to public opinion and rejects modern interpretations.”

- Ryan Mauro, Clarion Project

An announcement on Twitter "begins with congratulations to ISIS soldiers and departments in the province upon the beginning of the month of Ramadan," MEMRI wrote, "It then announces the upcoming Koran memorization competition, at which it says participants will be tested and given prizes accordingly."

The statement lists the prizes planned for the top ten competitors, with the top three to each be awarded a female slave: 'Winner of the first place [will be granted] (sibya) [a female slave who was captured at war],'" the translation by MEMRI read.

Non-Muslim female slaves may be considered sex slaves, according to Mohammed.

The contest in Syria plays upon two major ISIS themes, said Ryan Mauro, national security analyst for the New York-based Clarion Project: They are the ones who most closely follow "true" Islam and the Islamic State is a “legitimate” state. The contest and its underlying competition demonstrate that fighters are studying the Koran, and that ISIS is not affected by international condemnation.

“By showcasing its slavery, ISIS is boasting that it practices Islam in its most literal interpretation, doesn't capitulate to public opinion and rejects modern interpretations,” Mauro said. “It is also showing it has a functional Islamic educational system and therefore is a real caliphate.

The timing of the announcement is significant as Ramadan is a time of year where Muslims are charged with rejuvenating their faith.

“Memorizing the Koran is a considered a pious and worthy thing to do and many memorization competitions are held around the world, especially during Ramadan,” the Clarion Project said in its June 21 report. “It is believed to be the month during which Mohammed received the Koran."

The chapters the Islamic State challenged its followers to memorize include “some of the most warlike passages in the entire Koran.”

Specifically the announcement, which told the competitors to come to one of four mosques including the “Mosques of Abu Bakr el-Sadiq, The Mosque of Osama Bin Laden, The Mosque of Abu Musab el-Zarqawi or The Mosque of el-Taqwa, and listed prizes, including "slave girls" and Syrian currency amounting to $500 and less.

“We ask the great lord to make your life easier and to grant you with what he loves and what pleases him,” the announcement concludes.

That would be the great Satan who loves raping little girls, not the God of the Bible.

The treatment of girls and women captured by ISIS has become increasingly horrific and alarming, numerous human rights activists said.

In 2014, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a U.K.-based monitoring group, reported 300 Yazidi girls and women captured in Iraq were forced to convert to Islam and sold to ISIS jihadists in Syria for $1,000.

Last November, ISIS reportedly unveiled a menu of sorts for women and children for sale with women 40 and 50 years old sold for just $40, girls between 10 and 20 years old auctioned for $129 each, and children under 10 commanding higher prices. A Human Rights Watch report issued in April documented continued organized rapes, sexual assault, and other horrific crimes against Yezidi women and girls kidnapped from their homes and held as captives in Iraq and Syria.

The United Nation envoy on sexual violence reported in June that girls and women are being traded for as little as a pack of cigarettes, citing testimony of girls and women who were able to escape their captors.

Sex Slavery and Murder in the Netherlands

Book Review

Slave Girl 

by Sarah Forsyth and Tim Tate

by cathyfox

"How can biro marks, scratched on a piece of plain white paper ever convey the horror of watching the face of a fellow human being, blown to pieces a few feet from your own?" Sarah asks.

It was after this  horrific incident that Sarah knew she had to escape. Her chance happened one day when the room she was usually locked in was left unlocked and the two huge bull mastiffs that usually guarded her were not there. She ran and ran and ran.

Sarah had been tricked into going to the Netherlands to be a nursery nurse. There was no job, she was met by "Sally" who turned her over to John Reece, who kidnapped her and her put to work as a prostitute, leading to a nightmare of rape and drug addiction. She was then sold to a bigger group of pimps.

Men get bored with paying for "normal" commercialised sex. Rich men can pay for spiced up sex. This leads to russian roulette, which is how Sarah witnessed the death of young peasant Thai girl Par. Filming it earns more money as a snuff movie. It also has the benefit of getting rid of a low earning prostitute. And it keeps the dogs fed.

Before this horrific experience in the Netherlands, Sarah had been sexually abused as a child by her father.

Tim Tate and Sarah tell the story of her life of sexual abuse and sex trafficking in this book. This is a very courageous decision by Sarah.  As a self described crack whore, who became addicted to morphine given to her to get off the crack, and sufferer of  post traumatic stress disorder sufferer, not only will her often incredible claims be doubted but she is bound to be the subject of intense scrutiny when things go wrong [8].

