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Study on illegal adoptions 2017, para. 53
- Paragraph text
- The underlying push and pull factors that affect illegal adoptions and the sale of children are multidimensional and linked to the political, legal, socioeconomic, cultural and environmental context, at both the national and transnational levels. Situations of poverty and economic hardship, the lack of birth registration and discrimination, including gender-based discrimination and violence, are prominent root causes of and risk factors for illegal adoption, abandonments and relinquishments. An overarching enabling factor for illegal adoptions is weak or inexistent child protection systems at the national and local levels.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, including child prostitution, child pornography and other child sexual abuse material
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Movement
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Study on illegal adoptions 2017, para. 20
- Paragraph text
- The 1993 Hague Convention on Protection of Children and Cooperation in Respect of Intercountry Adoption develops the principles set out in the Convention on the Rights of the Child, including the principle of subsidiarity. According to article 4 (b) of the 1993 Hague Convention, an adoption shall take place only if the competent authorities of the State of origin have determined, after possibilities for placement of the child within the State of origin have been given due consideration, that an intercountry adoption is in the child's best interests. Even though article 24 (b) of the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child explicitly requires intercountry adoption to be a measure of last resort, it has been interpreted as meaning that intercountry adoption is generally subsidiary to other alternative means of care. Therefore, all appropriate national alternative care solutions must be given due consideration before resorting to intercountry adoption.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, including child prostitution, child pornography and other child sexual abuse material
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Movement
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Study on illegal adoptions 2017, para. 73
- Paragraph text
- Private and independent adoptions are initiated and processed without the oversight of competent authorities, and therefore often involve illicit practices. They are incompatible with the 1993 Hague Convention. Many such adoptions, however, occur in countries of origin that are not parties to the Convention, where procedures and systems may fall below international standards. Some receiving States also permit private and independent adoptions when they are carried out from countries of origin that are not parties to the Convention. This may spur those determined to adopt at any cost to turn to non-States parties to the Convention.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, including child prostitution, child pornography and other child sexual abuse material
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Movement
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Study on illegal adoptions 2017, para. 39
- Paragraph text
- The above-mentioned motivations for carrying out illegal adoptions often overlapped, as was notably the case in Spain throughout the Franco regime and during the first decades of democracy. Indeed, the practice of illegally adopting children for ideological and religious reasons soon morphed into a profit-driven criminal activity. Thousands of newborn babies were reportedly abducted from their parents by criminal networks involved in large-scale illegal adoptions. Medical personnel and clergy members actively participated in the abduction of children. Newborn babies were abducted from hospitals and subsequently told that their parents had died. The children were then given to other parents following the falsification of documents and, in certain cases, payments.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, including child prostitution, child pornography and other child sexual abuse material
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Movement
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Families
- Infants
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Study on illegal adoptions 2017, para. 84
- Paragraph text
- Guatemala presents one of the few examples of investigation and prosecution efforts having been made with the aim of dismantling criminal structures. In 2011, with the support of the United Nations-backed International Commission against Impunity in Guatemala, the Public Prosecutor's Office proved the existence of a criminal structure involved in trafficking in children for the purpose of illegal intercountry adoptions operated by owners of residential facilities with the complicity of lawyers, registrars and judges. Despite the convictions, the case illustrated the difficulties in balancing the conflicting needs and desires of those involved in adoptions (adoptees, adoptive parents and biological parents) and the interests of justice.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, including child prostitution, child pornography and other child sexual abuse material
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Movement
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Families
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Study on illegal adoptions 2017, para. 86
- Paragraph text
- Various countries emerging from conflict or an authoritarian regime have been confronted with allegations of systematic illegal adoptions as part of past large-scale abuses. Few countries have responded to victims' calls for truth, justice, reparation and guarantees of non-recurrence, however, and none have done so in a comprehensive manner. Argentina has pioneered such responses, in particular in relation to enforced disappearances, through truth-seeking and accountability. Genetic tracing and the establishment of a national genetic database have played a key role in identifying disappeared children who were subjected to illegal adoption and in efforts to seek judicial accountability. Moreover, the "disappeared" children, now adults, are stepping forward to uncover their biological origins and some are playing a role in the prosecution of their adoptive parents.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, including child prostitution, child pornography and other child sexual abuse material
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Movement
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Families
- Persons on the move
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Study on illegal adoptions 2017, para. 52
- Paragraph text
- International commercial surrogacy is a growing phenomenon quickly overtaking the number of intercountry adoptions. The international regulatory vacuum that persists in relation to international commercial surrogacy arrangements leaves children born through this method vulnerable to breaches of their rights, and the practice often amounts to the sale of children and may lead to illegal adoption. Indeed, several countries do not recognize such arrangements and, in order to establish a parent-child relationship, national laws often require parents to legally adopt the child born through international commercial surrogacy. However, if the international commercial surrogacy arrangement is found to amount to the sale of a child, the adoption too will consequently be illegal under international standards. Such a situation underscores the need for States to ensure that they are not inadvertently legitimizing the sale of children born through international commercial surrogacy by granting adoption orders.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, including child prostitution, child pornography and other child sexual abuse material
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Harmful Practices
- Movement
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Families
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Study on illegal adoptions 2017, para. 96d
- Paragraph text
- [At the national level] [At the national level] [Specifically in respect of intercountry adoptions:] In dealing with States not parties to the 1993 Hague Convention, receiving countries that are parties to the Convention should apply as far as practicable the standards and safeguards of the Convention, prevent their nationals and agencies from creating a situation where illegal adoptions are bound to occur and assist authorities in States not parties to the Convention in stemming the flow;
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, including child prostitution, child pornography and other child sexual abuse material
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Movement
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Study on illegal adoptions 2017, para. 99
- Paragraph text
- [At the international level] The Committee on the Rights of the Child and the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women should request States parties to the Convention on the Rights of the Child and its Optional Protocol on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography to provide information about concerns related to illegal adoptions and international commercial surrogacy arrangements, notably in preparation for the Committee's consideration of periodic reports.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, including child prostitution, child pornography and other child sexual abuse material
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Women
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Study on illegal adoptions 2017, para. 65
- Paragraph text
- The fact that intercountry adoptions are mediated by private agencies means that they too can enable illegal practices. This is particularly true in respect of private agencies that are not authorized to work as adoption accredited bodies. Such agencies usually finance their operations by charging fees to prospective adoptive parents. As those fees will not be forthcoming unless the agency secures children for adoption, some agencies employ methods or accept conditions that encourage the commission of illegal acts and illicit practices. In some instances, the demand for adoptable children creates an unhealthy competition among agencies. Adoption agencies often claim that they lack knowledge of illicit practices or that they lack control over intermediaries in countries of origin. However, the financial gain behind the illicit practices, which is often linked to money-laundering, often puts such claims into question.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, including child prostitution, child pornography and other child sexual abuse material
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Harmful Practices
- Movement
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Families
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Study on illegal adoptions 2017, para. 80
- Paragraph text
- Illegal adoptions are rarely investigated and perpetrators are rarely prosecuted, in part because there is a lack of comprehensive legislation criminalizing such illicit practices as illegal adoptions. Many of the illegal acts involved in illegal adoptions are criminalized individually as minor offences (e.g. falsification of documents) and sanctions rarely reflect the gravity of the crime. Moreover, illegal adoptions are usually not investigated ex officio but require ex parte complaints. Criminal investigation and prosecution strategies targeted at criminal structures involved in the sale of and trafficking in children and illegal adoptions are also absent. Consequently, few individuals and criminal networks are ever prosecuted for illicit activities in connection with adoptions, which results in impunity.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, including child prostitution, child pornography and other child sexual abuse material
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Movement
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Study on illegal adoptions 2017, para. 81
- Paragraph text
- The various parties involved in illegal adoptions are reluctant to report or denounce suspected illegalities because of the possible implications. The birth parents are the notable exception, at least those whose children have been abducted or placed for adoption without their informed consent; unfortunately, they are the least likely to file a complaint, as many of them fear the consequences or lack the appropriate knowledge and access to remedies. Most adoptive parents do not know with certainty whether the adoption process involved illicit or criminal practices, although they may come to suspect as much during or after the adoption process. The responses of prospective or adoptive parents to such suspicions will depend on a number of factors, including the extent to which they feel they were directly implicated and their assessment of the likely consequences of notifying the competent authorities. Complaints filed and collaboration extended by adoptive parents increase the chances of success of criminal investigations and prosecutions.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, including child prostitution, child pornography and other child sexual abuse material
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Movement
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Families
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Study on illegal adoptions 2017, para. 76
- Paragraph text
- It is the joint responsibility of countries of origin and receiving countries to regulate the number of adoption accredited bodies wanting to engage in intercountry adoptions, as a means of limiting the number of adoptions to the number of legally adoptable children. When the Government of a country of origin authorizes too many agencies to operate within its borders, such agencies must compete to identify and secure "adoptable" children, which in turn makes it difficult to monitor their activities effectively. When adoption bodies in one country partner with agencies in other countries, the resulting web of agency activities is all the more difficult to monitor effectively.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, including child prostitution, child pornography and other child sexual abuse material
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Movement
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Study on illegal adoptions 2017, para. 21
- Paragraph text
- The subsidiarity principle must be applied in accordance with the Guidelines for the Alternative Care of Children, which involves supporting efforts to keep children in, or return them to, the care of their family or, failing that, to find another appropriate and permanent solution, including adoption. While looking for permanent solutions, or in cases where they are not possible or are not in the best interests of the child, the most suitable forms of alternative care have to be found. States also have the duty, as set out in article 18 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, to assist parents and legal guardians in the performance of their child-rearing responsibilities, and to ensure the development of institutions, facilities and services for the care of children.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, including child prostitution, child pornography and other child sexual abuse material
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Movement
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Families
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Study on illegal adoptions 2017, para. 63
- Paragraph text
- The linking of development aid to intercountry adoptions is another type of transaction that jeopardizes the transparency of the process and can lead to violations of the rights of the child. Faced with the possibility of obtaining a large sum of money for processing an adoption, many countries of origin make sure that children are available for adoption regardless of the actual need. In Viet Nam, for example, agencies are required to provide humanitarian aid before they can process an adoption. The provision of development aid has the perverse effect of encouraging countries of origin to "procure" children for adoption; in most cases, the aid will not contribute to the delivery of alternative care for children.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, including child prostitution, child pornography and other child sexual abuse material
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Movement
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Study on illegal adoptions 2017, para. 85
- Paragraph text
- In all cases of systemic illegal adoptions, States must ensure redress for victims through remedies that include reparation for victims and support to adoptees in their search for their origins. The experiences of adoptees trying to establish the truth behind their "abandonment" and illegal adoption are telling, as are the obstacles they encounter and the good practices of competent authorities. Gradually, efforts are being made to facilitate the search process. For example, an adoption manual has been developed by the adoption service and the Ministry of Health and Welfare of the Republic of Korea, containing information on the steps to be taken searching one's birth family. The search for truth and origins is one of the main issues addressed by associations of intercountry adoptees. Such initiatives are still rare, however.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, including child prostitution, child pornography and other child sexual abuse material
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Harmful Practices
- Movement
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Families
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Study on illegal adoptions 2017, para. 34
- Paragraph text
- A key development is the increasing adoption of "children with special needs". The terminology used in such cases covers a broad series of realities based on criteria such as the child's age, number of siblings, illnesses, disability status or traumas. Illicit practices in this context mostly concern cases of intercountry adoptions in which States prioritize the adoption of children because they do not have appropriate childcare policies. Moreover, there have been cases of false documentation being used to classify children as having "special needs" to render them adoptable abroad when such adoptions are prioritized or facilitated.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, including child prostitution, child pornography and other child sexual abuse material
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Movement
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Study on illegal adoptions 2017, para. 35
- Paragraph text
- A large number of illegal adoptions committed at the national level at a given time reflect a pattern or modus operandi as well as the involvement of criminal networks. Such cases can be found in all regions of the world and entail the responsibility of the State owing to the direct involvement of State officials and/or the deficiency or permissiveness of State policies. Numerous illegal adoptions have also occurred as part of large-scale past abuses motivated by political or ideological reasons. Other domestic illegal adoptions have been committed for religious or moral reasons, fuelled by gender discrimination and gender-based violence or discrimination against minorities and indigenous peoples.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, including child prostitution, child pornography and other child sexual abuse material
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Harmful Practices
- Movement
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Ethnic minorities
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Study on illegal adoptions 2017, para. 28
- Paragraph text
- The abduction of babies (e.g. through kidnappings or by falsely informing parents that their baby was stillborn or died shortly after birth), the improper inducement of consent (e.g. through misrepresentation, bribery or coercion) and improper financial gain (e.g. through payment for the child or the payment of bribes to intermediaries involved in the adoption process) are among the most common methods used in the sale of children and illegal adoptions. Inherent to the methods is the falsification of documents (e.g. birth and medical certificates, the identification documents of the biological mother, DNA test results and relinquishment or abandonment declarations) and the bypassing of regulations.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, including child prostitution, child pornography and other child sexual abuse material
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Movement
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Families
- Infants
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Study on illegal adoptions 2017, para. 74
- Paragraph text
- The 1993 Hague Convention allows adoption agencies to play a key role in mediating intercountry adoptions. It requires that they be accredited by the receiving country and authorized by the country of origin to operate in that country. An agency accredited to mediate intercountry adoptions should employ a sufficiently large multidisciplinary team of professional staff for its operations. Accredited bodies should be supervised by a competent authority at least as regards "their composition, operation and financial situation", including the regular monitoring of their websites "to examine the quality, accuracy and currency of their information".
