In addition to the already well-known aspects of this crime against humanity – such as sex work, labour exploitation, organ trafficking and child trafficking – H.E. Ambassador Sebastian Prince of Schoenaich-Carolath spoke about a new form of crime against children known as ‘grooming’ or ‘sextortion’. Children or young people are lured into, and subsequently forced to create and send increasingly intimate images or videos of themselves. This is followed by threats to publish the material or forward it to family and friends. This child pornography is then sold worldwide. Subsequently, children and young people are blackmailed (e.g. through demands for money or sexual abuse) to produce ever more images and videos.
These images and videos remain permanently stored in the digital world, meaning that the children affected are therefore vulnerable to blackmail for life, including through the lack of opportunities in job recruitment. Ambassador Schoenaich-Carolath also highlighted the serious psychological consequences, including high suicide rates among victims. This new form of crime is alarming, as children and young people from all walks of life can be affected by grooming.
In conclusion, he asked what the Order of Malta can do to combat this. As part of its diplomatic activities, the Order advises organisations, institutions, executive bodies, government agencies and financial institutions on how to recognise human trafficking. For him, as the Order’s Ambassador to the Republic of Austria, this is an important issue because Vienna is the seat of many international organisations and financial institutions (such as the OSCE, UN, UNIDO, UNODC, OPEC, OPEC Fund, ICPDR, ADA, IPI, etc.), and is also historically a hub between East and West and Austria. Austria is deeply rooted in top-level international diplomacy, which means that awareness-raising work is also of great importance within the Diplomatic Corps.
The issue of Human Trafficking is of great importance to the Order of Malta, as it concerns a core tenet of Christianity – human dignity – which is why this crime must be stopped at all costs.
