RES/31/7 Rights of the child: information and communications technologies and child sexual exploitation

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Human Rights Council Thirty-first session

Agenda item 3

Resolution adopted by the Human Rights Council on 23 March 2016

31/7. Rights of the child: information and communications

technologies and child sexual exploitation

The Human Rights Council,

Emphasizing that the Convention on the Rights of the Child constitutes the standard

in the promotion and protection of the rights of the child, bearing in mind the importance of

the Optional Protocols to the Convention, and calling for their universal ratification and

effective implementation, and that of other relevant human rights instruments,

Recalling all previous resolutions on the rights of the child of the Commission on

Human Rights, the Human Rights Council and the General Assembly, the most recent

being Council resolution 28/19 of 27 March 2015 and Assembly resolution 70/137 of 17

December 2015,

Welcoming the work of the Committee on the Rights of the Child on the issue of

information and communications technologies and child sexual exploitation, including in

the context of its general comments, in particular general comments No. 13 (2011) on the

right of the child to freedom from all forms of violence and No. 16 (2013) on State

obligations regarding the impact of the business sector on children’s rights,

Welcoming also the work of the Special Rapporteur on the sale of children, child

prostitution and child pornography and of the Special Representative of the Secretary-

General on Violence against Children on opportunities and risks associated with the use of

information and communications technologies and children’s protection from sexual abuse

and exploitation,1 and the work of the Special Representative of the Secretary-General on

Children and Armed Conflict, and taking note with appreciation of their recent reports,2

Welcoming further the adoption by the General Assembly of the 2030 Agenda for

Sustainable Development,3 underscoring the importance of its implementation in ensuring

1 A/HRC/28/56 and A/HRC/28/55.

2 A/HRC/31/19, A/HRC/31/20 and A/HRC/31/58.

3 General Assembly resolution 70/1.

United Nations A/HRC/RES/31/7

General Assembly

the enjoyment of the rights of the child, and recalling that it includes target 5.2, on

eliminating all forms of violence against all women and girls in the public and private

spheres, including trafficking and sexual and other types of exploitation, and target 16.2, on

ending abuse, exploitation, trafficking and all forms of violence against and torture of

children,

Recognizing the importance of information and communications technologies in

children’s lives as a new tool for learning, socialization, expression, inclusion and

fulfilment of the rights of the child and fundamental freedoms, such as the right to

education, the right to freedom of expression, the freedom to seek, receive and impart

information, and the right to express his or her views freely,

Reaffirming the responsibilities, rights and duties of parents, legal guardians or other

persons legally responsible for the child to provide, in a manner consistent with the

evolving capacities of the child, appropriate direction and guidance in the exercise by the

child of his or her rights,

Recognizing that children are among the most active participants online, and that

parents, guardians and educators who have responsibility for children’s activities may need

guidance on protecting children online,

Reaffirming that States shall undertake to protect the child from all forms of

exploitation and sexual abuse and, for that purpose, in particular, take all appropriate

national, bilateral and multilateral measures to prevent the inducement or coercion of a

child to engage in any unlawful sexual activity, the exploitative use of children in

prostitution or other unlawful sexual practices and the exploitative use of children in

pornographic performances and materials,

Recognizing that information and communications technologies can facilitate the

commission of criminal activities with impunity regarding the sale, sexual abuse and

exploitation of children, including in pornography, child sexual abuse material and

prostitution; new threats or forms of sexual abuse and exploitation, such as the solicitation

of children for sexual purposes known as “child grooming”, sexual extortion and live

streaming of child abuse; the possession, distribution, access to, exchange, production of or

payment for child sexual abuse material; and the viewing, conducting or facilitation of

children’s participation in live sexual abuses, among others,

Deeply concerned by risks such as sexting and self-generated content, by new and

evolving forms of violence against children, particularly child sexual abuse and

exploitation, and by cyberbullying, which are related to the use of information and

communications technologies,

Acknowledging the role that information and communications technologies play in

reducing the risk of sexual abuse and exploitation, including by empowering children to

report such abuses,

Recognizing that States should promote access to digital media and information and

communications technologies while protecting children from harm,

Emphasizing that States have the primary responsibility to respect, protect and fulfil

the rights of the child, including through the prevention of violations and the protection and

provision of effective remedies to victims, and to address all forms of violence and abuse

against children, including sexual abuse and exploitation, at all times and in all settings,