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, including child prostitution, child pornography and other child sexual abuse material
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Movement
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Study on illegal adoptions 2017, para. 44
- Paragraph text
- In Romania, for example, the fall of the Ceausescu regime was followed by a surge in the number of intercountry adoptions. Widespread illegal adoptions were reported, in particular through the use of private procedures that targeted children who had not been placed in institutions. Of note was the rapid development of private adoption agencies, which were allocated a number of adoptable children depending on the size of their financial contributions to local child protection authorities. That system amounted to sale and was further compounded by the direct purchasing of children by intermediaries and the improper inducement of consent. As a response, national authorities implemented legislation to limit the number of adoptions on three separate occasions, namely in 1991, 2001 and 2005. That legislation amounted to a moratorium on adoptions. Throughout that period, external pressures from receiving countries strongly influenced intercountry adoptions in Romania.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, including child prostitution, child pornography and other child sexual abuse material
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Harmful Practices
- Movement
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Study on illegal adoptions 2017, para. 88
- Paragraph text
- Demands for truth, justice, reparation and guarantees of non-recurrence from victims of past large-scale or systematic cases of illegal adoptions continue to be ignored and inadequately addressed by States. Public instances of recognition of past wrongdoing are rare, depend on the willingness of those responsible and do not entail concrete action. In addition, public inquiries to establish the truth and recognize the experiences of victims have been incomplete and have failed to address the concerns of all victims. Consequently, in many cases, victims' demands for acknowledgement, apology and redress are yet to be met.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, including child prostitution, child pornography and other child sexual abuse material
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Civil & Political Rights
- Equality & Inclusion
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Study on illegal adoptions 2017, para. 89
- Paragraph text
- An expert group on the financial aspects of intercountry adoption and a working group on preventing and addressing illicit practices in intercountry adoption set up by the Hague Conference on Private International Law have developed concrete solutions. The former has produced a note on the financial aspects of intercountry adoption and a table on costs associated with such adoptions and has invited States parties to the 1993 Hague Convention to publicly provide those financial details. In addition, the Hague Conference, often with the support of the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), has provided technical assistance to countries of origin to set up or strengthen national child protection systems, including by establishing the conditions for the implementation and operation of the Convention.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, including child prostitution, child pornography and other child sexual abuse material
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Movement
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Study on illegal adoptions 2017, para. 97b
- Paragraph text
- [At the international level] [The Special Rapporteur invites the international community and international bodies to:] In responding to illegal intercountry adoptions, enhance cooperation among receiving countries, among countries of origin and between receiving countries and countries of origin, within the framework of the 1993 Hague Convention, the Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction and the Convention on Jurisdiction, Applicable Law, Recognition, Enforcement and Cooperation in Respect of Parental Responsibility and Measures for the Protection of Children;
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, including child prostitution, child pornography and other child sexual abuse material
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Movement
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Study on illegal adoptions 2017, para. 12
- Paragraph text
- The present study addresses an aspect of the mandate that was highlighted in the 1990 founding resolution, namely the problem of the adoption of children for commercial purposes. It should be noted that children can also be sold for the purpose of illegal adoption. In the present study, the Special Rapporteur aims to highlight the wide variety of illegal acts and illicit practices that have been and continue to be committed in the context of domestic and intercountry adoption processes with the ultimate goal of suggesting concrete solutions to prevent and combat the phenomenon.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, including child prostitution, child pornography and other child sexual abuse material
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Movement
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Study on illegal adoptions 2017, para. 29
- Paragraph text
- The above-mentioned methods, illegal acts and illicit practices are generally linked to deficiencies in the child protection system (such as inadequate procedures for providing counselling to biological parents and flawed relinquishment procedures), which are exploited by criminal networks driven by the lucrative business of selling children and facilitating illegal adoptions, often with the involvement of State officials. When illegal acts and illicit practices are of a systemic nature, States bear responsibility for them by either omission or complicity.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, including child prostitution, child pornography and other child sexual abuse material
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Movement
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Families
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Study on illegal adoptions 2017, para. 45
- Paragraph text
- As the case of Romania demonstrates, one response to deficiencies in the intercountry adoption procedure has been the provisional suspension of adoptions, often known as moratoriums. In numerous countries of origin and receiving countries, moratoriums have been imposed following scandals revealing illegal practices in adoption procedures. The Hague Conference on Private International Law has noted that many States have a reactive approach to financial malpractice and abuse in intercountry adoption and tend to wait until problems are pervasive before addressing them.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, including child prostitution, child pornography and other child sexual abuse material
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Harmful Practices
- Movement
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Study on illegal adoptions 2017, para. 22
- Paragraph text
- The prohibition of improper financial or other gain applies to any activity related to an intercountry adoption. According to article 32 of the 1993 Hague Convention, only costs and expenses, including reasonable professional fees of persons involved in the adoption, may be charged or paid. In addition, the directors, administrators and employees of bodies involved in an adoption shall not receive remuneration which is unreasonably high in relation to services rendered. In line with articles 8 and 11, central authorities must take all appropriate measures to prevent improper financial or other gain in connection with an adoption and accredited bodies must pursue only non-profit objectives, have qualified staff with ethical standards and be supervised. The prohibition of improper financial or other gain is also contained in the European Convention on the Adoption of Children (art. 17) and the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child (art. 24). That prohibition must lead to the criminalization of corruption at any stage of the adoption process, as corruption can lead to the sale of children and illegal adoptions.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, including child prostitution, child pornography and other child sexual abuse material
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Movement
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Study on illegal adoptions 2017, para. 24
- Paragraph text
- Article 3 (1) (a) (ii) of the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography establishes that, in the context of the sale of children, improperly inducing consent, as an intermediary, for the adoption of a child in violation of applicable international legal instruments on adoption must be criminalized both domestically and transnationally. Article 3 of the Optional Protocol is understood as containing specific examples of illegal acts that lead to the sale of children in the form of illegal adoption. While the sale of children always includes some form of commercial transaction, illegal adoptions can be performed in violation of existing national laws without necessarily amounting to the sale of a child. The Hague Conference on Private International Law defines illegal adoption as an adoption resulting from abuses, such as abduction, the sale of, traffic in and other illegal or illicit activities against children.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, including child prostitution, child pornography and other child sexual abuse material
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Movement
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Study on illegal adoptions 2017, para. 36
- Paragraph text
- Gender discrimination and violence based on moral and religious constructs regarding the social or marital status of the mother have been a key driver of illegal adoptions in several countries. In Ireland, the so-called mother and baby homes, which were managed by Catholic organizations, and other maternity institutions, were established in the 1920s to deal with unmarried pregnant women and girls and operated until the 1990s. Conditions in those institutions were deplorable and cases of violence against the women were common (e.g. abuse of expectant mothers, forced labour, neglect and detention). Before the 1952 Adoption Act, most children born out of wedlock were placed in foster care, "boarded out" or informally adopted. After passage of the Act, children were put up for formal adoption. Consent was improperly induced or forcibly obtained and documents, including illegal birth registrations, were falsified on a large scale. Furthermore, there were cases of intercountry adoptions, in particular to the United States of America, which often resulted from the same illegal practices.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, including child prostitution, child pornography and other child sexual abuse material
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Harmful Practices
- Movement
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Girls
- Infants
- Women
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Study on illegal adoptions 2017, para. 32
- Paragraph text
- The placement of children in alternative care settings, in particular in residential facilities, is often a first step leading to a determination of their adoptability. The false assumption that all children in such institutions are adoptable has widely contributed to illegal adoptions, as children can be taken without the appropriate consent even though they still have a parent, family member or other kin willing and able to care for them. In Nepal, for example, intercountry adoptions have been interrupted by receiving countries owing to the insufficiency of the procedures in place to determine the adoptability of a child.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, including child prostitution, child pornography and other child sexual abuse material
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Movement
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Families
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Study on illegal adoptions 2017, para. 40
- Paragraph text
- Illegal domestic adoptions continue to occur in countries with weak child protection systems, in much the same way as they used to, in other words with the involvement of criminal networks and the participation of State officials and targeting vulnerable populations such as families in economic hardship. In China, there have been several cases of criminal networks abducting, trafficking and selling babies for the purpose of illegal adoption. Moreover, there have been reports of family planning officials being involved in improperly inducing consent from parents in order to sell the children or transfer them for domestic or international adoption or forced labour.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, including child prostitution, child pornography and other child sexual abuse material
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Movement
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Families
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Study on illegal adoptions 2017, para. 77
- Paragraph text
- Issuing "fitness-to-adopt certificates" to an unlimited number of prospective adoptive parents is dangerous when the number of adoptable children is relatively small. That discrepancy is not only a cause of frustration among prospective adoptive parents but may also contribute to a level of unsatisfied demand that can lead some prospective adoptive parents to consider options involving illicit practices. It can also fuel calls for greater efforts on the part of the authorities of receiving countries to identify more sources of adoptable children, generally in countries of origin that are not compliant with the 1993 Hague Convention.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, including child prostitution, child pornography and other child sexual abuse material
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Movement
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Families
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Study on illegal adoptions 2017, para. 78
- Paragraph text
- Some central authorities in countries of origin consider the setting of quotas as a positive measure to filter demand and repel pressure from receiving countries. Others, however, argue that quotas are instituted to address the actual demand and consequently do not resolve the issues raised by excessive demand. International Social Service, a federation of non-governmental organizations, has long argued for "a reversal in the flow of files" to ensure that intercountry adoptions are processed in the best interests of the child. Such a reversal would mean that adoption applications should only be sent to the authorities of a country of origin in response to a request made for prospective adoptive parents appropriate for a specific child in need of adoption.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, including child prostitution, child pornography and other child sexual abuse material
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Movement
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Families
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Study on illegal adoptions 2017, para. 46
- Paragraph text
- Certain countries of origin have notably deemed it impossible to ensure probity in intercountry adoptions under the prevailing conditions and in the face of pressure from receiving countries, and have responded in a variety of ways. For instance, Paraguay has decided to apply strictly the principle of subsidiarity after ratifying the 1993 Hague Convention; since then, it has deemed it unnecessary to process intercountry adoptions. Several African countries (e.g. Lesotho, Liberia and Togo) have also found it necessary to suspend intercountry adoptions in order to attempt to resolve serious malpractice. For their part, receiving countries may decide to impose moratoriums on specific countries of origin in the light of evidence that widespread irregularities have been taking place. This has been decided in the cases of Cambodia, Ethiopia, Guatemala, Haiti, India, Nepal and Uganda.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, including child prostitution, child pornography and other child sexual abuse material
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Movement
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Study on illegal adoptions 2017, para. 49
- Paragraph text
- In several instances loopholes have been used to conduct private and independent intercountry adoptions, which are prohibited by the 1993 Hague Convention, as the absence of oversight seriously jeopardizes the integrity of the process. Prospective adoptive parents have, for example, resided temporarily in countries of origin long enough to be able to conclude a domestic adoption and then brought the adopted child back to their country, thus bypassing the intercountry adoption process. Similarly, in Uganda foreign parents have been granted legal guardianship of children and taken them abroad where they then concluded a domestic adoption in the receiving country. The conversion of a kafalah guardianship arrangement into a domestic adoption, once the child has been brought back to the receiving country, has also been used to circumvent intercountry adoption procedures under the 1993 Hague Convention.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, including child prostitution, child pornography and other child sexual abuse material
