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THREE IRISH MEN are among over 1,000 adults, from more than 65 countries, who have been identified as willing to pay children in developing countries to perform sexual acts in front of a webcam.
Dutch children’s rights organisation, Terre des Hommes, created a virtual character, known as Sweetie, to operate in public chat rooms and help catch adults who wanted the ’10-year-0ld’ to perform sexual acts in front of the camera.
The organisation said in a report today that in a very short period over 20,000 people approached ‘Sweetie’ and asked her to perform sexual acts on a webcam.
By asking these adults for information about their social media profiles the organisation was able to gather information about the people and uncover the identities of 1,000 of them.
This information has now been passed on to Interpol. Of over 1,000 identified, three are reported to be Irish but their identities have not been disclosed.
Watch ‘The Story of Sweetie’ (Warning: Some viewers may find the content of this video distressing, discretion is advised)
YouTube: sweetie
Hans Guyt, director of campaigns at Terre des Hommes Netherlands, said that despite the fact that webcam child sex tourism is banned in most countries few people have been convicted of perpetrating the crime.
He said that this is because police don’t take action until child victims file reports.
“But children almost never report these crimes. These children are usually forced to do this by adults or by extreme poverty. Sometimes they have to testify against their own family, which is almost an impossible thing to do for a child,” he said.
“We want governments to adopt proactive investigation policies that give law enforcement agencies the mandate to actively patrol public Internet hotspots where this child abuse is taking place every day.
“The child predators doing this now feel that the law doesn’t apply to them. The Internet is free, but not lawless.”
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One of the truly great songwriters, one of lifes mystery’s is how he made 60, a true testament to the resilience of the human body.
Congrats Shane, deserves it
Legend !
@Gavin O’Brien: absolute legend,
Such a pity Dolores o Riordan didn’t get one also.
He looks in a bad way.
@@Kevinro1980:
What happened to him?
@@Kevinro1980: Dubliners song seven drunken nights comes to mind
@John Byrne: 40+ years of alcohol and drug abuse will do that to you. Unless you’re Keith Richards, in which case you walk away unscathed. I think Shane also broke his hip recently.
Would love to have been at this,absolutely love Shane McGowan, and to top it all off,Nick Cave was there too,would literally have fainted on the spot,Anyway congratulations Shane,legend.
Well deserved but, something tells me 2018 may claim him soon too
The greatest poet of my lifetime.
One of Ireland’s most talented artists
Immensely talented, no doubt about that, but he’s from England not Ireland.
@O Swetenham: born in England to irish parents, spent the first 6 and a half years of his life in Tipperary, considers himself Irish and has spent more of his life living in Ireland than England. That makes him irish in my opinion.
@Dermot Lane: Yeah you’re right. I’m being a wee bit pedantic I suppose.
The picture reminds me of one of those creepy Victorian post mortem photos where family members would pose for one last family photo with the dressed up corpse.
@TechProducts: he looks like a waxwork statue
Does anybody know if this was recorded and if so will it be made available for viewing?
@Brian Brogan: There was a some professional camera men there last night along with notices saying it was being recorded so hopefully it will become available.
Incredible night but I was annoyed to see some empty seats in front of us from no shows when there was a few hundred people queuing up outside hoping to get a ticket.
@Brian Brogan: Yes it was recorded.
Everyone loves him now.
Very well deserved. What a great night that must have been!
what a poet. Well deserved
who’s the guy dressed up as Johnny Depp?
@Johnhunky Dory: Oh… it IS Johnny Depp!!
@Johnhunky Dory: Bah humbug, I like Johnny Depp…
@Johnhunky Dory: don’t think he will offering to blast Shane out of a canon when he goes .
Thompson cost him a packet
When he was good he was very good, the music industry,it’s not for the faint hearted
have your say