Add to this "Sally" emerges on a website to dispute some of Sarahs version [6]. Personally I trust Tim Tate's integrity, who continues his quality writing into child sex abuse, and trying to bring peoples attention to it for many years when only a handful of people were covering it. Whether the story is absolutely true is to miss the point. Sex trafficking, child sex trafficking and forced prostitution does happen and on a much greater scale than we care to believe as this article from 2007 shows [13] . The Poppy Project for survivors of sex trafficking already knows only too well [4].

Unfortunately for whatever reason Police have been slow to take sexual exploitation crimes with due seriousmess. Although Police declared Operation Pentameter into sex traffficking a success [10] , it received criticism in the press [10]. Graham Maxwell was Deputy Chief of South Yorkshire Police and Programme Director at UK Human Trafficking Centre at Sheffield. Rotherham, now infamous for its ignored child sex exploitation is South Yorkshire Police area. Maxwell later left the Police in disgrace over a different issue [16]. The UK Human Trafficking Centre has now been taken over by the National Crime Agency [NCA] [17]. Time will tell if this is an improvement, but the NCA are not even bound by the Freedom of Information Act.

Woman trafficking and forced prostitution on redlight destrict ''de wallen'' in the Netherlands


I look forward to reading Sarahs next book - Slave Girl - Return to Hell: Ordinary British girls are being sold into sex slavery; I escaped, but now I'm going to help free them. This is my true story [18]


[1] 2009 Slave Girl Sarah Forsyth and Tim Tate  ISBN 978 1 84454 685 5

Missions Volunteer Guilty of Sexually Abusing Children in Kenya

OKLAHOMA CITY - A federal jury has reached a verdict in the trial of Matthew Durham. He has been convicted of illicit sexual conduct with children at a Kenyan orphanage.

Prosecutors said 20-year-old Durham of Edmond, Oklahoma, targeted the children while he worked at an orphanage in Kenya. Earlier this week, Durham testified that he never abused any of the children.

Matthew Durham

Friday afternoon, a federal jury found Durham guilty on seven counts, and not guilty on 10 counts. He's found guilty on seven counts of engaging in illicit sexual conduct in foreign places, and not guilty on eight counts of aggravated sexual abuse of a child, one count of travel with intent to engage in illicit sexual conduct, and one count of engaging in illicit sexual conduct in foreign places.
The Durham family and his friends left the courthouse without a comment.

Matthew Durham's attorney Stephen Jones said they were obviously disappointed with the conviction, but now their focus is on the sentencing.

"It was not as good as we wanted too see but could have been worse", said Jones.

" This is not a verdict to celebrate. The only winner here is justice," said US Attorney Sandy Coats. "Bottom line is that Mr. Durham is a threat to children, and it will be our position that he should be extricated from society at sentencing for a significant period of time."

Durham faces 210 years in prison if he gets the maximum penalty for each count. A sentencing will likely take place 90 days from Friday, June 19. 

Durham showed no emotion when the verdict was read. 

Startling Numbers of Children are being Sexually Abused in Canada, US

The Sudbury Star

Northeastern Ontario isn't the only place where a silent epidemic of sexually abused children is going unnoticed, says a pediatrician.

It's a problem that is occurring all across Canada, and someone must step up and show leadership to address the issue, says Dr. Nicolas Steinmetz.

The retired associate professor of pediatrics at Montreal's McGill University said in an area the size and population of northeastern Ontario, almost 40,000 children will have been sexually abused by the time they are 18.

He chided health planners in the northeast for not recognizing the importance of programs to treat sexually abused children, but said the problem is a national one.

Steinmetz was keynote speaker at the annual general meeting Thursday of Health Sciences North. He is a past executive director of the Montreal Children's Hospital and has been involved in developing pediatric services in northern Quebec, Baffin Island, Kenya and other locations.

"These children are damaged," he said of sexually abused children, and many will grow up to have problems that will affect society.

"You need to do something about this," Steinmetz told about 50 people at the hospital meeting.

Sudbury could be a leader in offering programs and treatment. "I don't see anybody in Canada taking this on," said Steinmetz.

He explained that abuse affects child development, even resulting in their brains being smaller than normal because of their experiences.

carol.mulligan@sunmedia.ca

If the stats at the top of this page are accurate, approximately 855,000 girls, and 567,000 boys have been or are likely to be sexually abused before they turn 18. That's a total of more than 1.42 million children. If you are in the US, those numbers should likely be increased by a factor of ten.