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Harmful Practices
- Movement
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Families
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Study on illegal adoptions 2017, para. 87
- Paragraph text
- Even though transitional justice measures in the context of searches for biological origins have been applied following regime change, the same principles can be used to respond to the quests for truth, justice, reparation and guarantees of non-recurrence carried out by victims of other large-scale illegal adoptions, when such violations have been tolerated or directly committed by the State. The few responses of States to such cases reflect a piecemeal approach and a chequered pattern of denial, resistance, acknowledgement and assistance. The exception to this is Australia, where in 2012 the Senate released the findings and recommendations arising from an enquiry into former forced adoption policies and practices. The decision to release the findings and recommendations constituted an exercise in truth-seeking, a recognition of past wrongdoing, reparation and guarantees of non-recurrence through legislative, institutional and policy reforms.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, including child prostitution, child pornography and other child sexual abuse material
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Study on illegal adoptions 2017, para. 93
- Paragraph text
- In order to effectively prevent and eradicate illegal adoption, States must take measures to address the push and pull factors, as well as the enabling environment, of the current adoption system, in which illegal adoption persists. In respect of intercountry adoptions, countries of origin and receiving countries bear joint responsibility for tackling systemic problems. The current system not only facilitates and encourages illegal adoptions but also accepts measures that foster them. A major factor enabling illegal adoptions is the level of financial advantage that can be obtained from the procurement of children for intercountry adoption. As long as adoption fees and costs are not reasonable and not made transparent and as long as contributions and donations are involved, there will continue to be a substantial incentive for illegal adoptions to take place.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, including child prostitution, child pornography and other child sexual abuse material
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Harmful Practices
- Movement
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Study on illegal adoptions 2017, para. 83
- Paragraph text
- Individual adoptions and adoption systems must be investigated as soon as there are indications of illicit practices. In 2014, the General Prosecutor's Office of Kazakhstan conducted an investigation into the possible sale of children for intercountry adoption after having detected inaccuracies in data on children adopted abroad, which led to court rulings on intercountry adoptions being reviewed and reversed. However, investigations and prosecutions in receiving countries against their own nationals for having arranged illegal intercountry adoptions are rare.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, including child prostitution, child pornography and other child sexual abuse material
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Harmful Practices
- Movement
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Study on illegal adoptions 2017, para. 90
- Paragraph text
- In the context of intercountry adoptions, there have been calls to ensure coordinated responses from both receiving countries and countries of origin faced with illegal adoptions or highly fragile situations. Following the 2004 tsunami in the Indian Ocean, both countries of origin and receiving countries, with the support of UNICEF and the Hague Conference on Private International Law, stated that no intercountry adoption would take place in the immediate aftermath of the tsunami. Similar conclusions were drawn following the earthquakes that hit Haiti in 2010 and Nepal in 2015.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, including child prostitution, child pornography and other child sexual abuse material
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Movement
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Study on illegal adoptions 2017, para. 41
- Paragraph text
- In several countries, private and independent adoptions occur legally, in parallel to State adoptions. Because of their private nature and the absence of monitoring, private adoption procedures are quicker than public ones and are thus often favoured by prospective parents. Improper financial transactions have become inherent to private and independent adoptions and have resulted in the development of an adoption market.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, including child prostitution, child pornography and other child sexual abuse material
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Harmful Practices
- Movement
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Families
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Study on illegal adoptions 2017, para. 43
- Paragraph text
- Intercountry adoptions have been fuelled by a demand from prospective adoptive parents in higher-income countries for children from lower-income countries. That demand has put major pressure on countries of origin with weak child protection systems and often led to illegal acts and illicit practices that have resulted in the sale of children and illegal intercountry adoptions.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, including child prostitution, child pornography and other child sexual abuse material
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Harmful Practices
- Movement
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Families
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Study on illegal adoptions 2017, para. 47
- Paragraph text
- As a general rule, suspension decisions are unilateral, uncoordinated and often belated, which reflects the lack of a common understanding (or willingness to implement) by receiving countries as to what the protection of children's rights demands in the sphere of intercountry adoption, as well as a lack of a common understanding of the sale of children and other illicit practices at the source of illegal adoptions.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, including child prostitution, child pornography and other child sexual abuse material
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Harmful Practices
- Movement
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Study on illegal adoptions 2017, para. 95f
- Paragraph text
- [At the national level] [The Special Rapporteur invites all States to:] Adopt adequate regulation on procedures and safeguards in relation to domestic and intercountry adoptions, including in relation to the determination of adoptability, and establish effective and well-resourced mechanisms for overseeing adoption processes, especially with respect to strictly verifying the background of any child who is declared an orphan and his or her documents;
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, including child prostitution, child pornography and other child sexual abuse material
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Movement
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Study on illegal adoptions 2017, para. 75
- Paragraph text
- Attitudes towards the accreditation of adoption agencies vary among receiving States, with some accrediting a small number of bodies that have the resources to provide all the necessary professional services and can be monitored effectively, and others having multiple and diverse accredited bodies.Accreditation is no guarantee of professionalism, however. The fact that adoption agencies are not effectively monitored and vetted for their professionalism and ethics is a major problem.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, including child prostitution, child pornography and other child sexual abuse material
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Movement
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Study on illegal adoptions 2017, para. 54
- Paragraph text
- Vulnerability owing to poverty underlies decisions to abandon children and relinquish parental rights over them, thus rendering them adoptable. Nevertheless, poverty alone cannot be invoked as sufficient justification for placing or receiving a child in alternative care. National authorities and foreign actors - the latter being more inclined to finance "orphanages" than family-strengthening programmes - are failing in their responsibilities to support vulnerable families through comprehensive child protection systems.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, including child prostitution, child pornography and other child sexual abuse material
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Poverty
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Families
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Study on illegal adoptions 2017, para. 55
- Paragraph text
- As highlighted in the previous section, multiple forms of discrimination have been at the origin of several large-scale practices of forced adoption. In particular, gender-based violence and discrimination, and discrimination against families in vulnerable socioeconomic situations (e.g. families from rural areas or belonging to indigenous peoples) have been used to justify the removal of children from their parents without any regard for their consent.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, including child prostitution, child pornography and other child sexual abuse material
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Movement
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Ethnic minorities
- Families
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Study on illegal adoptions 2017, para. 56
- Paragraph text
- In the context of conflicts or following a natural disaster, children are often separated from their families and the national infrastructure is weakened or rendered incapable of functioning. In such situations, adoption processes are particularly open to abuse: children may be deemed adoptable even though their parents are still alive or there may be no monitoring function to ensure that no illegal acts are being committed.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, including child prostitution, child pornography and other child sexual abuse material
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Families
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Study on illegal adoptions 2017, para. 66
- Paragraph text
- When adoption agencies establish privileged links with childcare facilities, there is an additional possibility for illegal adoptions to happen. The risk is all the greater when care facilities are not registered or when their operation depends on payments provided by adoption agencies. As already mentioned, the need for payments means that alternative care institutions must ensure a constant supply of adoptable children to guarantee their existence, regardless of the actual child protection needs.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, including child prostitution, child pornography and other child sexual abuse material
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Movement
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Study on illegal adoptions 2017, para. 68
- Paragraph text
- Although some bilateral agreements have been signed between countries of origin that are not parties to the 1993 Hague Convention and receiving countries, they often do not meet the standards of the Convention and delay accession to it by non-States parties. Moreover, the existence of such agreements increases the risk of undue pressure from the receiving country on the country of origin to ensure that intercountry adoptions occur regardless of the actual need.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, including child prostitution, child pornography and other child sexual abuse material
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Movement
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Study on illegal adoptions 2017, para. 71
- Paragraph text
- An advisory council in the Netherlands has concluded that intercountry adoption negatively affects the development of child protection systems in countries of origin, rendering the services provided by the latter of a lesser quality than would be the case if no intercountry adoption existed. It has called upon Governments to focus on protecting children in countries of origin by supporting the implementation and advancement of national child protection systems.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, including child prostitution, child pornography and other child sexual abuse material
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Movement
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Study on illegal adoptions 2017, para. 72
- Paragraph text
- States have adopted various measures to regulate and control adoption processes with the aim of preventing and addressing illegal acts and illicit practices. Most of the measures covered in the present section apply to intercountry adoptions and reflect the efforts of both countries of origin and receiving countries to tackle the numerous illegal acts and illicit practices affecting such adoptions.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, including child prostitution, child pornography and other child sexual abuse material
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Movement
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Study on illegal adoptions 2017, para. 51
- Paragraph text
- Intercountry adoptions in the context of emergency situations are specifically open to several abuses. For example, in Haiti adoption processes were not interrupted but rather expedited following the 2010 earthquake, under the pressure of receiving countries. In Rwanda, during the genocide, several children were evacuated abroad and some were subsequently adopted without the consent of surviving parents.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, including child prostitution, child pornography and other child sexual abuse material
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Humanitarian
- Movement
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Families
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Study on illegal adoptions 2017, para. 79
- Paragraph text
- Central authorities in receiving countries have sometimes strengthened efforts to conclude adoptions from countries of origin that are not parties to the 1993 Hague Convention, where regulations and procedures may be less strict. That approach involves major increases in intercountry adoptions from the countries concerned until it is deemed necessary to take measures to address the illicit practices that stem from it.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, including child prostitution, child pornography and other child sexual abuse material
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Harmful Practices
- Movement
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Study on illegal adoptions 2017, para. 23
- Paragraph text
- In addition, the 1993 Hague Convention creates safeguards to ensure that intercountry adoptions take place in the best interests of the child and with respect for his or her fundamental rights. It sets a system of cooperation among the contracting States to ensure that those safeguards are respected, thereby preventing the abduction and sale of and/or the trafficking in children. As at December 2016, 98 States were parties to the 1993 Hague Convention.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, including child prostitution, child pornography and other child sexual abuse material
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Movement
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Study on illegal adoptions 2017, para. 96i
- Paragraph text
- [At the national level] [At the national level] [Specifically in respect of intercountry adoptions:] Annual quotas for adoptions by countries and/or agencies should be eliminated and the "reversal in the flow of files" approach should be adopted by refusing to accept any application that has not been initiated in relation to a child identified as requiring adoption abroad;
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, including child prostitution, child pornography and other child sexual abuse material
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Harmful Practices
- Movement
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Study on illegal adoptions 2017, para. 27
- Paragraph text
- There is no reliable data on the number of children who have been or are being adopted as a result of being sold, trafficked or subjected to other illegal acts and illicit practices. Firstly, reliable figures are difficult to establish owing to the illicit and clandestine nature of those activities. Secondly, illegal adoptions can appear legal since many of the children concerned receive, at some point in the process, "official" adoption papers.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, including child prostitution, child pornography and other child sexual abuse material
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Movement
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Study on illegal adoptions 2017, para. 30
- Paragraph text
- The methods employed and the actors involved are often the same in cases of illegal domestic and intercountry adoptions. Similarly, in both cases vulnerable parents, in particular mothers, are often targeted (e.g. single mothers in situations of economic hardship, from rural areas, belonging to indigenous communities and/or without access to education).
