Project Undercover - Terre des Hommes Netherlands

Action Pour Les Enfants (APLE), in Cambodia

Travelling child sex offenders too often go unpunished. Local police do not have the manpower to investigate these cases and moreover, collecting evidence is very complicated.

Therefore, Terre des Hommes Netherlands will train local child protection officers in Indonesia, the Philippines, India and Nepal to identify perpetrators and assist local authorities with prosecution. Project Undercover is based on the successful approach of her project partner, Action Pour Les Enfants (APLE), in Cambodia.

Terre des Hommes Netherlands identified Indonesia, the Philippines, India and Nepal as countries where, due in part to the Internet and the increase in tourism, child sexual abuse is prevalent. Being a taboo subject, child sexual abuse is often hidden behind a wall of silence, denial and indifference.

With Project Undercover, Terre des Hommes Netherlands aims to protect more children against sexual exploitation. “€œWe notice the approach in Cambodia is successful, therefore we want to copy this to other countries”€, says Albert Jaap van Santbrink, executive director of Terre des Hommes Netherlands.

Terre des Hommes was the group that built the avatar Sweetie, and used her to lure a thousand pedophiles into revealing their identities.