Stats in the UK reveal that about one in 35 men have pedophilic tendencies. What are we doing about that? We are responding to those child sex abuse cases that are reported to police or social services - that's it. We are doing absolutely nothing proactively to reduce or eliminate CSA which has such devastating effects on its victims, usually life-long, very negative effects.

There is no inquiry happening to document the true numbers and types of abuse, or the actual tragic effects it has. These stories need to be told in order for the victims to move on in any meaningful way. The Truth and Reconciliation Commission dealing with the abuse of First Nations children in residential schools was a good beginning but has barely scratched the surface of child sex abuse in Canada. We need to look at other institutions - I'm sure Mount Cashel was not an isolated case.

We also need to study CSA in homes and communities where parents, siblings, other relatives, or neighbours are the perpetrators. We need to develop strategies to prevent, and identify such abuse, and to arm the children with the knowledge of what sex abuse is, how to stop it, and how to report it. Believe it or not, most kids are not capable of doing any of those three actions.

Most of our sex education in schools deals very little, if at all, with child sex abuse. Far more time and energy is spent trying to prevent bullying of gay students, which is likely to affect about one in 100 kids, while the sexual violation of more than one in five children is largely being ignored. This must drive God crazy!

We also need to investigate whether child sex exploitation, such as has happened on a massive scale in the UK (Rotherham, Oxford), is happening here. We know there is significant child sex exploitation occurring, but we need to better identify who is doing it, who are most vulnerable to it, and educate them on how to recognize it and protect themselves.

We also need more and better strategies for dealing with cyber sexploitation in its myriad forms. And we need to toughen laws and increase sentences for these crimes.

In other words, we need to do a lot more than we are doing, otherwise, we are leaving our children at great risk, knowing that about 80,000 children will be introduced to sexual abuse every year; and who knows how many tens of thousands fall victim to recurring CSA each year. It would not surprise me if the number of Canadian children being sexually abused each year exceeds 150,000. In fact, it would surprise me if the number is not between 200,000 and 250,000.

Please, let everyone know this extreme atrocity exists and we are doing very little about it. Please contact your MLA, MPP, and MP and inform him/her.

Governments either don't know the horrific extent of child sex abuse, or they are unwilling to face it. We must force them to do so. God help us if we continue to ignore this most evil of crimes.

Karen Bradley, UK's First Minister for Preventing Abuse and Exploitation

Karen Bradley, the UK's first minister for preventing abuse and exploitation, said this was a watershed moment for Britain

UK Abuse Minister: Our battle
By Karen Bradley, UK's first minister for preventing abuse and exploitation

Some crimes, particularly involving children, are so appalling it is human nature to want to turn away. Some victims’ and survivors’ experiences are so shocking they are almost unbearable to hear. And some failures by those who should protect the most vulnerable have been so inexcusable and systemic it is tempting to despair.

However, my job, as the first ever Minister for Preventing Abuse and Exploitation, is to confront these issues. I look at this as a Minister, but also as a mother. While I feel lucky to be well-informed about child sexual abuse, the scale of it is astonishing.

When I was at school, a man walked past a group of us girls with his genitals on show. There were giggles and when I got home I told my mum. She phoned the police. The police found him, he was locked up and he was never allowed to go near the school again.

But now the internet gives such people anonymity. They can go online and be somebody else. The internet normalises this behaviour because people with this interest find others who share their interest. There’s a market for it and the internet helps to feed that market.

My post is a new one, the first time responsibilities for protecting children and vulnerable adults from sexual abuse and exploitation, tackling child trafficking and modern slavery, and preventing violence against women and girls have been brought together under one ministerial portfolio.

The spectrum of abuse is vast and varied. It goes from people who think it is acceptable to look at illegal images online to those who want to have sex with children and even babies. One victim I met who had been trafficked to this country to be a sex slave was found dumped on the side of the M25. A gang that had prostituted her out no longer wanted her as she was pregnant.

Many young people have been failed by police, and social and health workers, who saw vulnerable teenagers as ‘difficult’ and ‘problematic’, and who lacked the curiosity to explore underlying reasons for challenging behaviour.

Theresa May

Home Secretary Theresa May established an independent inquiry to examine failures to protect children; to get to the truth, expose what has gone wrong in the past, and learn lessons for the future

We must make sure these failures are not repeated. This year we prioritised child sexual abuse as a national threat, alongside terrorism and organised crime. It is one of the greatest threats of our time.