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, including child prostitution, child pornography and other child sexual abuse material
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Movement
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Ethnic minorities
- Families
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Study on illegal adoptions 2017, para. 96f
- Paragraph text
- [At the national level] [At the national level] [Specifically in respect of intercountry adoptions:] The provision of development or humanitarian aid must not be linked to an authorization to carry out adoptions;
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, including child prostitution, child pornography and other child sexual abuse material
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Humanitarian
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Study on illegal adoptions 2017, para. 33
- Paragraph text
- The designation of children as having been abandoned or the relinquishment of parental rights on the child can be irregularly or illegally obtained. In Guatemala, abducted and purchased children have been brought before the courts to have them declared abandoned and thus eligible for adoption.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, including child prostitution, child pornography and other child sexual abuse material
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Study on illegal adoptions 2017, para. 60
- Paragraph text
- The disproportionate demand for adoption is particularly relevant in the context of intercountry adoptions and leads to excessive pressures from receiving countries on countries of origin. Furthermore, when the number of intercountry adoptions suddenly and rapidly increases in a country of origin, the existing infrastructure will often not be able to cope, intensifying the risk of illegal acts and illicit practices.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, including child prostitution, child pornography and other child sexual abuse material
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Harmful Practices
- Movement
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Study on illegal adoptions 2017, para. 62
- Paragraph text
- The undue payment of intermediaries both in the context of domestic and intercountry adoptions is a major issue, as shown in the country profiles maintained by the Bureau of Consular Affairs of the United States Department of State, which describe the practice of unofficially expediting the transfer of money or unexpected fees, as well as donations, to several countries of origin.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, including child prostitution, child pornography and other child sexual abuse material
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Movement
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Study on illegal adoptions 2017, para. 97a
- Paragraph text
- [At the international level] [The Special Rapporteur invites the international community and international bodies to:] Increase technical cooperation to establish and strengthen effective child protection systems in countries of origin;
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, including child prostitution, child pornography and other child sexual abuse material
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Study on illegal adoptions 2017, para. 94
- Paragraph text
- In addition, countries of origin and receiving countries bear joint responsibility for ensuring the rights to truth, justice, reparation and guarantees of non-recurrence of victims of large-scale illegal adoptions that were tolerated or actively promoted by the State. States must acknowledge their responsibility vis-à-vis illegal adoptions by anticipating strategies and adopting comprehensive measures to ensure accountability and provide redress to victims.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, including child prostitution, child pornography and other child sexual abuse material
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Civil & Political Rights
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Movement
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Study on illegal adoptions 2017, para. 95a
- Paragraph text
- [At the national level] [The Special Rapporteur invites all States to:] Ratify the Convention on the Rights of the Child and its three Optional Protocols, as well as the 1993 Hague Convention on Protection of Children and Cooperation in Respect of Intercountry Adoption, and incorporate the 2009 Guidelines for the Alternative Care of Children into national legislation;
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, including child prostitution, child pornography and other child sexual abuse material
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Study on illegal adoptions 2017, para. 95b
- Paragraph text
- [At the national level] [The Special Rapporteur invites all States to:] Adopt clear and comprehensive legislation that prohibits and criminalizes illegal adoption as a separate offence, as well as the sale of and trafficking in children that result in illegal adoptions, with sanctions that reflect the gravity of the crimes;
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, including child prostitution, child pornography and other child sexual abuse material
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Movement
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Study on illegal adoptions 2017, para. 95d
- Paragraph text
- [At the national level] [The Special Rapporteur invites all States to:] Strengthen and invest more in effective national child protection systems, inter alia, by increasing support to vulnerable families, by providing alternative childcare measures in which adoption and in particular intercountry adoption respect the principle of subsidiarity and ensure the best interests of the child and by establishing adequate birth registration mechanisms;
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, including child prostitution, child pornography and other child sexual abuse material
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Families
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Study on illegal adoptions 2017, para. 48
- Paragraph text
- An overarching violation of the intercountry adoption procedure has been the perception of adoption taking place independently from the national child protection system. In certain countries, such as Haiti and Nepal, the absence of or severe deficiencies in the alternative care system have not prevented the launching of intercountry adoptions. The core principle of subsidiarity has thus been completely circumvented.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, including child prostitution, child pornography and other child sexual abuse material
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Harmful Practices
- Movement
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Study on illegal adoptions 2017, para. 95g
- Paragraph text
- [At the national level] [The Special Rapporteur invites all States to:] Take particular care in the use of adoption orders to establish a parent-child relationship in cases of international commercial surrogacy, and ensure that the adoption order is consistent with the child's rights and best interests, in order to avoid the illegal adoption of children born through international commercial surrogacy;
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, including child prostitution, child pornography and other child sexual abuse material
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Movement
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Families
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Study on illegal adoptions 2017, para. 96j
- Paragraph text
- [At the national level] [At the national level] [Specifically in respect of intercountry adoptions:] Governments should ensure that any technical assistance to countries of origin is provided in a coordinated and impartial manner, such as through the good offices of the Intercountry Adoption Technical Assistance Programme of the Hague Conference on Private International Law.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, including child prostitution, child pornography and other child sexual abuse material
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Movement
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Study on illegal adoptions 2017, para. 91
- Paragraph text
- Illegal adoptions, namely adoptions that are the result of crimes such as the abduction and sale of and the trafficking in children or that are processed through the commission of other illegal acts or illicit practices such as the lack of proper consent of biological parents, fraud and improper financial gain, violate multiple child rights norms and principles, including the best interests of the child.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, including child prostitution, child pornography and other child sexual abuse material
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Movement
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Families
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Study on illegal adoptions 2017, para. 98a
- Paragraph text
- [At the international level] [States parties to the 1993 Hague Convention should:] Recognize and encourage the expert group on the financial aspects of intercountry adoption and the working group on preventing and addressing illicit practices in intercountry adoption of the Hague Conference on Private International Law to develop concrete proposals for tackling the enabling environment in which illegal adoptions flourish;
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, including child prostitution, child pornography and other child sexual abuse material
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Harmful Practices
- Movement
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Study on illegal adoptions 2017, para. 96a
- Paragraph text
- [At the national level] [At the national level] [Specifically in respect of intercountry adoptions:] Central authorities should ensure the effective monitoring of activities of adoption accredited bodies to guarantee their transparency and accountability;
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, including child prostitution, child pornography and other child sexual abuse material
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Study on illegal adoptions 2017, para. 96e
- Paragraph text
- [At the national level] [At the national level] [Specifically in respect of intercountry adoptions:] Official fees must be sufficient to cover costs and full details must be made available for public consultation;
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, including child prostitution, child pornography and other child sexual abuse material
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Study on illegal adoptions 2017, para. 42
- Paragraph text
- There have also been mounting concerns in several countries regarding the practice of child protection services using the placement of children in alternative care, which may involve adoption, as an option of first resort, rather than providing the required support to families.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, including child prostitution, child pornography and other child sexual abuse material
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Movement
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Families
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Study on illegal adoptions 2017, para. 58
- Paragraph text
- Such systemic issues create an environment that enables illegal adoptions and that Governments, both in countries of origin and in receiving countries, are allowing or promoting through laws and policies, often taking advantage of them.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, including child prostitution, child pornography and other child sexual abuse material
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Movement
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Study on illegal adoptions 2017, para. 98c
- Paragraph text
- [At the international level] [States parties to the 1993 Hague Convention should:] Encourage the Hague Conference to compile good practices and lessons learned regarding moratoriums on intercountry adoptions.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, including child prostitution, child pornography and other child sexual abuse material
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Study on illegal adoptions 2017, para. 95c
- Paragraph text
- [At the national level] [The Special Rapporteur invites all States to:] Review national laws and regulations to ensure that they do not contribute to the creation or maintenance of an enabling environment for illegal adoptions;
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, including child prostitution, child pornography and other child sexual abuse material
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Study on illegal adoptions 2017, para. 31
- Paragraph text
- Of the different stages involved in an adoption process, those leading to a determination of the adoptability of the child are the most vulnerable to illegal acts and illicit practices and are often linked to weaknesses in national child protection systems. Even though most of the following examples refer to cases of intercountry adoption, the acts and practices described may also be committed in domestic adoption procedures.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, including child prostitution, child pornography and other child sexual abuse material
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Movement
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Study on illegal adoptions 2017, para. 37
- Paragraph text
- In several instances, organized forced adoptions driven by prejudice targeted minorities, indigenous communities and other vulnerable groups. In the United States, for example, following the launch of the Indian Adoption Project in the 1950s, hundreds of Native American children were adopted during that decade in order to ensure their assimilation and to take them away from their humble background. Those adoptions were often based on partial assessments by social workers and amounted to forced or illegal adoptions.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, including child prostitution, child pornography and other child sexual abuse material
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Movement
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Ethnic minorities
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Study on illegal adoptions 2017, para. 13
- Paragraph text
- The purpose of the study is to go beyond individual cases and to look at large-scale cases of illegal adoption and sale of children that occur at the national and international levels through illegal acts and illicit practices that reflect deficiencies in the child protection systems and/or the involvement of criminal networks. In all cases, States bear responsibility, either through omission or commission.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, including child prostitution, child pornography and other child sexual abuse material
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Movement
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Study on illegal adoptions 2017, para. 15
- Paragraph text
- In preparation for the study, the Special Rapporteur held an expert meeting in Leiden, the Netherlands, on 19 and 20 September 2016. The Special Rapporteur wishes to thank Leiden University for hosting the meeting, Terre des Hommes Netherlands for organizing it and for providing resources for the substantive research, and the expert participants for their inputs during the preparation of the study.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, including child prostitution, child pornography and other child sexual abuse material
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Study on illegal adoptions 2017, para. 16
- Paragraph text
- In the preamble of the Convention on the Rights of the Child it is recognized that children should grow up in a family environment. In articles 7 and 8, it is stated that children have, as far as possible, the right to know and be cared for by their parents and the right to preserve their identity, including family relations. In addition, States must ensure that children shall not be separated from their parents against their will, except when it is in their best interests (art. 9).
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, including child prostitution, child pornography and other child sexual abuse material
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Families
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Study on illegal adoptions 2017, para. 82
- Paragraph text
- A good practice related to the proactive detection of illegal acts and illicit practices in receiving countries is the protocol for responding to allegations of child trafficking in intercountry adoption, which was designed by the Government of Australia to respond to concerns of adoptive parents and adoptees regarding abduction, sale and trafficking in intercountry adoptions.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, including child prostitution, child pornography and other child sexual abuse material
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Movement
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Families
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Study on illegal adoptions 2017, para. 97c
- Paragraph text
- [At the international level] [The Special Rapporteur invites the international community and international bodies to:] Support the establishment of an international body of experts on transitional justice and illegal adoptions to advise on and promote measures to provide redress to victims of large-scale illegal adoptions and prevent further abuses through adequate legal, policy and institutional reforms.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, including child prostitution, child pornography and other child sexual abuse material
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Movement
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Study on illegal adoptions 2017, para. 14
- Paragraph text
- Owing to the breadth of issues touching on illegal adoption, the practice of kafalah, the illicit transfer and non-return of children abroad and international commercial surrogacy arrangements are not covered in the present study.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, including child prostitution, child pornography and other child sexual abuse material
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Movement
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Study on illegal adoptions 2017, para. 95e
- Paragraph text
- [At the national level] [The Special Rapporteur invites all States to:] Establish and implement a single, well-recognized process for adoption that includes a holistic assessment of the child's full range of rights, and prohibit private and independent adoptions;
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, including child prostitution, child pornography and other child sexual abuse material
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Harmful Practices
- Movement
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Study on illegal adoptions 2017, para. 17
- Paragraph text
- The Convention provides in article 20 that a child temporarily or permanently deprived of his or her family environment, or in whose own best interests cannot be allowed to remain in that environment, shall be entitled to special protection and assistance provided by the State. The care envisaged in the Convention can include foster placement, kafalah of Islamic law, adoption or if necessary placement in suitable institutions for the care of children. In that context, adoption should be understood as one possibility among several alternative child protection measures to provide a family environment to the child. In addition, the development of international child rights norms and standards shows that the placement in institutions should only be used as a measure of last resort, when it is absolutely necessary and when it is in the best interests of the child.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, including child prostitution, child pornography and other child sexual abuse material
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Movement
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Families
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Study on illegal adoptions 2017, para. 18
- Paragraph text
- Article 21 of the Convention sets the best interests of the child as the paramount consideration in all matters related to adoption. In addition, its implementation obliges States to ensure that the adoption of a child is authorized only by competent authorities who determine, in accordance with applicable law and procedures, that the adoption is permissible in view of the child's status concerning parents, relatives and legal guardians and that, if required, the persons concerned have given their informed consent to the adoption on the basis of such counselling as may be necessary. Article 24 of the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child and article 4 of the European Convention on the Adoption of Children (Revised) also require the best interests of the child to be the paramount consideration in adoption processes.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, including child prostitution, child pornography and other child sexual abuse material
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Movement
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Families
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Study on illegal adoptions 2017, para. 19
- Paragraph text
- In addition, in respect to intercountry adoptions, article 21 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child establishes the principle of subsidiarity and the prohibition of improper financial gain for those involved in the adoption process. It also establishes that the same level of safeguards and standards for domestic adoptions apply in the context of intercountry adoptions. Regarding the principle of subsidiarity, article 21 states that intercountry adoption may be considered as an alternative means of child's care, if the child cannot be placed in a foster or an adoptive family or cannot in any suitable manner be cared for in the child's country of origin.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, including child prostitution, child pornography and other child sexual abuse material
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Harmful Practices
- Movement
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Families
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Study on illegal adoptions 2017, para. 57
- Paragraph text