Underlining that child sexual abuse and exploitation through information and

communications technologies, including online, involving the production, sale,

dissemination or possession of child sexual abuse and exploitation material, including child

pornography, constitutes a serious abuse or violation of the child’s physical and

psychological integrity and human dignity and an unlawful use of the child victim’s

personal data and that it can have a negative impact on the enjoyment of the right of the

child to the protection of the law against arbitrary or unlawful interference with his or her

privacy,

Reaffirming that the child, for the full and harmonious development of his or her

personality, should grow up in a family environment, while the best interests of the child

shall be the guiding principle of those responsible for his or her nurture and protection, and

that families’ and caregivers’ capacities to provide the child with care and a safe

environment should be promoted,

Recognizing that perpetrators of child sexual abuse and exploitation online are

sometimes the direct caregivers of the child, and that family members, communities and

neighbours might be involved in the offering of children for the purpose of sexual abuse

and exploitation through information and communications technologies,

Recalling in this regard that States should take all appropriate legislative,

administrative, social and educational measures to protect the child from all forms of

physical or mental violence, injury or abuse, neglect or negligent treatment, maltreatment,

sexual abuse and exploitation while in the care of their parents, legal guardians or any other

person who cares for the child,

Recognizing that the responsibility to respect the rights of the child also applies to

private actors and business enterprises and, in particular, that private actors in the Internet

industry who provide or operate services across domestic jurisdictions should continue to

take part in joint international efforts to raise awareness and empower children about online

risks and to prevent and counter child sexual abuse and exploitation online and offline,

Acknowledging efforts made by private actors, in the framework of corporate social

responsibility, to ensure that their infrastructure and services are not used for criminal

purposes and to cooperate fully in efforts related to the detection, reporting, investigation,

prosecution and prevention of child sexual abuse and exploitation online and offline,

Recognizing the importance of prevention in ensuring a safe online and information

and communications technologies environment for children while protecting the child’s

rights to the protection of the law against arbitrary or unlawful interference with his or her

privacy, to seek, receive or impart information, to education, to freedom of expression and

to participation, and recognizing also that prevention measures and approaches should

involve key actors, including Governments, civil society, industry, parents, schools,

children and the whole community,

Expressing concern in relation to the situations when private actors abstain from

taking actions required under national and international law to provide adequate safeguards

aimed at preventing child sexual abuse and exploitation, and stressing in this regard the

utmost importance of bringing to justice all those involved in or facilitating child sexual

exploitation and abuse online,

Recognizing the multi-jurisdictional and transnational nature of child sexual

exploitation and abuse online and through information and communications technologies,

the fragility of the electronic evidence of such crimes and the continual adaptation of

technology by perpetrators to avoid detection and investigation, which pose various

difficulties for traditional mutual legal assistance and cooperation channels and require

active international cooperation among different actors, including States and their law

enforcement and judicial authorities and private actors, including with regard to detecting

crimes, reporting them to competent authorities for investigation, safeguarding electronic

evidence of crimes and handing it over to those authorities in a timely manner,

Welcoming the renewed momentum in the global fight against child sexual abuse

and exploitation created by relevant international multi-stakeholder initiatives promoted in

partnership with Governments, including law enforcement and judicial authorities, private

actors and business enterprises and civil society, such as the Global Programme on

Cybercrime of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, the Child Online Protection

Initiative of the International Telecommunication Union, the Global Alliance against Child