We have allocated an additional £10million to track down offenders and protect children. The Home Office has set up a database, to reduce the time taken to identify illegal images; we are setting up a centre of expertise on child sexual abuse, and a whistleblowing helpline for public sector workers.

This is only the tip of the iceberg, which is why the Home Secretary established an independent inquiry to examine failures to protect children; to get to the truth, expose what has gone wrong in the past, and learn lessons for the future.

As a society we are at a watershed. Victims and survivors of abuse are, more than ever before, feeling confident to report their experiences. This is encouraging, but also an immense challenge. Because coming forward is never the end of it for a victim; because the damage of those experiences is so hard to undo; and because it is clear that far too many children are being damaged in the first place.

But the Government can’t solve everything and, more importantly, I don’t believe that it should. We must all look unblinkingly at the reality. Raise our voices when we suspect a child is at risk and work together to find solutions. It will not be easy. But it can and must be done if we are to protect our children.

1/4 of a Million Paedophiles in Britain

By IAN BIRRELL FOR THE MAIL ON SUNDAY

Up to 750,000 men living in Britain may have an interest in having sex with children, the Government has been warned.

A shocking analysis by the National Crime Agency reveals that about one in 35 adult males poses a potential risk of being a child abuser or of seeking out child sex images online.

Horrifically, as many as 250,000 men may be sexually attracted to pre-pubescent children – defined as those under 12 – according to the findings disclosed exclusively to The Mail on Sunday.

Phil Gormley, the deputy director general of the National Crime Agency (NCA), said: ‘We are starting to get a real sense of the scale.’

He also warned that paedophiles are so numerous that ‘the reality is that we are all living not far away from one’.

Calling for an urgent new approach to safeguard children from potential abusers before they strike, he said: ‘If all we have is arrest and incarceration that will not help them come forward.’

Among new measures being developed is a system that would alert minors when they are being groomed by men posing as fellow children when talking to them through Facebook or other social networking sites.

Software will look for clues in the pattern of behaviour being used by predators before raising the alarm with a ‘traffic light’ system of warnings.

Senior police, politicians and child protection groups want to spark debate over the best way to encourage paedophiles to seek assistance before they harm children – but Mr Gormley accepts that this is an ‘uncomfortable discussion’ for the public.

The shocking figures come from estimates based on academic research and the best available evidence from other sources. They indicate that between one and three per cent of males have paedophilic tendencies, and match figures from other countries in Europe.

Not all the men act on their deviant desires. One expert dealing with paedophiles estimated from his experiences that about half of such men recognise the dangers and want help controlling their urges.

However, the NSPCC warns that the figures, though shocking, may still be an underestimate of the number of potential abusers. The charity says at least one in 12 children has suffered assault.

Last year alone, a warning that pops up in response to Google searches for illegal images of children was set off three million times in Britain.

Yet Google is used in only about half the searches for child pornography. A Home Office source described the scale of the problem as ‘mind-boggling’, with huge implications across child protection services, courts, police, prisons, probation services and schools.

Senior police, politicians and child protection groups want to spark debate
 over the best way to encourage paedophiles to seek assistance
 before they harm children (picture posed by model)

The NCA’s disturbing disclosure comes as public bodies grapple with the scale of child abuse highlighted by scandals including the Jimmy Savile affair and assaults committed by gangs in Rotherham.

Official bodies are coming under increasing strain in dealing with the problem.

Investigations by police in England and Wales into child sex abuse have risen by 71 per cent since 2012, with the number of cases this year projected to reach 113,000.

Meanwhile, child abuse investigations by the NCA – the body dubbed ‘Britain’s FBI’ as it has a far wider reach than local police forces – have risen from single figures when it was set up almost two years ago to more than 150 today.

More than one in six prisoners is now a sex offender. Many of them are housed in eight specialist jails, up from five just two years ago.

The Government is so alarmed that it has appointed a Minister dedicated to preventing child abuse, the first such post in British history.

The NCA’s disturbing disclosure comes as public bodies grapple with the scale of child abuse highlighted by scandals including the Jimmy Savile affair

Karen Bradley said: ‘One of the biggest challenges is that the country doesn’t yet appreciate the true scale of the problem of child abuse, whether that is abuse that has happened in the past or that is happening right now in our communities, in our homes or online.’