- In respect of intercountry adoptions, the enabling environment points to prevailing conditions in countries of origin (such as limited domestic care options, laws that influence the determination of adoptability and the lack of adequate resources to verify the origins of children and to ensure the free and informed consent of biological parents) and to the approach taken by receiving countries, including the pressure they exert and the conditions they accept in order to secure children for adoption, as well as the lack of information provided to prospective adoptive parents. In addition, corruption and impunity allow illegal acts and illicit practices to proliferate.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, including child prostitution, child pornography and other child sexual abuse material
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Movement
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Families
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Study on illegal adoptions 2017, para. 69
- Paragraph text
- States have adopted various measures to prevent and combat illegal acts and illicit practices that result in the sale of children and illegal adoption. Few States have adopted measures to respond to cases of large-scale illegal adoption; of those that have, many have done so in response to the sustained advocacy efforts of civil society, in particular victims' organizations. That said, there are no strategies aimed at tackling the systemic issues that give rise to an enabling environment for illegal adoptions and at ensuring that adoptions take place solely in the best interests of the child and in conformity with international norms and standards.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, including child prostitution, child pornography and other child sexual abuse material
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Harmful Practices
- Movement
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Study on illegal adoptions 2017, para. 38
- Paragraph text
- Large-scale illegal adoptions have also taken place in the context of conflicts or authoritarian regimes and their aftermath. During the military dictatorship that ruled Argentina from 1976 to 1983, for example, the authorities abducted hundreds of children from parents considered to be opponents of the regime. In most cases, arbitrarily detained pregnant women had their children removed once they had given birth; in other cases, children were arrested along with their parents and then separated from them. All the parents were forcibly disappeared or murdered by the regime. The babies were registered as the biological children of families close to or linked with the regime or of the individuals who had abducted them, and in some cases were given up for adoption. The falsification of documents was widely used to officialize such illegal acts and illicit practices.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, including child prostitution, child pornography and other child sexual abuse material
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Movement
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Families
- Women
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Study on illegal adoptions 2017, para. 70
- Paragraph text
- The way in which child protection and alternative care systems are designed, organized, resourced and monitored has a considerable impact on the degree to which they become implicated in illicit practices leading to illegal adoptions. For instance, the provision of alternative care that relies primarily on privately run residential facilities constitutes a major risk for the occurrence of illegal adoption. Moreover, States where such arrangements are prevalent are often not in a position to exercise the oversight necessary to ensure adherence with international standards.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, including child prostitution, child pornography and other child sexual abuse material
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Movement
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Study on illegal adoptions 2017, para. 92
- Paragraph text
- States have been reluctant to react adequately to illegal adoptions. The lack of accountability and redress for victims of illegal adoptions, in part due to a lack of comprehensive national legislation criminalizing illegal adoption as a separate offence, is a major concern. In addition, investigations and prosecutions are rarely targeted at criminal structures involved in the commission of systematic illegal adoptions, often with State complicity. Sanctions for acts related to illegal adoptions rarely reflect the gravity of the crimes.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, including child prostitution, child pornography and other child sexual abuse material
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Movement
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Violence
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Study on illegal adoptions 2017, para. 96c
- Paragraph text
- [At the national level] [At the national level] [Specifically in respect of intercountry adoptions:] Governments should increase awareness of the need to bring the number of approvals of prospective adoptive parents into line with the projected number of adoptees, adopt stricter criteria for approval and provide more complete information, including on mechanisms available to report and denounce illicit practices, and better counselling and compulsory preparation for prospective adoptive parents by receiving countries;
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, including child prostitution, child pornography and other child sexual abuse material
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Harmful Practices
- Movement
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Families
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Study on illegal adoptions 2017, para. 50
- Paragraph text
- As indicated in the section on adoptability, documents are often falsified to render a child eligible for intercountry adoption. This is particularly true for children with specific or individual requirements, who are preferentially selected for intercountry adoption by certain countries of origin. In several countries in Central and Eastern Europe and of the Commonwealth of Independent States, medical reports have been falsified to create or exaggerate the seriousness of a child's illness or disability in order to make him or her eligible for intercountry adoption.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, including child prostitution, child pornography and other child sexual abuse material
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Movement
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Study on illegal adoptions 2017, para. 59
- Paragraph text
- A major enabling factor for illegal adoptions is the significant discrepancy between the number of prospective parents seeking to adopt and the number of children who are truly adoptable. The discrepancy is greatest in respect of the most sought-after children (generally, those who are young and healthy), while the children most often found in care are older and have a variety of specific requirements. The unrealistic number of prospective parents fuels frustration and sometimes leads to the commission of illegal acts to obtain the much lower number of adoptable children.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, including child prostitution, child pornography and other child sexual abuse material
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Movement
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Families
- Older persons
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Study on illegal adoptions 2017, para. 61
- Paragraph text
- The lack of transparency regarding the costs of an adoption and other related payments are at the root of most illegal acts. Particularly in the context of intercountry adoptions, the costs of the whole procedure are not set, which leads to great fluctuations in prices and many opportunities for corruption. Nor is there transparency regarding the purpose and use of other "adoption-related payments", blurring further the line between required and unjustified amounts. Payments also create a dependency (e.g. among "orphanages" and intermediaries) that can fuel illegal adoptions.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, including child prostitution, child pornography and other child sexual abuse material
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Movement
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Study on illegal adoptions 2017, para. 64
- Paragraph text
- Similarly, direct donations to childcare institutions in the context of intercountry adoptions - construed as "care costs" for children whose adoption order is being finalized - increase the risk of illegal adoptions. Such costs, which are generally not fixed and often far exceed the local expenditures, are an indication that a profit-driven scheme is involved. In Haiti, for example, a fixed amount is charged by childcare institutions for the care of selected children; that amount represents more than half of the cost of adoption and is unrelated to the local cost of living.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, including child prostitution, child pornography and other child sexual abuse material
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Movement
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Study on illegal adoptions 2017, para. 67
- Paragraph text
- The existence of intercountry adoptions from countries of origin that are not party to the 1993 Hague Convention is linked to a higher risk of illegal adoptions. Some major States of origin, such as Ethiopia, the Russian Federation and Ukraine, are not yet party to the Convention, which means that many intercountry adoptions do not benefit from its guarantees and safeguards. States parties to the Convention, in their relations with non-contracting States, are expected to apply as far as practicable the standards and safeguards of the Convention.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, including child prostitution, child pornography and other child sexual abuse material
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Movement
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Study on illegal adoptions 2017, para. 25
- Paragraph text
- In the context of the present report, adoptions resulting from crimes such as abduction and sale of and trafficking in children, fraud in the declaration of adoptability, falsification of official documents or coercion, and any illicit activity or practice, such as lack of proper consent by biological parents, improper financial gain by intermediaries and related corruption, constitute illegal adoptions and must be prohibited, criminalized and sanctioned as such.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, including child prostitution, child pornography and other child sexual abuse material
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Movement
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Families
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Study on illegal adoptions 2017, para. 26
- Paragraph text
- Illegal adoptions violate multiple child rights norms and principles, including the best interests of the child. That principle is breached when the purpose of an adoption is to find a child for adoptive parents rather than a family for the child. In that regard, it must be emphasized that international norms and standards do not establish the right to adopt a child or the right to be adopted.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, including child prostitution, child pornography and other child sexual abuse material
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Movement
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Families
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Study on illegal adoptions 2017, para. 95i
- Paragraph text
- [At the national level] [The Special Rapporteur invites all States to:] Establish mechanisms for addressing the concerns of adoptees, adoptive parents and biological parents about the circumstances of an adoption and for facilitating the search for origins and the request for reparations where appropriate, providing adequate psychosocial support when necessary;
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, including child prostitution, child pornography and other child sexual abuse material
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Health
- Movement
- Person(s) affected
- Families
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Study on illegal adoptions 2017, para. 95j
- Paragraph text
- [At the national level] [The Special Rapporteur invites all States to:] Ensure the right to information about one's origins and access to information about the rights of victims of illegal adoptions, and facilitate the work of victims' organizations in that respect, including in terms of helping them to trace biological parents and children;
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, including child prostitution, child pornography and other child sexual abuse material
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Civil & Political Rights
- Movement
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Families
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Study on illegal adoptions 2017, para. 95k
- Paragraph text
- [At the national level] [The Special Rapporteur invites all States to:] Ensure the right to truth, justice, reparation and guarantees of non-recurrence of victims of large-scale illegal adoptions, inter alia, by reforming institutions that were either involved in or incapable of preventing abuses, and guarantee the effective and meaningful participation of victims in the design and implementation of measures to obtain comprehensive redress;
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, including child prostitution, child pornography and other child sexual abuse material
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Civil & Political Rights
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Study on illegal adoptions 2017, para. 96b
- Paragraph text
- [At the national level] [At the national level] [Specifically in respect of intercountry adoptions:] Governments of receiving countries should limit the number of adoption agencies accredited to work with any given country on the basis of a realistic assessment of the number of children who might require adoption abroad, and Governments of countries of origin should deny approval to accredited agencies when their number surpasses the objective needs;
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, including child prostitution, child pornography and other child sexual abuse material
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Movement
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Study on illegal adoptions 2017, para. 98b
- Paragraph text
- [At the international level] [States parties to the 1993 Hague Convention should:] Increase resources to the Hague Conference on Private International Law to enable the Special Commission on the practical operation of the 1993 Hague Convention to hold more regular meetings, and ensure that States of origin can attend those meetings;
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, including child prostitution, child pornography and other child sexual abuse material
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Movement
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Study on illegal adoptions 2017, para. 100
- Paragraph text
- [At the international level] National human rights institutions and civil society organizations should convey concerns about illegal adoptions and international commercial surrogacy arrangements in the context of the universal periodic review process and the review by the Committee on the Rights of the Child of State party reports.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, including child prostitution, child pornography and other child sexual abuse material
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Movement
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Study on illegal adoptions 2017, para. 96g
- Paragraph text
- [At the national level] [At the national level] [Specifically in respect of intercountry adoptions:] Contributions and donations should be clearly separated from adoption;
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, including child prostitution, child pornography and other child sexual abuse material
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Study on illegal adoptions 2017, para. 96h
- Paragraph text
- [At the national level] [At the national level] [Specifically in respect of intercountry adoptions:] Payments by agencies or prospective adopters to residential care facilities, including "care costs" for children awaiting the issuance of an adoption order, must be prohibited;
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, including child prostitution, child pornography and other child sexual abuse material
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Movement
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Study on illegal adoptions 2017, para. 95h
- Paragraph text
- [At the national level] [The Special Rapporteur invites all States to:] Establish and implement standardized information systems to obtain and share accurate and reliable data on domestic and intercountry adoptions, on children subject to adoption and on their family and background;
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, including child prostitution, child pornography and other child sexual abuse material
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Movement
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Families
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Study on illegal adoptions 2017, para. 95l
- Paragraph text
- [At the national level] [The Special Rapporteur invites all States to:] Take effective measures to protect children who are victims of armed conflict and natural disasters from becoming victims of illegal adoption.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, including child prostitution, child pornography and other child sexual abuse material
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Humanitarian
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Sale of children for the purpose of forced labour 2016, para. 30
- Paragraph text
- The sale of children for the purpose of forced labour in domestic work is a widespread phenomenon. Domestic work can amount to a form of forced labour, depending on the nature of the employment relationship, which can make children heavily dependent on their employer. That type of employment relationship leads to ambiguous informal arrangements and a lack of clear contractual conditions, which paves the way for dependency, abuse and harmful working conditions. Among child domestic workers, live-in workers are the most exploited. Over 17 million children are engaged in domestic work, of which almost two thirds are estimated to be in child labour, either because they are below the legal minimum working age or working in conditions which represent the worst forms of child labour. Most of them are girls.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, including child prostitution, child pornography and other child sexual abuse material
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Girls
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Sale of children for the purpose of forced labour 2016, para. 31
- Paragraph text
- While data remains scarce, ILO has concluded that there are significant numbers of children in debt bondage, child victims of trafficking and children in situations of servitude. The ILO Committee of Experts on the Application of Conventions and Recommendations has defined numerous situations of domestic work as amounting to child labour and, in several instances, forced labour. Children can be forced into domestic work under the guise of adoption, in conditions similar to bonded labour. Children may also be sold for the purpose of forced domestic work because their families are in bonded labour. A UNICEF study has highlighted the multiple ways in which children are recruited for domestic work. In some cases, intermediaries earn money from the child's placement and/or by taking a significant share of children's wages.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, including child prostitution, child pornography and other child sexual abuse material
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Families
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Sale of children for the purpose of forced labour 2016, para. 21
- Paragraph text
- According to article 2 of the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography, "sale of children means any act or transaction whereby a child is transferred by any person or group of persons to another for remuneration or any other consideration". That definition includes any benefit, financial or of another nature that can be obtained in the transaction. Article 3, paragraph 1 (a) (i) c., of the Optional Protocol obliges States parties to criminalize the action of "offering, delivering or accepting, by whatever means, a child for the purpose of engagement of the child in forced labour." The sale of children therefore implies at least two parties, one that offers or delivers the child and one that accepts the child. Consent, or any form of agency on the part of the child, is considered irrelevant.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, including child prostitution, child pornography and other child sexual abuse material
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Sale of children for the purpose of forced labour 2016, para. 62
- Paragraph text
- The phenomenon of "voluntourism" deserves particular attention: this is "a term used to describe short-term volunteering placement by tourists as part of their overall vacation or travel in a country". "Orphanage voluntourism" is one such practice, which has fed a system leading to the sale of children for the purpose of labour exploitation. Research has provided evidence of systems in which the owners of orphanages use intermediaries to get children who look poor to orphanages, in order to satisfy a fee-based volunteering demand, generating significant profits. Traffickers lure poverty-stricken families into giving away their children, under promises of good living conditions and education. Children are then often left in poor conditions, in order to prompt foreign charity, and forced to perform activities to please foreign volunteers.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, including child prostitution, child pornography and other child sexual abuse material
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Poverty
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Sale of children for the purpose of forced labour 2016, para. 73
- Paragraph text
