72 | August• 2017
OPERATION ‘SWEETIE’
years, working to solve its rampant
child prostitution problem. Terre des
Hommes had been fighting to pro-
tect vulnerable children for decades
through its branches across Europe
and Canada. Hans had beenwith the
organisation since 1999, taking the
lead on ambitious projects around
the world. Before that, thefeisty 58
year old was Greenpeace’s campaign
director. He had a track record for
getting things done.
But as he wandered the streets
of Cebu’s slums, Hans marvelled at
how the kids who had once sold their
bodies here had all but disappeared.
Something else had changed, too.
On nearly every corner, what had
once been a shack was now an ‘in-
ternet café’. These rudimentary iron-
roofed huts housed rows of cheap
computers that connected to the web
for a few cents a minute.
Hans noticed that kids were sitting
in front of these screens. Through
conversations with children at drop-
in centres and shelters, he discovered
a vast new phenomenon sweeping
impoverished Filipino communities:
webcam child sex tourism.
Easy access to the internet was al-
lowing individuals anywhere to pur-
chase live webcam sex shows from a
growing number of Filipino children.
A fee would be negotiated and then
paid via Western Union. A pimp or
someone else over 18 went to collect
the money, and the show would begin.
Usually one or two girls would holdHansen knew that in the shady on-
line networks he frequented, those
letters could signify only one thing:
a nine-year-old girl from the Phil-
ippines. Heart pounding, he typed:
“Wanna chat or cam with older? I like
asian chicks, u horny for action ... i’m
naked, ever seen a guy naked?”
After a few seconds a single word
popped up: “Yes.” The conversation
quickly moved to Skype at the girl’s
request. Hansen called her from his
personal account, where his name,
photograph and location were listed.
“I with me sister she is 8,” typed
the Filipino girl. “If you likes we does
20 minutes sexy show for $2.”
“OK, please video call me, I can do
that,” wrote an excited Hansen.
Had the girl turned on her video
cam, Hansen would have seen what he
was expecting: a thin, brown-skinned,
prepubescent child sitting at a key-
board. The girl would nod compla-
cently, adjusting her webcam and
typing out responses while, thousands
of kilometres away, Hansen negotiated
her purchase for a few dollars an hour.
But Hansen would never see the
girl, for there was no need for her to
appear: he had already been caught.
TWO YEARS EARLIER
CEBU, PHILIPPINES
H
ans Guijt was baffled. As the di-
rector of projects for the Dutch
arm of the children’s welfare
organisation Terre des Hommes,
he’d been visiting the Philippines for