Child abuse and neglect is a significant global problem with a serious impact on the victims’ physical and mental health, well-being and development throughout their lives. Out of the many parental causes of child abuse, the important reason is lack of awareness and knowledge regarding it.

The going trend in Nepal is children having easy access to the internet, resulting in online child sexual abuse cases increasing in the country significantly, which is unnoticed.

According to surveys, children of urban areas are more prone to online sexual abuse as they are provided with easy access to the internet without any monitoring from parents. The parents do have a satisfactory level of knowledge regarding online child abuse.

Sexual abuse online and travel & tourism are emerging issues in Nepal. Nepal somehow is a growing market for sex tourism. Lack of awareness amongst the concerned authorities and community is creating a situation to grow, and the discreet nature of activities is allowing it to be invisible to mainstream society. Lack of adequate law and policy is adding Nepal to the list of sex tourism destinations.

Sexual abuse images and possibilities of online sexual exploitation of children – linked with street sex work, CSEC in various establishments and child sex tourism. Children have easy access and are allowed to use mobile phones and the internet, leading to using Facebook and other mediums to link with unknown people and virtual friends, allowing abusers to interact with the young people and share nude pictures, adult videos other materials.

Children working in restaurants and hotels (entertainment sectors) are vulnerable to being abused easily to secure their jobs; thus, their photos are taken, they are abused, and they are offered money for sexual acts. This indicates the high possibility of customers producing sexually abusive images of children. Children are not aware of where and how these images are used.

There are no effective policies to address CSEC, cybercrime, child paedophilia and other child-related issues. Online child abuse and travel & tourism are still emerging issues in Nepal demanding law enforcement agencies to be more sensitive to the issues, but they are unaware of the situation’s existence. Even if a case has been filed or perpetrators are penalised, there are no adequate laws to address the issues. On top of that, in Nepal, CSEC children are negatively labelled as criminals, and adding difficulties are their age – often below the age of employment and sexual consent – and the conditions of work are often illegal, and the hotels/lodges/restaurants where they work are often illegally set up establishments.