- Combating the crime of sale of children for the purpose of forced labour requires multidimensional interventions at all levels to address the systemic aspects lying behind the phenomenon and its multiple manifestations. The child rights framework, set by the Convention on the Rights of the Child and other relevant international instruments, offers a basis for the design and implementation of such interventions. In particular, approaches need to take into consideration children's evolving capacities to make decisions about their lives and the possibility to contribute by working, while respecting international standards related to minimum working ages.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, including child prostitution, child pornography and other child sexual abuse material
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Sale of children for the purpose of forced labour 2016, para. 28
- Paragraph text
- A review of global estimates of trafficking in human beings makes it possible to highlight a number of common features characterizing the sale of children for the purpose of forced labour. First, the share of children trafficked for the purpose of forced labour is increasing and the share of children involved in forced labour is particularly high. Second, while in Europe and Central Asia children may be sold for the purpose of forced begging and petty crime, in the rest of Asia and in the Americas a high proportion of child victims may be sold for economic exploitation. Lastly, there are significant regional disparities and a lack of common definitions affects the reliability of estimates, most likely leading to underestimates.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, including child prostitution, child pornography and other child sexual abuse material
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Movement
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Sale of children for the purpose of forced labour 2016, para. 94
- Paragraph text
- Social policy measures that ensure a minimum standard of living and protect families in case of shocks have been found to be particularly effective in preventing labour exploitation and trafficking. An ILO report which focused on social protection as an instrument to eliminate child labour, found that cash transfers were more effective among children from poorer backgrounds and when coupled with other interventions, such as the provision of health and education services. Similarly, health insurance and pension and unemployment benefits can help families cope with a shock which renders a family member unable to work and avoid them resorting to child labour to compensate for loss of income or to pay for treatment. Interventions aimed at supporting parents, such as a public employment programme, may also have a positive effect as long as they do not result in children simply taking the place of their parents in their former jobs.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, including child prostitution, child pornography and other child sexual abuse material
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Health
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Families
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Sale of children for the purpose of forced labour 2016, para. 90
- Paragraph text
- The adoption of the Sustainable Development Goals has given a renewed impetus to international cooperation in combating the exploitation of children. The need to foster multi-stakeholders partnerships across countries to address the phenomenon has led to the development of an alliance around Goal 8.7, which aims to eliminate forced labour, modern slavery, human trafficking and all forms of child labour. Alliance 8.7 seeks to gather a range of actors, from Governments, civil society, international organizations, academia, representatives of employers and employees and the private sector, towards the realization of Goal 8.7.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, including child prostitution, child pornography and other child sexual abuse material
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Sale of children for the purpose of forced labour 2016, para. 92
- Paragraph text
- Transnational cooperation in the management of cases is essential, yet limited. Research on children engaged in forced begging has highlighted the importance of transnational cooperation, as criminal groups transport children from one country to another. In Europe, for example, no joint database exists to inform various countries that a child is a trafficking victim, implying that children may be identified as victims in one country, but then treated as criminals in another, as they are moved by traffickers. A study on transnational referral mechanisms in South-Eastern Europe has found that the development of common legislation and an implementing framework, and in particular standard operating procedures, have helped to improve transnational cooperation.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, including child prostitution, child pornography and other child sexual abuse material
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Movement
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Tackling the demand for the sexual exploitation of children 2016, para. 84
- Paragraph text
- The Special Rapporteur highlights the importance of enhancing corporate social responsibility, particularly with regard to the servicing of demand. Existing guidelines, such as the Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, the Global Code of Ethics for Tourism and the Code of Conduct for the Protection of Children from Sexual Exploitation in Travel and Tourism, should be universally followed by members of the private sector and mainstreamed in all their activities and across the supply chain. Compliance with those guidelines should be enforced and monitored.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, including child prostitution, child pornography and other child sexual abuse material
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Tackling the demand for the sexual exploitation of children 2016, para. 61
- Paragraph text
- A fundamental precondition in order for the laws to have an impact on the demand is consequently the effective implementation of provisions and penalties. An interesting indication of conviction rates worldwide comes from the 2015 Trafficking in Persons Report, which compiles law enforcement data provided by contributing States. Out of 10,051 prosecutions in 2014, only 4,443 led to convictions. Those statistics are estimates and relate to trafficking in persons in general, yet the cases include instances of child sexual exploitation. Moreover, the Global Report on Trafficking in Persons 2014 concluded that among the detected victims of trafficking, 33 per cent were children and 53 per cent had been trafficked for sexual exploitation. The total number of victims identified in the Trafficking in Persons Report was 44,462 in 2014 which, combined with the above-mentioned figures, underlines the very significant gap between the extent of the crimes and the perpetrators involved and the law enforcement response worldwide.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, including child prostitution, child pornography and other child sexual abuse material
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Tackling the demand for the sexual exploitation of children 2016, para. 62
- Paragraph text
- Prosecution must also be ensured in cases of crimes committed abroad. This is the particular focus of the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography, which can be considered as a legal basis for extradition when there is no extradition treaty. Articles 6 and 7 also emphasize the duty of States parties to cooperate and assist with investigations, confiscations and extraditions relevant to those offences. There has consequently been a strong emphasis on extraterritorial legislation to prevent offenders from escaping prosecution. It should nonetheless be noted that judging the crime in the country of the offender, when he or she has been removed from the crime scene and the victim, is not always in the best interest of the child and of the investigation. Unfortunately, the principle of double criminality is often a stumbling block for the prosecution of offences committed abroad. The Committee on the Rights of the Child has thus consistently called for the waving of that principle in the context of child sexual exploitation.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, including child prostitution, child pornography and other child sexual abuse material
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Tackling the demand for the sexual exploitation of children 2016, para. 64
- Paragraph text
- In the specific case of military and peacekeeping troops and personnel, there is a lack of accountability in instances of sexual exploitation of children. Concrete measures are needed to ensure that those offenders are also prosecuted and convicted either at the international or national level. As far as United Nations peacekeeping troops and personnel are concerned, the Secretary-General has outlined a series of measures to ensure the investigation of those crimes and the prosecution of the perpetrators through the creation of immediate response teams, the imposition of strong sanctions, the repatriation of contingents and the referral to judicial authorities of host countries and contributing countries. He has also established an external independent review panel to assess the response of the United Nations to allegations of sexual exploitation and sexual abuse and other serious crimes by members of foreign military forces not under United Nations command in the Central African Republic. The Special Rapporteur looks forward to the panel's findings and hopes they will improve accountability.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, including child prostitution, child pornography and other child sexual abuse material
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Humanitarian
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Tackling the demand for the sexual exploitation of children 2016, para. 65
- Paragraph text
- The experience of child victims and their satisfaction or dissatisfaction with the outcome of the trials in their cases needs to be taken into consideration. To ensure the prosecution and conviction of offenders, it is crucial to adopt child-sensitive justice procedures that facilitate the provision of testimony. In that regard, there has been a substantial amount of work and standard setting achieved, notably resulting in 2005 in the Guidelines on Justice in Matters involving Child Victims and Witnesses of Crime of 2005. As has been outlined above, the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography also places emphasis on the need for adequate procedures to seek compensation for damages from those legally responsible and the Committee on the Rights of the Child has continuously called on States to take all the measures necessary to implement the right to reparation. The Committee has similarly asked States to establish a fund for the compensation of victims for cases in which compensation cannot be obtained from the perpetrator.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, including child prostitution, child pornography and other child sexual abuse material
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Sale of children for the purpose of forced labour 2016, para. 67
- Paragraph text
- Due to the control their employers exercise over them, children sold for the purpose of forced labour are particularly vulnerable to violence and abuse. For example, child labour in domestic work makes children vulnerable to sexual violence and abuse, as well as beatings and degrading treatment. Children, in particular girls, involved in forced labour in manufacturing, such as the garment industry, are often victims of sexual violence. In armed conflict, systematic sexual violence and enslavement is often a daily reality for girls (see A/HRC/32/CRP.2).
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, including child prostitution, child pornography and other child sexual abuse material
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Girls
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Sale of children for the purpose of forced labour 2016, para. 98
- Paragraph text
- The present study has shown that when harmful practices are socially accepted, protective factors are low and pull factors strong, a child can be sold and exploited in forced labour conditions. Addressing the issue therefore requires comprehensive approaches that take into account the demand factor as well as the specific vulnerabilities of children being sold for the purpose of forced labour, while recognizing children as rights holders, entitled to protection but also to recognition of their agency in function of their evolving capacities.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, including child prostitution, child pornography and other child sexual abuse material
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Sale of children for the purpose of forced labour 2016, para. 35
- Paragraph text
- Lack of a protective environment in production countries, combined with high levels of demand in high-income countries, provides fertile ground for labour exploitation. A study on the situation of children in cocoa farms has highlighted how their families and children themselves are lured by intermediaries into following them to find work, only to be engaged in forced labour without the possibility of leaving. The fishing industry has also involved a number of children in forced labour, as a result of various forms of sale, including bonded labour.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, including child prostitution, child pornography and other child sexual abuse material
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Families
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Tackling the demand for the sexual exploitation of children 2016, para. 33
- Paragraph text
- Organized crime groups, which usually fulfil the role of facilitators to service the demand for child sexual exploitation, can also include contact offenders. The perpetrators may be preferential or situational offenders and will sexually abuse the child directly as part of the enslavement or grooming process. In general, the involvement of organized crime and the subsequent sexual exploitation of children is motivated by the vulnerability of the child rather than a specific sexual interest in children.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, including child prostitution, child pornography and other child sexual abuse material
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Tackling the demand for the sexual exploitation of children 2016, para. 75
- Paragraph text
- Another noteworthy project was the collaboration between ECPAT France and Air France, as well as the sports newspaper L'Equipe, among others, in the context of the FIFA World Cup in 2014 to prevent the sexual exploitation of children on the fringes of such a major sporting event. The campaign from ECPAT France entitled "Don't look away" was disseminated by the two private sector partners in an attempt to ensure that potential offenders understood that the sexual exploitation of children abroad would still be prosecuted.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, including child prostitution, child pornography and other child sexual abuse material
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Sale of children for the purpose of forced labour 2016, para. 81
- Paragraph text
- Increased attention has also been paid to the need for due diligence, a process whereby private companies are called upon to ensure respect for human rights standards and to set up adequate mechanisms to that end. The European Commission has devoted specific attention to the situation of employment and recruitment agencies in that context, issuing a guidebook inviting such agencies to consider the impact of their practices on human rights, including in countries with weak legal and institutional frameworks.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, including child prostitution, child pornography and other child sexual abuse material
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Sale of children for the purpose of forced labour 2016, para. 20
- Paragraph text
- The international framework also comprises International Labour Organization (ILO) Convention No. 138 of 1973 on the Minimum Age for Admission to Employment, which sets the minimum age for admission to employment at 15 (article 2.3), with the option of setting it at 14 as a transitional measure (article 2.4). Light work may be allowed for children aged 13 to 15 (article 7.1) or 12 to 14 for States having used the transitional measure (article 7.4). Child labour can be defined as work which is harmful and interferes with schooling. Relevant standards also comprise ILO Conventions No. 182 of 1999 on the Prohibition and Immediate Action for the Elimination of the Worst Forms of Child Labour, which requires States parties to "take immediate and effective measures to secure the prohibition and elimination of the worst forms of child labour as a matter of urgency" (article 1), and No. 29 of 1930 on Forced or Compulsory Labour.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, including child prostitution, child pornography and other child sexual abuse material
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Sale of children for the purpose of forced labour 2016, para. 39
- Paragraph text
- Reports on the garment industry have also demonstrated the extensive use of forced labour involving children in factories, amounting to slavery-like practices. Child labour is facilitated by the close relationship between employers and parents, who often come from the same village. A system of work in spinning mills was found to involve young women and girls, who are only paid at the end of their three-year contract. They do not get paid if they leave, a situation amounting to forced labour and debt bondage. Products made from such labour feed the global retail market, driven by multinational companies in search of lower prices to respond to consumer demand.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, including child prostitution, child pornography and other child sexual abuse material
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Girls
- Women
- Youth
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Sale of children for the purpose of forced labour 2016, para. 40
- Paragraph text
- ILO has defined begging as "a range of activities whereby an individual asks a stranger for money on the basis of being poor or needing charitable donations for health or religious reasons. Beggars may also sell small items, such as dusters or flowers, in return for money that may have little to do with the value of the item for sale". Exploiting children through begging is a form of forced labour for which a child's consent cannot be considered valid, and could amount to a practice similar to slavery. Research has documented cases in which a child has been sold or trafficked for the purposes of forced begging or is in debt bondage. Children in a street situation are particularly vulnerable to the practice, given their lack of a protective environment.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, including child prostitution, child pornography and other child sexual abuse material
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Sale of children for the purpose of forced labour 2016, para. (b)
- Paragraph text
- Through the sale, the person receiving the child holds control over the child and the child loses his or her freedom and the possibility of leaving the situation. Consent, of the child or of his or her parent(s) or legal guardian, is irrelevant. The impossibility of leaving the situation may be the result of coercion. The threat may affect the child him or herself, or a third party. Forms of coercion concerning children can be much lighter than those considered for adults and can sometimes be simply the result of dependency, given children's limited agency, greater vulnerability to being influenced and sensitivity to threats;
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, including child prostitution, child pornography and other child sexual abuse material
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Families
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Sale of children for the purpose of forced labour 2016, para. 74
- Paragraph text
- Article 3 of the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography requires States parties to criminalize the sale of children for the purpose of forced labour in their legislation, including when committed by legal persons (for example, companies). Overlap with other similar yet different crimes (such as trafficking) means that legislation is likely to criminalize acts relating to slightly different situations, while overlooking the specificities of the crime of the sale of children for the purpose of forced labour, which results in impunity. Moreover, the limited implementation of legislation, in particular the difficulty of providing sufficient evidence to prove the offence in court, may lead to few convictions and low penalties for perpetrators. A clear legal framework should also guide a solid data collection system based on primary quantitative and qualitative research into the phenomenon.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, including child prostitution, child pornography and other child sexual abuse material
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Sale of children for the purpose of forced labour 2016, para. 75
- Paragraph text
- The rights of child victims of sale for the purpose of forced labour to care, recovery and reintegration are recognized in article 39 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child and article 9.3 of its Optional Protocol on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography. However, in many instances, child victims may be treated as perpetrators, or may not be sufficiently recognized as victims in legislation in order to benefit from targeted measures. For example, children engaged in forced begging may be perceived as committing an offence rather than referred to support services. Similarly, children forced to engage in criminal activities may be considered as criminals instead of victims.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, including child prostitution, child pornography and other child sexual abuse material
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Movement
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Sale of children for the purpose of forced labour 2016, para. 79
- Paragraph text
- However, ensuring effective remedy for rights violations involving the private sector requires adequate laws and policies. The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights has issued guidance on improving accountability and access to remedy for victims of business-related human rights abuse. It underlines the role of solid legal frameworks, which make it possible to hold companies criminally accountable for their actions, including when committed by third parties but with their contribution, through adequate procedures and deterring sanctions, effective enforcement mechanisms, coherent policy packages and support for victims in accessing remedies (see A/HRC/32/19).
