The Netherlands

A loverboy forces a girl to have sex with unknown men in a basement storage room. A Dutch man exploits children in the Philippines to participate in webcam sex. A family in The Hague holds a child from Thailand as a house slave. These scenarios are not made up.

Child exploitation also occurs in the Netherlands. Official figures count hundreds of victims, but that number seems to be just a partial reflection of the reality. We fight child exploitation – in the Netherlands too.

Every year, some 1,300 children in the Netherlands alone fall into the hands of loverboys. These cunning human traffickers posing as romantic partners operate mainly online, where they groom vulnerable children. What first appear to be innocent conversations quickly lead to intimidation, blackmail and sexual exploitation.

Our WATCH Nederland project helps track these traffickers. The project team is specialised in identifying both loverboys and their clients. 

WATCH Nederland also enables anyone to safely report suspicions of sexual exploitation of a child. The project’s observation and action unit follows up on these reports and investigates the perpetrators’ practices both online and offline. 

The WATCH team has handled over 150 cases this year, based on reports filed by worried parents, teachers and friends. Information from investigations is shared with the police so they can take action. Stop child sexual exploitation and trafficking – in the Netherlands too. Join our fight.