In an article for today’s The Mail on Sunday, Ms Bradley says this is ‘a watershed moment’ and called on the British public to come to terms with the issue. In her first public intervention since taking the job she says: ‘We must look unblinkingly at the reality. Raise our voices when we suspect a child is at risk and work together to find solutions.’

Three months ago Home Secretary Theresa May issued a stark warning that Britain did not yet realise the massive scale of sexual exploitation of children, adding that abuse runs through every level of society. Last week, the NSPCC issued a report revealing soaring levels of sexual offences against minors and of children taken into care.

The majority of abuse victims were aged between 12 and 16, but more than one in four were younger.

‘This is just the tip of the iceberg,’ said John Brown, who heads the charity’s sexual abuse programme. ‘So much abuse and exploitation goes undetected when the only witnesses are the offender and the child. It only emerges years later, as we saw with Savile.’

Horror of senior detective at discovering that 1 in 35 men is sexually attracted to children

Phil Gormley, the deputy director general of the National Crime Agency (NCA) warned that paedophiles are so numerous that ‘the reality is that we are all living not far away from one’

During 28 years as a detective, Phil Gormley thought he had seen it all, from vicious rapes to brutal murders. Like other police officers, he has also had to confront sickening evidence of child sex abuse.

Yet the former chief constable – now deputy director general of the National Crime Agency – was horrified to discover just how many British men have a sexual desire for children.

‘Like most people, I am shocked by the estimated number who have this interest,’ he says. ‘It tells us some unhealthy things about human nature.’

Sitting in their London office, Gormley and his colleague Johnny Gwynne, head of Child Exploitation And Online Protection, disclose to me figures that are simply astonishing.

Gwynne says there are no absolute figures given the furtive nature of this proclivity. But based on detailed research, he believes at least one per cent of adult men may have sexual interest in minors. But he adds: ‘Some go up to three per cent. The number I would put on it is 750,000 men in this country.’

Of these, he says, about a third are ‘true paedophiles’, as defined by scientists for having an interest in pre-pubescent children – those under 12.

‘Whatever the exact figure, it is big,’ adds Gormley. ‘Every day another group of young men are coming to puberty and developing this interest.’

Thanks, greatly, to internet pornography!

The disturbing data is based upon academic evidence and current consensus among experts. The Mail on Sunday has established it is accepted as accurate within the Home Office, senior police levels and child protection bodies. Not all the men act on their urges, they say.

A senior Home Office source says such figures seem ‘unfathomable’ at first. ‘But once you get involved in the area you realise this is such a vast problem. It is just incredible.’

Simon Danczuk, the Labour MP and campaigner on the issue, adds: ‘This is just horrifying and gives us an indication of the size of the problem. We have to really come up with a national strategy to handle this.’

In recent years the authorities have been coming to terms with the scale of child sex abuse and exploitation. Prisons are now overflowing with sex offenders, who make up more than one in six inmates. This followed the slew of historic cases such as revelations surrounding celebrities such as Jimmy Savile and Stuart Hall, along with details of grooming gangs in Rotherham and Oxford, plus allegations of abuse at highest levels in Westminster.

Three months ago, Home Secretary Theresa May warned, ‘We will never look at society in the same way again’ once an inquiry she set up into such child abuse reports back. Now it becomes clearer why she made such grim comments.

Gormley admits child sex abuse has not been ‘centre stage of policy’ for most of his three decades in policing, but says there have been huge steps forward in the past two years. When the National Crime Agency was established to confront organised crime in October 2013, it had fewer than ten cases of child abuse. Today it is investigating more than 150, with 300 dedicated detectives in its child protection unit.

Almost 750 people were caught in one major case involving 520 children, while the NCA is also seeing growing evidence of ‘abuse to order‘ – British men paying as little as $3 (£1.90) to observe sexual attacks streamed online from Asia.

Simon Danczuk, Labour MP and campaigner on child abuse, said the findings were 'horrifying'

‘Before, you had to go to a place such as Thailand,’ says Gormley. ‘Now you can sit at your computer and type commands for abuse.’

This is a horrendous concept: paedophiles picking out child victims from a line-up and ordering their abuse from the other side of the world.

It underlines how much investigatory work now focuses on the dark side of the digital world.

‘I don’t know if there is a massive increase in the number of people with a proclivity for child sex,’ says Gormley. ‘There used to be a physical connection for paedophilia but the internet allows people to pursue that interest without having to go into public spaces. It also normalises such behaviour because there are online communities of such men. And it facilitates an interest in a way that was not possible before.’

