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EXCLUSIVE: U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Mike Waltz and former NFL quarterback Tim Tebow on Thursday unveiled a renewed international effort to combat online child exploitation, bringing together government officials, law enforcement leaders and anti-human trafficking advocates like Tebow’s foundation to strengthen cooperation against predators operating across borders.
Following the event, Waltz and Tebow answered questions exclusively from Digital, with Tebow warning parents that the threat isn’t confined to distant countries or dark corners of the internet.
“It’s happening in their backyard,” Tebow told Digital when asked what would shock American parents most about child exploitation today.
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Tim Tebow, center, and U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Mike Waltz, right, attend a briefing on combating the criminal use of technology for child exploitation at the U.S. Mission to the United Nations in New York. The event brought together government officials, law enforcement leaders and anti-trafficking advocates to discuss international efforts to combat child exploitation. (Don Conahan / USUN)
The event put a spotlight on how the U.S. is teaming up with countries around the world to rescue exploited children, crack down on human trafficking networks and prosecute child predators. Officials also pointed to recent international operations, new funding from Congress and a U.S.-led U.N. resolution targeting online sextortion.
“The United States is leading the charge to combat child exploitation in partnership with civil society groups like the Tim Tebow Foundation,” Waltz said during the event. “Child exploitation criminals operate across borders, so a global response is critical. We need to work together to protect our children from predators.”
Tebow said the danger facing children online is something parents should think about every day.
“If it’s unprotected, it’s similar to dropping them off at a playground knowing that pedophiles are circling that playground,” he told Digital. “You would never do it.”
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U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Mike Waltz, left, and former NFL quarterback Tim Tebow participate in a panel discussion during a briefing on combating the criminal use of technology for child exploitation at the U.S. Mission to the United Nations in New York. (Donald Conahan / USUN)
He urged parents to take advantage of online safety tools and remain engaged with their children’s digital activity, saying predators are constantly searching for opportunities to exploit young victims.
“There are so many predators online that are looking for a vulnerability and an access to a boy or girl so that they can exploit, so that they can lure, so they can groom, so that they can sextort,” Tebow said. “I really believe it’s one of the worst evils in the world.”
During the event, Tebow stressed that child exploitation requires international cooperation.
“Child exploitation requires a response as global as the threat itself,” he said. “Right now, children around the world are being harmed, and we cannot look away. No child should be invisible, and no predator should be able to hide.”
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Former NFL quarterback Tim Tebow, left, poses with U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Mike Waltz during a briefing on combating the criminal use of technology for child exploitation at the U.S. Mission to the United Nations in New York. (Don Conahan / USUN)
Asked by Digital whether some countries are refusing to cooperate with U.S. investigations, Waltz said the larger challenge is that many nations lack the legal tools and investigative resources needed to pursue child exploitation cases.
“I don’t know that there’s countries refusing to cooperate,” Waltz said. “But what I can tell you, there’s countries all over the world [where] they don’t have the laws on the books that make these things a crime. They don’t have the extradition treaties. They don’t have the prosecutors or the investigators that know how to handle the electronic evidence in the right way.”
He added that U.S. agencies and United Nations partners are working to help countries strengthen those capabilities through training and international cooperation.
Waltz also argued that migration and human trafficking remain closely linked, saying vulnerable girls are often exploited by criminal organizations during migration routes.
The Tim Tebow Foundation was founded in 2010 with a mission to combat human trafficking and child exploitation. (Tim Tebow Foundation)
Tebow added that investigators around the world continue to face enormous challenges identifying victims because offenders deliberately work to avoid detection.
“When we also talk about this, there are so many places that are underfunded, under-equipped, and it does take some training and understanding of what is happening online so we can best use victim identification,” Tebow said. “Those victim identification specialists really are specialists. They’re incredible at what they’re doing because those that are performing this evil, they’re not trying to get caught.”
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“So it takes really special people to be able to understand, to find them and then bring them to justice. More importantly, bring that kid into freedom.”
The collaboration between the U.S. Mission to the United Nations, the Tim Tebow Foundation and international law enforcement partners is intended to strengthen cross-border efforts to combat child exploitation through expanded cooperation, technology and coordinated investigations.
