Since 2016, Terre des Hommes has been fighting against child labour in the mica mines
More than 22,000 children work daily to mine mica from the rocks along what is known as the Mica belt, in India. Many products contain the mica mineral, such as cars, paint, cosmetics, laptops and other electronic devices. This has to stop. By working together with governments companies, communities, children and donors, we aim to eradicate child labour in the mica mines, with the hope of sending children back to school.
Awarded the Philips and Kuncai grant
Launched the second survey on mica production and mica use
Launched the Responsible Mica Initiative:
A partnership between companies who supply or use mica in their production process and who commit themselves to establish a 100% responsible mica supply chain 'free of child labour' within five years
Conceptualised 20 child friendly villages in India. These are villages where children are not exploited, are provided with high-quality education and are aware of their rights and how to exercise them
Thanks to the support of the Dutch Postcode Lottery Sweetie 2.0 was succesfully implemented in 2017.
Together with national and international specialists, a new global software system for combating the sexual exploitation of children online via webcam has been developed. This software has enabled millions of potential perpetrators to be identified and deterred from exploiting children online. The system is geared to national and international frameworks for investigation and prosecution. Extensive scientific research is also being conducted into the impact of this preventive approach.
“ Sweetie 2.0 is a unique collaboration between technicians, lawyers, forensic psychologists and a children's rights organisation, who all speak a different language, but work hard to make this a success. I am proud of that! ”
Nearly 1,000 media reports from over 50 countries
The development of chat robots and virtual characters that were regularly deployed in chat rooms
A chat robot used to send warnings to potential perpetrators during a six-week pilot project in the Philippines
Global legal investigation into the possibilities of criminal prosecution when using chat robots
Countless arrests and convictions of perpetrators from around the world
A visit from his Majesty King Willem-Alexander to survey the the premises where the Sweetie program was developed
Interest from the Australian Government in implementing the system in country
Nominated for the Mr. Gonsalves Prize, a national innovation prize for law enforcement
WATCH Netherlands stops the sexual exploitation of minors in the Netherlands by deterring perpetrators from exploiting children through scare tactics.
WATCH Netherlands tracks down pimps (called loverboys) and their customers by using a hotline, web crawlers, bait advertisements, locator profiles and private investigators. This program has been rolled out in 2017.
In 2017, 131 reports were filed with the national hotline (manned by Fier/CKM professionals ), 60 of which were transferred to the investigation agency, the Observation & Action Unit (Terre des Hommes) under suspicion of human trafficking
53 cases could be transferred to the police after thorough investigation (evidence stacking)
Tests with bait ads showed that over a hundred men respond to a single ad each day. More than 60% of these men want to continue with the sex appointment after the offered prostitute gave a clear indication of being a minor. From 2018 on, Terre des Hommes will be deploying artificial intelligence to communicate with the thousands of men who respond daily to the WATCH Netherlands bait ads and which will soon warn customers that their identity is now known and that they will be monitored henceforth. In this way we aim to stop "loverboy" activities
By using proactive research (deployment of web crawlers, bait profiles and advertisements) the Observation & Action Unit also flags signals of child sex tourism, grooming and child pornography
In cooperation with the police, the Safety House and various care agencies in Zeeland, a regional campaign was launched in October to draw attention to commercial sexual exploitation of underage girls by using regional media. This is the first step in a series of campaigns throughout The Netherlands.
“Many witnesses, parents of victims or victims of this type of human trafficking do not dare or want to report to the police for several reasons. At WATCH Netherlands a victim can disclose information and leave it to us to contact law enforcement. That is why we call on parents, hotel owners, taxi drivers, teachers, friends and acquaintances to report cases cases of child sexual exploitation, to WATCH Netherlands. Last year we only addressed "loverboy" activities. Now we explicitly summon people to report suspicious situations regarding boys too.”