Sexual Abuse Online, WeProtect and the Virtual Global Taskforce, and the high-level

meeting of the General Assembly on the overall review of the implementation of the

outcomes of the World Summit on the Information Society, and encouraging greater

coordination among those initiatives and the dissemination of information concerning their

activities,

Acknowledging international, regional and local relevant initiatives taken and efforts

made to prevent and address the threat of child sexual exploitation and abuse online and the

drastic consequences associated with it on children’s full enjoyment of human rights, and

commending the role of the International Telecommunication Union and its working group

on online child protection in combating the sexual abuse and exploitation of children

online,

1. Takes note with appreciation of the report of the United Nations High

Commissioner for Human Rights entitled “Information and communications technology

and child sexual exploitation”;4

2. Urges States to take all steps necessary to ensure full, equal, inclusive and

safe access, without discrimination of any kind, to information and communications

technologies by all children and safeguard the protection of children online and offline

through an integrated and multifaceted approach based on the rights and well-being of

children;

3. Condemns in the strongest possible terms all forms of violence against

children, including sexual and gender-based violence, including when perpetrated through

or resulting from the criminal misuse of information and communications technologies

made available on the Internet, and sexual exploitation of children online;

4. Calls upon States to ensure the legal protection of children from sexual abuse

and exploitation online and to define legally, in accordance with international human rights

law and obligations, and criminalize all relevant conduct related to the sexual exploitation

of children online and offline, including but not limited to its newest forms, such as the

solicitation of children for sexual purposes known as “child grooming”, sexual extortion,

and streaming of child abuse, and possession or distribution of, access to, or exchange or

production of or payment for child sexual abuse material and the viewing, conducting or

facilitation of children’s participation in live sexual abuses transmitted through information

and communications technologies, while ensuring that their legislation takes into account

possible future developments in the modi operandi for online child sexual abuse and

exploitation;

5. Also calls upon States to ensure that the whole chain of those involved or

attempting to commit such criminal activities are held accountable and brought to justice in

order to fight impunity, taking into account the multi-jurisdictional and transnational nature

of child sexual exploitation and abuse online through information and communications

technologies;

4 A/HRC/31/34 and Corr.1.

6. Further calls upon States to ensure that domestic legislation on data

protection and privacy is in accordance with international human rights law and allows law

enforcement, social welfare and judicial authorities to conduct effective and appropriate

investigations and prosecutions to combat violations of the child victim’s right to privacy,

according to which no one shall be subjected to arbitrary or unlawful interference with his

or her privacy, family, home or correspondence, and the right to the protection of the law

against such interference, as set out in article 12 of the Universal Declaration of Human

Rights and article 17 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, in respect

of child sexual exploitation online and offline, and to raise awareness of the importance of

activities and compliance with the law by private actors, notably those in the Internet

industry, to strengthen those efforts;

7. Calls upon States, through increased cooperation among relevant State

agencies, to remove obstacles to effective investigations of and prosecutions for child

sexual abuse and exploitation online and offline by facilitating access by the competent law

enforcement and judicial authorities to evidence of crimes committed across borders,

including witness testimony and electronic information stored by Internet service providers

and online platforms, and stresses that private actors should comply with the law

enforcement measures taken in that respect;

8. Also calls upon States to ensure a clear and predictable legal and regulatory

environment, which requires information and communications technology and other

relevant industries to respect the rights of the child and which strengthens regulatory

agencies’ responsibility for the development of standards for the protection of the rights of

the child;

9. Further calls upon States to establish fast and effective procedures for the

removal or blocking of child sexual abuse or pornographic materials involving children,

including by adopting legislation and promoting self-regulatory frameworks for businesses,

in accordance with national and international human rights laws and obligations, to aid the

detection of crimes online, to report evidence thereof and to prevent the dissemination of

child abuse material involving children, “child grooming” and other forms of child sexual

abuse and exploitation online;

10. Urges States to strengthen international and regional cooperation among their

law enforcement services, including through, inter alia, appropriate mutual legal assistance

frameworks in criminal matters, and with the International Criminal Police Organization,

and to ensure effective implementation of relevant international standards and the

enforcement of the applicable legal framework on issues related to child sexual abuse and

exploitation online and offline;