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, including child prostitution, child pornography and other child sexual abuse material
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Sale of children for the purpose of forced labour 2016, para. 80
- Paragraph text
- Awareness of the important role of intermediaries has given rise to various initiatives to try and regulate their practices. Social partners for the temporary agency sector signed a memorandum of understanding in 2008 to avoid the negative effects of competition in the labour market on workers' rights and conditions. In 2015, the International Confederation of Private Employment Services adopted a new code of conduct for its members, which reiterates the prohibition on charging fees to jobseekers and provides for a complaint mechanism if a member breaks the rule. While those are positive steps, codes of conduct are not legally binding.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, including child prostitution, child pornography and other child sexual abuse material
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Sale of children for the purpose of forced labour 2016, para. 97
- Paragraph text
- The sale of children for the purpose of forced labour is a multifaceted phenomenon with diverse root causes, risk factors, manifestations and effects. Families may use the sale of children for the purpose of forced labour as a coping strategy for survival. Children, whether sold or entrusted to a third party, may fall into the hands of traffickers, who will in turn sell them for forced labour. They may also end up under the control of criminal organized groups. Demand for products with competitive prices is also a pull factor for the sale of children for forced labour and labour exploitation. In conflict situations, lawlessness and social, economic and institutional breakdown, as well as deliberate conflict strategies, may lead children to be abducted and sold for the purpose of forced labour.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, including child prostitution, child pornography and other child sexual abuse material
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Movement
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Families
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Tackling the demand for the sexual exploitation of children 2016, para. 74
- Paragraph text
- Individual offenders and criminal networks use financial services to either pay for the sexual exploitation of children or transfer the proceeds from such crimes. This has pushed the financial sector to act and the Financial Coalition Against Child Pornography was launched in 2006 in the United States. Similarly, the European Financial Coalition against Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children Online and the Asia-Pacific Financial Coalition Against Child Pornography were created. Those initiatives have shown a commitment from some banks and financial service providers to stop being indirect intermediaries in the demand for the sexual exploitation of children. Other financial service providers, such as those trading in bitcoins, are yet to take comparable measures, even though it has been emphasized that virtual currencies are extremely hard to trace and thus ideal for illegal transactions.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, including child prostitution, child pornography and other child sexual abuse material
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Tackling the demand for the sexual exploitation of children 2016, para. 79
- Paragraph text
- A definitive understanding of offenders still needs to be achieved. The existing profiles, such as the distinction between preferential and situational offenders, remains open to debate. There is also scarce and conflicting information about online offenders and female offenders. Further research is consequently necessary with clear parameters to ensure comprehensive and evidence-based results. The inconclusive results of rehabilitation programmes are also linked to the incomplete knowledge about the different types of offenders. The effectiveness of the programmes will thus be improved once those gaps have been filled.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, including child prostitution, child pornography and other child sexual abuse material
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Tackling the demand for the sexual exploitation of children 2016, para. 54
- Paragraph text
- Rapid and sudden societal or technological changes have also facilitated demand and it is crucial to ensure that such radical revolutions are better managed in order to prevent child sexual exploitation. This applies particularly to the growth of tourism and of the Internet. There have been positive initiatives, such as the Child Safe Tourism campaign developed by World Vision and the International Tourism Partnership in collaboration with Governments from South-East Asia, which targets both potential offenders and intermediaries. Similarly, there are numerous initiatives concerning the Internet, such as the British "Stop it Now!" prevention campaign, which has launched several videos to deter potential offenders.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, including child prostitution, child pornography and other child sexual abuse material
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Environment
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Tackling the demand for the sexual exploitation of children 2016, para. 82c
- Paragraph text
- [The Special Rapporteur invites all States to:] Ensure that criminal proceedings against offenders can always be initiated ex officio;
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, including child prostitution, child pornography and other child sexual abuse material
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Civil & Political Rights
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Tackling the demand for the sexual exploitation of children 2016, para. 82f
- Paragraph text
- [The Special Rapporteur invites all States to:] Ensure that national legislation does not criminalize child victims of sexual abuse and exploitation and ensure that children are not placed on sex offender registers;
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, including child prostitution, child pornography and other child sexual abuse material
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Sale of children for the purpose of forced labour 2016, para. 17
- Paragraph text
- The methodology of the study consisted of a comprehensive desk review of recent studies, academic research, policy documents and legislation. It also benefited from contributions by international experts and relevant international organizations. Most of the literature concentrates on various forms of exploitation that are similar to, yet slightly different from, the focus of the study. Consequently, identifying situations where children have been sold for the purpose of forced labour has required examining a set of elements and inferring that criteria to characterize the situation as such have been met.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, including child prostitution, child pornography and other child sexual abuse material
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Movement
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Sale of children for the purpose of forced labour 2016, para. 18
- Paragraph text
- Conceptual clarity in relation to the sale of children for the purpose of forced labour presents particular challenges. The resolutions creating and renewing the mandate and the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography do not provide a definition of the crime. While many concepts, such as the worst forms of child labour, child trafficking and slavery and slavery-like practices, may encompass similar realities, they also feature significant differences. It is therefore essential to define adequately the sale of children for the purpose of forced labour, in order to avoid legal loopholes and protection gaps, and ensure the design and implementation of strategies that address the specific root causes, factors of vulnerability, mechanisms and manifestations of the sale of children for the purpose of forced labour. The ultimate goal is to ensure that the rights violated are fully justiciable and that victims can find effective remedy and redress.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, including child prostitution, child pornography and other child sexual abuse material
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Sale of children for the purpose of forced labour 2016, para. 19
- Paragraph text
- The sale of children for the purpose of forced labour must be understood in the context of the international legal framework on child labour and its worst forms. That framework includes article 32 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, which prohibits any work that could impair the child's development, and article 35, which forbids the sale of children for any purpose or in any form. That article was introduced as a separate provision from sale for the purpose of sexual exploitation mentioned in article 34, in recognition that children are subjected to sale and trafficking for many reasons. The international framework also includes the Optional Protocols to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography, and on the involvement of children in armed conflict.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, including child prostitution, child pornography and other child sexual abuse material
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Tackling the demand for the sexual exploitation of children 2016, para. 15
- Paragraph text
- According to international human rights standards, States have the obligation to prosecute perpetrators and address the underlying causes that facilitate the sexual exploitation of children. Indeed, the Convention on the Rights of the Child provides that States parties shall take all appropriate measures to prevent the sexual exploitation and abuse of children. The duty to prevent consequently creates an obligation for States to criminalize, inter alia, 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; the exploitative use of children in pornographic performances and materials; and the abduction of, the sale of or traffic in children for any purpose or in any form (see the Convention on the Rights of the Child, arts. 34 and 35).
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, including child prostitution, child pornography and other child sexual abuse material
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Tackling the demand for the sexual exploitation of children 2016, para. 16
- Paragraph text
- The preambular paragraphs of the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography emphasize that efforts to raise public awareness are needed to reduce consumer demand for the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography. The allusion to demand is further substantiated in the Optional Protocol with specific obligations, under articles 1 and 3, for States parties to prohibit and criminalize the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography. Article 3 (2) and (3) is particularly important, as article 3 (2) covers intent and participation to commit such illegal activities. Article 3 (3) adds the obligation for States parties to ensure that penalties are appropriate and commensurate with the grave nature of the offences.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, including child prostitution, child pornography and other child sexual abuse material
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Tackling the demand for the sexual exploitation of children 2016, para. 17
- Paragraph text
- In addition, the Optional Protocol calls for States parties to adopt extraterritorial jurisdiction, in particular in articles 4 to 6. This is fundamental in order to deal adequately with the often international nature of demand for the sexual exploitation of children. Article 7 of the Optional Protocol adds further crucial elements to deal with the demand factor by requiring States parties to seize and confiscate assets and funds derived from the offences in question, as well as to close premises used for the sexual exploitation of children. That is complemented by article 9 (4), which obliges States to ensure that child victims have access to adequate procedures to seek compensation for damages from those legally responsible.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, including child prostitution, child pornography and other child sexual abuse material
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Sale of children for the purpose of forced labour 2016, para. 60
- Paragraph text
- Inadequate monitoring and regulation of the activities of intermediaries can easily result in abusive practices. Intermediaries may use deceptive methods to lure families into releasing a child, or attract children into situations amounting to forced labour. The high fees required for the service is likely to put children and families in situations of debt bondage. Intermediaries may manage the full placement process, taking care of all necessary documents, which are then confiscated, preventing victims from leaving. Intermediaries may be directly linked with criminal networks aiming to exploit workers. Lack of work contracts and dependency on the recruiter for documentation and debt repayment paves the way for forced labour. In most cases, recruiters are aware of the forced labour conditions in which children end up and use deception to recruit them.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, including child prostitution, child pornography and other child sexual abuse material
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Movement
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Families
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Tackling the demand for the sexual exploitation of children 2016, para. 23
- Paragraph text
- The use of the term "demand" is closely related to economics terminology as the sexual exploitation of children and the provision of such services are driven by the objective of making a profit, be it financial, social or political. However, economics terminology should never obscure the violation of the rights of children, and the use of related terms such as "clients" must be rejected. The economics analogy is also relevant in the sense that if the demand is stemmed, the offer will correlatively decrease. Addressing the demand factor is consequently an effective way to eradicate the sexual exploitation of children. Preventing and deterring the harm from happening in the first place is cost-effective.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, including child prostitution, child pornography and other child sexual abuse material
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Tackling the demand for the sexual exploitation of children 2016, para. 37
- Paragraph text
- The label of intermediaries covers a wide range of other facilitators such as taxi drivers, hotel staff, entertainment staff, massage parlour staff, tour guides and tour operators. They do not control the child victim, but act as a bridge between procurers or child victims and offenders. Individuals working in the entertainment industry, namely bars, karaoke clubs and brothels, have been identified in several cases as crucial points of contact for offenders seeking to sexually exploit a child. Taxi drivers and hotel staff have also brought offenders to locations where children are sexually exploited. What is more, there is anecdotal evidence of sex tour operators organizing trips to areas where child sexual exploitation is rife. Most of those facilitators are part of the private sector, which thus becomes an intermediary by turning a blind eye to the criminal activities of its staff.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, including child prostitution, child pornography and other child sexual abuse material
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Tackling the demand for the sexual exploitation of children 2016, para. 66
- Paragraph text
- Although the majority of child sexual exploiters are not preferential offenders, most responses have focused on the latter. A common measure has been the adoption of sex offender registers or databases, which have in some cases included all types of sex offenders. The rationale behind such policies is based on research on the recidivism of different types of sex offenders, which tends to increase with the passage of time. As of 2014, 19 States or entities had enacted sex offender registration laws. The registers can also come with provisions requiring registered sex offenders to notify competent authorities about their travels domestically and abroad.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, including child prostitution, child pornography and other child sexual abuse material
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Tackling the demand for the sexual exploitation of children 2016, para. 67
- Paragraph text
- The use of such registers and the sharing of information with other law enforcement agencies abroad can be a vital tool to prevent child sexual exploiters from reoffending elsewhere. There have been other initiatives to prevent offenders from hiding their criminal record and taking up employment that involves contact with children. For example, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland has developed the International Child Protection Certificate, which is a criminal records check against police and intelligence databases in the United Kingdom that reveals any convictions or reasons why someone should not work with children. It is very useful for overseas schools and other child-focused organizations that seek to employ a British national.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, including child prostitution, child pornography and other child sexual abuse material
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Tackling the demand for the sexual exploitation of children 2016, para. 42
- Paragraph text
- A major enabler of demand is the perception of youth, consent and virginity. Indeed, the attraction of preferential offenders who are not paedophiles to adolescents often stems from social and cultural constructs. The obsession with virginity owing to notions of purity and health is, for example, a source of demand for the sexual exploitation of children. There are thus in several regions of the world those who specifically seek to have intercourse with virgins. Concurrently, a child who has lost his or her virginity is considered in negative terms and devalued, thus being more vulnerable to sexual exploitation. Besides, the definition of a child, although set at any person under 18 in international law, varies from one culture to another and is strongly related to his or her sexual maturity. There is further confusion as a result of the varying ages of sexual consent across the world. Preferential and situational offenders will thus justify their actions by affirming, based on their personal belief or on the degree of social tolerance, that their victim was not a child or consented to his or her exploitation.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, including child prostitution, child pornography and other child sexual abuse material
