Nowhere to Hide: Turning Illicit Financial Flows Against Human Trafficking in the Philippines
Funder: Global Fund to End Modern Slavery (GFEMS)
Duration: 1 Sept 2022 - 31 Dec 2023
Project Lead: Dr Ergul Celiksoy
Programme: Law and Policy
Report Launch
Monday 23 October 2023 1300 - 1400 hrs UK Time
We are pleased to announce the findings of our research on financial transactions in online sexual exploitation of children (OSEC). Funded by Global Fund to End Modern Slavery (GFEMS), this project was conducted by a team of researchers at the Rights Lab, the University of Nottingham.
The project examined the use of traditional and emerging digital payments in OSEC cases. It analysed how different payment methods are used to buy and sell OSEC, and how financial transactions can be used to initiative effective investigations and prosecutions.
This launch event is held to share the main findings of the research project.
The project produced 7 reports, all available below:
- Investigation into financial transactions used in the online sexual exploitation of children: The state of evidence
- Online sexual exploitation of children: International and regional legal and policy framework
- Payment methods and investigation of financial transactions in online sexual exploitation of children cases
- Legal and institutional responses to the online sexual exploitation of children: Norway country case study
- Legal and institutional responses to the online sexual exploitation of children: Netherlands country case study
- Legal and institutional responses to the online sexual exploitation of children: Phillipines country case study
- Legal and institutional responses to the online sexual exploitation of children: United Kingdom country case study
About the project
The Global Fund to End Modern Slavery (GFEMS) has developed an intervention— Nowhere to Hide— to reduce online sexual exploitation of children (OSEC) by using traffickers’ illicit financial flows as a tool against them. An experienced developer of cutting-edge technological solutions for fighting trafficking, GFEMS will lead the intervention and will bring together a strong network of diverse partners – from financial sector leaders in Europe to justice actors in the Philippines – to make the project a success.
Human traffickers and perpetrators of OSEC can easily send money around the world to facilitate their crimes. They use the traditional financial system as well as new channels, such as cryptocurrency and e-money wallets. Authorities and other stakeholders have not yet brought adequate focus to these new channels as enablers of trafficking, and to make matters worse, these channels are often designed to enhance anonymity for users. Payments should be a paper trail to identify perpetrators and traffickers; instead, they are a hiding place.
Nowhere to Hide will lift the veil on payment systems as facilitators of human trafficking and give authorities and other stakeholders the knowhow, tools, and motivation needed to turn illicit financial flows against traffickers.
The starting point of this project is online sexual exploitation of children (OSEC) in the Philippines by perpetrators in Europe. This starting point enables a focused scope on an issue that has heightened in significance during Covid-19, and that appears especially relevant to cybersecurity approaches due to its online and cross-continental nature.