It’s up to all of us to protect children

The days of letting your kids play in the street – monitoring them only by the sounds of their excited chatter and them calling them in as dusk falls – are long gone.

Evil lurks out on our streets, day and night. But, the threat horizon for our children extends way further than our community, or even our country.

Child pornography has been spreading like and out-of-control bush fire, thanks to the internet, which has not only connected perverts globally, but has made the dissemination of vile images as easy as the press of a button. Worst of all, it’s become a profitable industry.

The arrest of a Midrand man last week in connection with 10 million child porn images found on computer equipment at his home, is proof that this sordid business is in our midst.

Child pornography destroys the lives of the kids who are exploited by it. Sometimes it is without their knowledge, sometimes they are brutalised for the cameras.

Distribution of the images can encourage paedophiles to act out their unnatural impulses and target children.

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There is no question that those involved, when they are brought to book, should, effectively, be locked up and have the key thrown away.

At the same time, though, South Africa must beef up its intelligence and improve its cooperation with international law enforcement agencies, say experts.

Just as the purveyors of the porn work across borders so, too, must those who hunt them down.

Another disturbing aspect of the influence of the internet is that, according to a recent report, many children have already seen porn before they reach their teens.

It is up to parents, and the school system, to educate youngsters about the evils that lurk out there behind apparently innocuous computer and smartphone screens.

And we need to be vigilant all the time.

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