Before the internet arrived, paedophiles were found in possession of an average 150 images. Today there are 100 million child abuse pictures online and individuals may have hundreds of thousands downloaded. There could be a dozen digital devices in an offender’s house, each needing intricate examination with specialist software that can take six months to carry out.

Each picture is a potential crime scene. A new computer system was installed this year to co-ordinate examination of child abuse images, which will be linked to Interpol; the NCA alone will have 12 officials whose only job is to identify victims in these unsavoury images.

There are also big projects under way to find fresh ways to track paedophiles online, including using sophisticated software to warn children in chatrooms if there is an adult masquerading as a youngster.

Already if a person searches for up to 1,000-word combinations on Google a warning of illegality pops up with details of help available.

It was triggered a worrying three million times last year.

The NCA and police are also starting to spot possible abusers based on their online behaviour.

The NCA is seeing growing evidence of ‘abuse to order‘ – British men paying
 as little as $3 (£1.90) to observe sexual attacks streamed online from Asia

This opens up two controversial areas. The first – the current row over the ‘snooper’s charter’ – highlights the issue of law enforcement versus privacy.

‘Policing was not looking in these areas 15 years ago,’ says Gormley. ‘We are having to consider how we police the private space.’

The second is how can society in the current fearful climate offer help to men seeking to control their urge to sexually abuse children?

‘If all we have is arrest and incarceration that will not help them come forward,’ says Gormley.

‘If we can reduce the harm done to children by aiding people to recognise and control their urges that must be a good thing. But this is a very uncomfortable discussion for society.’

WHERE TO GET HELP ON CHILD PROTECTION
Information and advice is available for parents and carers on how to protect children from sexual abuse and exploitation at the NCA website thinkuknow.co.uk.

If you have concerns a child has been sexually abused or exploited, even if you are unsure, it is important to seek help and support. If you have immediate concerns for a child’s safety call 999.

You can also report concerns to the NCA via the Safety Centre ceop.police.uk/safety-centre, or to local police by calling 101.

Advice is also available on inappropriate behaviour at the Stop It Now website, stopitnow.org.

Simon Bailey, the Association of Chief Police Officers spokesman on child protection, recently suggested ‘non-contact abusers’ – those solely viewing images online – might be treated by mental health specialists on the NHS.

The Lucy Faithfull Foundation in Birmingham offers counselling to potential molesters.

Donald Findlater, its research director, says: ‘Right now we have a strategy of waiting until a child is harmed and then we do something. We need to do something before children are harmed.’

The NSPCC agrees. John Brown, who heads the charity’s sexual abuse programme, says: ‘It’s not about being nice to paedophiles but about preventing child abuse.’

Most child abuse takes place within the family, but some offenders prowl for vulnerable victims or exploit positions of trust.

Last week the NSPCC issued a report revealing the number of children in the child protection system had risen 80 per cent in just over a decade to 570,800 – while it estimates that for every one child officially identified as ‘at risk’, eight more suffer abuse.

These are terrifying figures. Most victims were aged between 12 and 16, although more than one in four were younger.

A study by police chiefs into their caseload of child sexual abuse showed a rise in incidents from 66,120 in 2012 to a projected 113,291 cases in 2015. Historic cases have risen by 165 per cent.

Little wonder when I asked Gormley about the odds of living next door to a paedophile, he gave me a chilling response.

‘If these numbers are accurate the reality is that we are all living not far away from one.’

Grade 6 Female Teacher Charged with Six Child Sex-related Offences

Amy Hood, Thorburn teacher charged in sex assault, 

faces October trial

Thorburn is in Pictou County, Nova Scotia, Canada

Hood had been a Grade 6 teacher at Thorburn Consolidated School when the complaint against her was made.

A former teacher at a Pictou County school will go to trial Oct. 19 on multiple charges of sex abuse of children.

Carolyn Amy Hood, of Stellarton, was charged with six offences in connection with an 11-week investigation by Pictou County RCMP.

Police received a complaint from Thorburn Consolidated School, a Grade Primary to Grade 9 school in Pictou County in the fall of 2013. Hood taught Grade 6 at the school.

Hood faces one charge of sexual assault, one of sexual interference, two counts of luring minors over the internet for a sexual purpose and two of sexual exploitation of a young person.

Neither Crown attorney Bill Gorman nor Hood's lawyer Joel Pink would discuss the ages of the victims.

Hood was not present at Tuesday's court proceeding.

The offences are alleged to have occurred between June and September 2013.