Internet, Latvia, Legislation, Society, Technology

This type of human trafficking has been targeting both boys and girls, Zalcmane said, adding that the recruiters probably wanted to lure the adolescents to the Arab countries for terrorist activities or sexual exploitation by militants.

Zalcmane told about a case, which was uncovered last December. A Latvian girl had been involved in correspondence with a woman in Saudi Arabia for five years and the girl had told her parents that she would leave for Saudi Arabia as soon as she reached adulthood. Her acquaintance in Saudi Arabia had offered to meet the girl in Germany in presence of her mother, but the girl's mother rejected the proposal.

In another case, a teenager had started cutting his veins copying someone he had met on the Internet. The youngster was saved thanks to the parents' interference.

Zalcmane said that the youngsters in these cases had stopped attending school and expressed the wish to go to Arab countries. Psychologists and police were involved to deal with these situations, Zalclame said.

The head of the anti-trafficking organization indicated that young people often start contacting complete strangers on the Internet as they have few friends in their real life and communication with parents is insufficient. "People on the Internet tell them about opportunities to get familiar with other cultures, countries, religions, they talk of what the children are lacking," Zalcmane said.

The nongovernmental organization's capacity is insufficient to protect children from such dangerous communication, Zalclame said, urging parents to take better care of their offspring and educate them about safe Internet use.