A campaign kicked off on Thursday urging Dutch men in Thailand, the Philippines and Kenya to seek help if they are in those countries to sexually abuse children.

Posters at airports and online ads will help raise awareness, organiser Offlimits said. “We hope to motivate men to contact our helpline Stop It Now,” deputy director Madeleine van der Bruggen told broadcaster NOS.

Some 20,000 Dutch men are thought to travel abroad every year with the aim of sexually abusing children, according to a risk assessment by the government’s study centre for criminality and policing NSCR earlier this year.

The figure is based on interviews with experts in the police, the public prosecution office, and rehabilitation services, as well as a survey among 9,384 men, of whom 2.3% admitted to having had unpaid sex with minors abroad.

Some 2,000 people contact the helpline every year but very few of them are men who travel abroad for sex with children, Van der Bruggen said.

The report also showed that three-quarters of this group of abusers have contemplated seeking professional help. “It is a big step to consult a psychologist or family doctor. The helpline is anonymous, lowering the threshold for these men,” Van der Bruggen said.