During the implementation of this project, the organization realized that, in most cases, child sexual offenders were not strangers to the victims/survivors. In the case of traveling sex offenders or foreign pedophiles, they developed relationships with victims or survivors, as well as their parents. They gained the trust in the name of providing family support, teaching English, and providing good food and money. The nationalities of the foreign pedophiles as prosecuted by the organizations are French, Canadian, American, Danish, Dutch, Australian, Austrian, English, German, Indian, and Arabian.
It was also observed that most of these offenders had impressive educational and professional backgrounds. Some of them are development professionals, doctors, businessmen, app designers, teachers, and lawyers. Based on the experience of the organization, it was understood that most of the pedophiles were well-reputed in society and had been contributing to the social cause. For instance, a former UN official who was convicted in a child sexual abuse case put forward his immense social contribution to children as a UN official in his defense. He even stated that he had taught English to four adolescent prisoners in Kavre District Prison during the trial period. Similarly, one pedophile who is a psychiatric doctor by profession was working as a volunteer for an NGO based in Kathmandu. He was convicted of abusing two children receiving educational support from the same organization. Furthermore, based upon free legal services provided to the victims/survivors of pedophilia over the period, CeLRRd realized that pedophiles abuse the children by taking advantages of their vulnerable situations. In other words, children not having proper guardianship or having incapable guardianship are at risk of being victims of child sexual abuse. It was observed that about 56 percent of victims/survivors belonged to a low income family, 22 percent were from the family that migrated to the city and the rest were children on streets unattended by their parents. In addition, no pedophile appeared to be randomly abusing children. They are usually initiated to groom children and earn their trust in order to normalize the abuse. This would keep them safe as there would be less chances of cases being filed/reported. For this they used multiple alternatives such as supporting their families, providing education and giving good food and money. Some even bought advanced electronic devices such as laptops, mobile phones, watches, etc. to lure the children. From the cases prosecuted, 46 percent of those pedophiles had offered livelihood support to the victim/survivor’s family, 36 percent of cases victims/survivors were offered good food and money, and the remaining received educational support. During the legal proceedings, the organization observed two unique characteristics in case of pedophilia. First, the victims/survivors were abused multiple times. In most of the cases, victims/survivors had been abused periodically for 2 to 5 years. Some were abused for the first time when they were 10 years old until they became 15 years. Some pedophiles even abused multiple numbers of children. A number of them continued to contact the victims/survivors through social media, where they informed them about their arrival and periods of stay. Among the cases CeLRRd facilitated, there is no case in which a pedophile abused only one child. Second, pedophiles had abused multiple victims/survivors. Among the cases CeLRRd has facilitated, there is no single case where a pedophile has abused only one child. From the cases CeLRRd had prosecuted, three pedophiles had each abused 10 children. In addition, most of them had abused at least three children during their time of visit in Nepal. Over these nine years, CeLRRd prosecuted more than 100 cases of sexual exploitation of children and provided free legal services to the victims/survivors. Moreover, through legal facilitation, 22 victims/survivors have already received compensation.