11. Calls upon States to promote international financial and technical

cooperation in this area, to exchange best practices, investigation procedures, training and

capacity-building in order to prevent, eradicate and mitigate child sexual abuse and

exploitation online, and to promote the physical and psychological recovery and social

reintegration of victims;

12. Urges States to establish well-trained and well-resourced dedicated law

enforcement investigative units in charge of investigating, pursuing and combating sexual

and gender-based violence against children committed using information and

communications technologies and child sexual exploitation online, or to strengthen such

units if they already exist, and to provide them with adequate financial support and

capacity-building and specialist training opportunities;

13. Calls upon States to develop a comprehensive, safe, inclusive and

empowering approach to children’s online protection that is in line with the Convention on

the Rights of the Child, ensuring that the principles enshrined in the Convention, including

non-discrimination, the best interests of the child, survival and development and children’s

right to express their views in matters affecting them, are meaningfully implemented;

14. Urges States to provide for effective remedies, recovery and reintegration,

including through integrated child- and gender-sensitive and child-friendly complaints and

reporting mechanisms, services and programmes for child victims of sexual abuse and

exploitation, to mitigate the harm caused to them, and to prevent secondary victimization

while ensuring the right of the child to be heard, including in any administrative or judicial

proceeding affecting him or her, in a manner consistent with the procedural rules of

national law;

15. Encourages States to develop and strengthen the collection, analysis and

dissemination of data, as appropriate, on online and offline sexual abuse and exploitation,

disaggregated by, inter alia, age, sex, family income and other relevant factors, as an

integral part of States’ efforts to prevent and respond to this abuse;

16. Calls upon States to adopt and enable all necessary administrative and legal

measures to guarantee the rights to privacy, provide protection, safety and adequate

information for all children involved in ongoing criminal investigations and or judicial

proceedings before, during and after such investigations and proceedings;

17. Also calls upon States to adopt and implement sustained and inclusive child-

empowering non-formal and formal education programmes, providing children, parents,

caregivers, teachers and other professionals working with children with basic skills relating

to media and information literacy, notably information and training on the online

environment, its safe use, benefits and risks, in order to increase their awareness and

capacity to adopt online coping strategies, and to support children’s resilience, including by

involving children, former victims, relevant non-governmental organizations and relevant

industries;

18. Further calls upon States to develop initiatives and programmes using

information and communications technologies, including mobile telephone and social

media, to inform children of their rights, the risks of sexual abuse and exploitation and

coping strategies, including by implementing timely alert mechanisms, while taking into

account the challenges faced by children with disabilities in that regard;

19. Urges States to establish widely available, easily accessible, child- and

gender-sensitive and confidential counselling, reporting and complaints mechanisms for

children, such as child helplines, to report inappropriate interactions and violence

encountered online and to protect children;

20. Encourages the participation of children in the development and

implementation of policies, programmes and other initiatives aimed at promoting the rights

of the child, in particular those preventing and combating child sexual abuse and

exploitation online and offline;

21. Encourages States to build and strengthen multi-stakeholder platforms with

the participation of Governments, civil society and representatives of industry, in particular

with the information and communications technology sector, the tourism and travel

industry and the banking and finance sectors, with a view to promoting private partners’

participation in the elaboration and implementation of policies to empower and inform

children, prevent child sexual abuse and exploitation online and offline, which would

include preventive safety and quality alert measures;

22. Decides to continue its consideration of the question of the rights of the child

in accordance with its programme of work and its resolutions 7/29 of 28 March 2008 and

19/37 of 23 March 2012, and to focus its next annual day of discussion on the theme

“Protection of the rights of the child in the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for

Sustainable Development”;

23. Requests the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights to

prepare a report on that theme, in close cooperation with all relevant stakeholders, including

States, the United Nations Children’s Fund, other relevant United Nations bodies and

agencies, relevant special procedure mandate holders, regional organizations and human

rights bodies, national human rights institutions and civil society, including children

themselves, and to present it to the Human Rights Council at its thirty-fourth session with a

view to providing information for the annual day of discussion on the rights of the child.

62nd meeting

23 March 2016

[Adopted without a vote.]