Last week, NCOSE President and CEO Dr. Marcel van der Watt sat down with Haley McNamara to be interviewed for the Ending Sexploitation Podcast. The two colleagues delved into Dr. van der Watt’s extensive background in combating sexual exploitation, tracing his 23-year journey from crime scenes and courtrooms to global policy forums and thought leadership, while exploring his forward-looking vision for NCOSE.
Dr. van der Watt, who has been at the helm of NCOSE since November 2024, insists that now is a time for boldness. Instead of aspiration, we are focused on action. Instead of hopes for a better world, we are busy building that better world. And we cannot merely oppose systems of sexual exploitation. It is now time to break them. This is achievable by going upstream, as is NCOSE’s mission, to prevent sexual abuse and exploitation at mass-scale by eliminating institutional practices and societal norms that perpetuate these harms.
Married to his best friend, Karolien, and candid about his faith in Jesus Christ, Dr. van der Watt credits it as the root of his deep commitment to justice, and undergirds his work on upholding the human dignity of every person. He also emphasizes non-partisanship in this fight, stating that NCOSE’s nonpartisan approach is “not just a tactic—it is the foundation that breathes life into everything we do,” enabling collaboration across political and ideological divides by focusing on shared values, engaging with all perspectives, and respecting the dignity of every individual regardless of affiliation.
Objective: End the Demand for Paid Sex that Drives Sex Trafficking and All Commercial Sexual Exploitation
Dr. van der Watt’s work fighting sexual exploitation began as a police officer in South Africa, where he was in close contact with the grim realities of prostitution and sex trafficking. Yet in his conversation with Haley, he admits that there was a time when he didn’t realize the importance of prioritizing efforts against sex buyers.
Dr. van der Watt explains how when there was a quiet week for the police, “we would literally arrest people in prostitution en masse. So, I’m talking about booking out a truck and then [arresting] whatever people are on the street selling sex or being exploited … But it was only when I read an IOM, that’s the International Organization for Migration newsletter, in [circa] 2003 that I realized … ‘Oh my goodness, I’m arresting the wrong people here.’”
This was what led Dr. van der Watt to share NCOSE’s stance that people in prostitution are exploited and in need of support and exit services, not punishment. Rather, the punishment should fall on the heads of the people who exploit others—i.e. the sex buyers and sex traffickers.
Dr. van der Watt talks about how “it was a process” for him to realize that sex buyers are responsible for the exploitation of others just as much as the pimps and sex traffickers are. He explains that, throughout his time as a sex trafficking investigator, he gradually came to realize that “without these people purchasing sexual access to other people—overwhelmingly women and children—the market forces [that fuel prostitution and sex trafficking] would not be there. So. it’s these market forces that they create that enables the roles of pimps and traffickers to exist. So, there would be no traffickers and pimps and other third-party actors if it was not for … the dollars that are paid by sex buyers.”
As such, Dr. van der Watt is proud to help lead and guide NCOSE as we pursue our first core objective: to End the Demand for Paid Sex that Drives Sex Trafficking and All Commercial Sexual Exploitation. [See also Dr Van der Watt’s published journal article in Societies: ‘Discouraging the Demand That Fosters Sex Trafficking: Collaboration through Augmented Intelligence’ and his Op-Ed in The Hill: ‘Give Sex Buyers the Attention They Deserve’]
With this objective in mind, Dr. van der Watt and the NCOSE Team envision a future where there will be a significant reduction in sex trafficking and prostitution, moving towards its end, as sex buyers fear penalties.
Objective: Drive Societal Transformation to Reject Pornography
Through his career as an investigator, Dr. van der Watt was also able to clearly see how pornography is inextricably linked to systems of prostitution and sex trafficking. He witnessed everything from pornography playing in brothels and shaping the appetites of sex buyers, to pornographic recordings being made of sex trafficked women and children. He explains that in “some of these brothels and homes of traffickers [they] had hundreds and even thousands of [pornographic CDs]” and some aspects of the investigations necessitated the viewing of amateur produced material by traffickers in order to identify missing persons and possible victims of trafficking.
He has consistently emphasized the urgent need for accurate definitions of sex trafficking in research and policy discussions surrounding prostitution and pornography, as incorrect ones hinder the identification and prevention of sex trafficking in these areas and ultimately result in the undercounting of sex trafficking cases.
Dr. van der Watt saw first-hand the importance of NCOSE’s second core objective: to Drive Societal Transformation to Reject Pornography. [See also Dr Van der Watt’s Op-Ed in The Blaze: ‘Porn’s dark empire is collapsing — here’s how the fight is being won’]
By leveraging lawsuits, public policy, and corporate accountability, he believes that we can bring about the demise of the pornography industry’s business model, leaving them with diminished profits, reputation, and access to children.
Objective: Ensure Tech Prioritizes Child Protection Over Safety
In talking with Haley, Dr. van der Watt expresses his keen awareness of how developments in technology have influenced the realm of sexual abuse and exploitation.
“Society now is at this critical inflection point. Some of it has to do with what has happened over the last three years with the explosion of artificial intelligence, where traditional systems of Sexual Exploitation [are] now supercharged by AI.”
NCOSE’s third core objective is to Ensure Tech Prioritizes Child Protection Over Profit, and this objective grows ever more urgent in the age of the AI revolution.
Dr. van der Watt reflects on the historic moment in January 2024 when five Big Tech CEOs were questioned by Congress, before an audience of parents whose children lost their lives due to online harms.
“We were in the room when Mark Zuckerberg turned around and he apologized to parents … And we had many of those parents in the office with the pictures of, you know, the Forever Fifteens and the Forever Seventeens. And I vividly remember when the parents came into the room. The silent protest, but this tangible, visceral feeling of: this is what power looks like. And fairly recently, I think [Senator] Josh Hawley said that this is what Big Tech fears, you know, is power in the hands of parents.”
See Dr. Van der Watt’s video posted of the parents’ silent protest while attending the now historical Senate Judiciary Meeting on January 31, 2024.
Dr. van der Watt and NCOSE are deeply honored to stand alongside survivor parents in the fight for child online safety. Emboldened by their impactful voices, we envision a future where powerful technology companies will default to safety so children can learn, connect, and thrive online without fear of sexual exploitation and harm.
“Standing on the Shoulders of Giants”
Dr. van der Watt acknowledges the work and contributions of others that allow NCOSE to continue in its mission, stating:
“We as a team, we are standing on the shoulders of giants, right? There’s so many people that came before us, but also just the people that support our work. You know, we cannot do this without [them] … They’re right beside us as we enter this arena. And it’s an exciting time because … we can see that … the battle is being won.”
Dr. van der Watt is also excited to uplift his colleagues and “finds great joy in seeing others thrive, pursue their dreams, and hone their talents.” He looks forward to showcasing and celebrating each and every one of his team members in the months to come. He is particularly excited about Haley McNamara and Dani Pinter as they step into new leadership roles. Haley McNamara, a thoughtful leader and subject matter expert who has been with NCOSE for over a decade and served in various capacities, was recently promoted to Executive Director and Chief Strategy Officer. Dani Pinter, a brilliant attorney serving with the NCOSE Law Center since 2015, was promoted to Chief Legal Officer and Director of the NCOSE Law Center.
Dr. van der Watt has the deepest respect for these two incredible women and knows that they will continue to take NCOSE and the movement against sexual exploitation to new heights.
He concludes with the inspiring words that “Victory is on the horizon.”
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