Asia warned on internet child porn

By Tony Cheng
BBC, Bangkok

The rapid commercialisation of the internet has led to an explosion of child pornography, according to a UN conference being held in Bangkok.

Delegates were warned that child pornography on the net also led to more traditional forms of child abuse like prostitution and child trafficking.

John Carr, head of British Charity the National Children's Home, said 70% of convicted paedophiles were inspired to offend by viewing child porn on the internet.

As a specialist on how to tackle the problem, he was in Bangkok to warn nations in South East Asia that the internet threatens to increase their traditional problems of sex tourism and child trafficking.

Japan and South Korea have joined the US and Russia as the hosts of large numbers of child porn websites. With an increase in commercial opportunities from child abuse, criminal gangs have now become involved.

A website in eastern Europe that was recently shut down was found to be generating $2m a month from child porn.

That, says the UN, requires immediate global agreements to ensure that police forces are able to swiftly and efficiently take action against paedophiles, be they hardened criminals or simply domestic internet users.