Sweetie, a super young-looking computer-animated girl, has disturbingly attracted 20,000 sexual predators, all hailing from different countries and walks of life. Sweetie was created by human rights group Terre des Hommes Netherlands to bring to light the victimization of children in developing countries. After chatting with the 10-year-old Filipino girl in chat rooms, many older men solicited her for “sex performances” online.
Members of Terre des Homme entered chat rooms posing as Sweetie, but never approached men first. “We identified ourselves as 10-year-old Filipino girls. We did not solicit anything unless it was offered to us,” said activist Hans Guyt.
Unfortunately, police do not take action against instances of child victimization unless the victim comes forward. As Guyt notes, neither the children targeted nor the predators are likely to report the crime. The worry is that this victimization, if left unchecked, could easily become an epidemic and a lucrative, violent industry, says Albert Jaap van Santbrik. Terre des Hommes formulated this more creative approach to catching predators, and thankfully, Sweetie was able to nab many of these guys before they were able to pursue real children.
Image via RT News
