Ariana Dantas
Reporter - Agência Brasil

Brasília - The Hotline Brasil website, where people can denounce instances of child pornography and pedophilia, has received over 350 complaints since it began functioning less than 15 days ago. The site was developed by the Yves de Roussan Center for the Defense of Children and Adolescents (Cedeca/BA), with support from the Canada Fund. The project is part of the Action Plan to Confront Pedophilia and Child Pornography on the Brazilian Internet.

The coordinator of the Hotline Brasil website, Thiago Tavares Nunes de Oliveira, said on Friday (17) that the organizers of the Hotline were surprised at the number of complaints. "We expected the number of complaints to increase after the inauguration of the program, but we didn't imagine that the increase would be so great," he affirms. According to Oliveira, the volume has risen 400% since the program was launched.

The coordinator explains that the complaints that are received are screened. A technical team separates adult pornography from child pornography. The complaints involving child pornography and subsequently tracked down. These represent crimes defined in the Statute of Children and Adolescents, which, in its Article 241, prescribes a 2-6 year prison sentence for this type of offense. After the source is determined, a report is delivered to the Human Rights Division of the Federal Police.

Translation: David Silberstein