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Harmful Practices
- Health
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Adolescents
- Children
- Youth
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Tackling the demand for the sexual exploitation of children 2016, para. 43
- Paragraph text
- The sexual exploitation of girls, who constitute the majority of victims, is rooted in gender discrimination. Patriarchal structures that promote male sexual domination and do not condemn the commercialization of girls and women are a fundamental underlying level of the demand factor. Culturally imposed feminine gender stereotypes also contribute to the sexual exploitation of women and girls by placing them in the role of serving males, negating women's and girls' ability to make decisions regarding their own sexual and reproductive life and making them prime targets for sexual violence. Likewise, the commodification of the female body reinforces the notion of its consumption, which can be extended to girls by offenders. Gender stereotypes around masculinity also adversely affect boys, with little attention given to their possible vulnerability to sexual exploitation. Boys who are victims of sexual exploitation are consequently much less likely to be able to report a rights violation and to receive care.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, including child prostitution, child pornography and other child sexual abuse material
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Boys
- Girls
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Tackling the demand for the sexual exploitation of children 2016, para. 45
- Paragraph text
- Racism and discrimination play a central part in certain forms of demand for the sexual exploitation of children. Some offenders, in particular in the context of travel and tourism, target children of a different ethnicity because they believe that the children are inferior and/or that the local culture condones the sexual exploitation of children. In addition, caste-based systems or similarly entrenched inequities enable the offender to justify the sexual exploitation of children from lower castes or groups. Discrimination based on sexual orientation is also a source of demand, since the sexual exploitation of homosexual or transgender children can be seen in certain cultures as acceptable. Indeed, in those contexts the sexual orientation of the child is condemned and his or her exploitation is blamed on him or her.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, including child prostitution, child pornography and other child sexual abuse material
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Gender
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- LGBTQI+
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Tackling the demand for the sexual exploitation of children 2016, para. 51
- Paragraph text
- A key objective of prevention has been to target potential preferential offenders before they act. In 2005, the Institute of Sexology and Sexual Medicine in Berlin developed a prevention approach called the Prevention Project Dunkelfeld. It is based on a media campaign to encourage self-identified, but not officially registered paedophiles and hebephiles to seek professional help. The assistance offered is provided anonymously by a research team that has been specifically trained to build a trustworthy and empathetic relationship during the initial contact. It consists of a specialized one-year treatment programme to ensure that the potential offenders can control their impulses by using cognitive-behavioural techniques and sexological tools, as well as pharmaceutical options. An evaluation of the programme revealed that the primary prevention approach reduced risk factors for child sexual abuse, prevented sexual offending against minors, reduced the number of contact offences, and reduced the frequency and the severity of child pornography offences.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, including child prostitution, child pornography and other child sexual abuse material
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Health
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Tackling the demand for the sexual exploitation of children 2016, para. 80
- Paragraph text
- In 2016, it will be 20 years since the first World Congress against Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children was held in Stockholm. Substantial commitments were made by several stakeholders in the declarations at the end of that Congress and the following two, which were held in Yokohama, Japan, in 2001 and in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in 2008. The Special Rapporteur hopes that the anniversary will be an opportunity to look back at the progress that has been achieved and focus specifically on the pledges that were made in respect to demand in the Rio de Janeiro Declaration and Call for Action to Prevent and Stop Sexual Exploitation of Children and Adolescents.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, including child prostitution, child pornography and other child sexual abuse material
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- Adolescents
- Children
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Tackling the demand for the sexual exploitation of children 2016, para. 57
- Paragraph text
- The Council of Europe Convention on the Protection of Children against Sexual Exploitation and Sexual Abuse is particularly specific and states that such offences should be "punishable by effective, proportionate and dissuasive sanctions, taking into account their seriousness" (art. 27 (1)). The accompanying explanatory report sheds further light on the type of penalties as it links prison sentences, which must be provided by parties, to the possibility of extradition, which is only granted in cases of offences punishable by deprivation of liberty or under a detention order of at least one year. Furthermore, the Convention requires parties to allow the perpetrator to be banned, temporarily or permanently, from carrying on the activity involving contact with children, whether professional or voluntary, in the course of which the offence was committed. In relation to perptrators, the Convention also provides for the possibility for parties to withdraw parental rights or to monitor or supervise convicted persons.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, including child prostitution, child pornography and other child sexual abuse material
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Tackling the demand for the sexual exploitation of children 2016, para. 60
- Paragraph text
- In accordance with international law, the general practice is to sentence perpetrators of child sexual exploitation to imprisonment. As far as intermediaries are concerned, penalties vary and are not always commensurate with the gravity of the crime. The length of the deprivation of liberty also varies widely and can in particular be influenced by the age and gender of both the offender and the victim. Regrettably, significant loopholes remain and prevent the conviction of offenders and thus the assurance of accountability. This is the case, for example, for the sexual exploitation of boys or the possession of child sexual abuse material, which in several countries are yet to be criminalized.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, including child prostitution, child pornography and other child sexual abuse material
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Boys
- Children
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Sale of children for the purpose of forced labour 2016, para. 59
- Paragraph text
- The intermediate level of demand is composed of those who act as facilitators between children and those who exploit them, hence the intermediaries whose involvement is motivated by gain. They may receive the child from families who entrust them to take care of him or her, pay families to receive the child, or be paid by families. They then sell the child to employers for forced labour. The role of intermediaries has received increased attention in recent years as a determining factor in the recruitment of workers in exploitative conditions.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, including child prostitution, child pornography and other child sexual abuse material
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Families
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Sale of children for the purpose of forced labour 2016, para. 68
- Paragraph text
- Children's right to development to their fullest potential is also seriously affected. Children engaged in forced labour do not have access to an adequate standard of living, including appropriate shelter, food, water and sanitation. Those that are sold for the purpose of forced labour are frequently out of school or have no access to education. As a result, they lack access to the skills needed for their development and life options, and are deprived of opportunities to know their rights and develop the competencies to protect themselves from abusive situations.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, including child prostitution, child pornography and other child sexual abuse material
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Equality & Inclusion
- Violence
- Water & Sanitation
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Sale of children for the purpose of forced labour 2016, para. 89
- Paragraph text
- In Thailand, the canned tuna production industry has set up solid oversight mechanisms and improved labour standards. In 2005 in Brazil, the national authorities launched the National Pact for the Eradication of Slave Labour, a multi-stakeholder initiative bringing together public and private companies. The pact includes commercial restrictions on companies using slave labour, promotes decent work and aims to raise awareness among groups at risk of slave labour. The Ministry of Labour also publishes a list with the names of companies and employers who have been caught using forced labour.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, including child prostitution, child pornography and other child sexual abuse material
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Tackling the demand for the sexual exploitation of children 2016, para. 55
- Paragraph text
- Only the delivery of comprehensive human rights education by adequately trained professionals to society at large can lead to the eradication of the root causes of the demand for child sexual exploitation, such as the disregard and commodification of children. The core principles of the Convention on the Rights of the Child must be continuously promoted and engrained across the world, namely non-discrimination (art. 2), the best interests of the child (art. 3), the right to life, survival and development (art. 6) and respect for the views of the child (art. 12).
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, including child prostitution, child pornography and other child sexual abuse material
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Education
- Equality & Inclusion
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Sale of children for the purpose of forced labour 2016, para. 93
- Paragraph text
- Article 9 of the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography lists an overarching set of measures for the prevention of the crimes covered by the treaty, including the sale of children for the purpose of forced labour. Prevention measures must address the factors that make children vulnerable to being sold for the purpose of forced labour. Hence, any initiatives in that regard should include measures to ensure social protection and safe migration.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, including child prostitution, child pornography and other child sexual abuse material
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Movement
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Tackling the demand for the sexual exploitation of children 2016, para. 18
- Paragraph text
- Another important instrument is the Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children, supplementing the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime. Article 9 (5) requires States parties to adopt or strengthen legislative or other measures, such as educational, social or cultural measures, including through bilateral and multilateral cooperation, to discourage the demand that fosters all forms of exploitation of persons, especially women and children.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, including child prostitution, child pornography and other child sexual abuse material
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Education
- Equality & Inclusion
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Tackling the demand for the sexual exploitation of children 2016, para. 34
- Paragraph text
- The intermediate level of the demand for child sexual exploitation corresponds to those who act as facilitators between offenders and children, as well as those who provide and promote their exploitation. This level of demand is composed of individuals and groups and as far as the latter is concerned, is commonly linked to organized crime. Such actors service the demand and often control the child victims. They represent the truly exploitative nature of the crimes in question since their involvement is motivated by gain.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, including child prostitution, child pornography and other child sexual abuse material
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Tackling the demand for the sexual exploitation of children 2016, para. 40
- Paragraph text
- The link between organized crime and human trafficking is clearly established and both are often involved in supplying children for sexual exploitation. Any of the facilitators outlined above can be affiliated or controlled by such criminal networks. Additionally, criminal networks have a particular interest in the production and sale of child abuse material, which is increasingly lucrative. Moreover, organized crime groups have used child sexual abuse material to extort money and steal identities.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, including child prostitution, child pornography and other child sexual abuse material
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Sale of children for the purpose of forced labour 2016, para. 15
- Paragraph text
- The mandate of the Special Rapporteur on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography was created, inter alia, to "consider matters relating to the sale of children". However, since its inception, the work of the mandate has mainly focused on the sexual exploitation of children. Similarly, the implementation of the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography has thus far mainly been addressed from the angle of the sexual exploitation of children. The objective of the present thematic study is to address that gap, with the ultimate goal of bringing conceptual clarity, in order to better protect child victims and prevent the sale of children for the purpose of forced labour.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, including child prostitution, child pornography and other child sexual abuse material
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Sale of children for the purpose of forced labour 2016, para. 96
- Paragraph text
- An ILO study on international migration and child labour has underlined the importance of promoting safe behaviours in relation to migration, by supporting adolescents in adequately informing themselves and properly preparing for the journey, preferably by securing a job contract before leaving. However, in some instances, the contract is part of the migration arrangement itself, paving the way for exploitative conditions. Studies have also stressed the importance for countries of avoiding legislative frameworks in which a legal stay is conditioned to one employer, as it paves the way for dependency on that employer.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, including child prostitution, child pornography and other child sexual abuse material
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Movement
- Person(s) affected
- Adolescents
- Children
- Persons on the move
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Tackling the demand for the sexual exploitation of children 2016, para. 36
- Paragraph text
- Human traffickers include recruiters, transporters, those who exercise control over trafficked persons, those who transfer and/or maintain trafficked persons in exploitative situations and those involved in related crimes, as well as those who profit either directly or indirectly from trafficking, its component acts and related offences. They thus can significantly overlap with procurers. Their key characteristics are the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harbouring or receipt of child victims and thus the servicing of the demand for child sexual exploitation. Deception and threats are often used by traffickers to obtain the child and convince his or her guardians of a better future for the child.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, including child prostitution, child pornography and other child sexual abuse material
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Sale of children for the purpose of forced labour 2016, para. 83
- Paragraph text
- Some countries have taken steps to enhance transparency and prohibit the sale of products that have involved the use of child labour or forced labour, in order to prevent the crime. Legislation in the United States prohibits importation of goods produced by forced child labour. An executive order of 1999 ensures that federal agencies in the United States do not procure goods made by forced or indentured child labour. In addition, the Department of Labor must publish a list of products believed to have been produced by forced or indentured child labour. If it is found that forced or indentured labour was involved, the contract will be terminated and eligibility as a supplier suspended for three years.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, including child prostitution, child pornography and other child sexual abuse material
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Sale of children for the purpose of forced labour 2016, para. 85
- Paragraph text
- Effective and well-resourced labour inspection is an essential institutional component of a preventive and protective environment. As highlighted in the ILO handbook for labour inspectors in relation to forced labour and human trafficking, forced labour is part of the seriously exploitative situations that labour inspectors are meant to monitor. Inspections of the health and safety of workers can provide indications that forced labour is taking place and that underage children are at work. Labour inspectors can enter private premises in carrying out their mandate without a search warrant and have a range of discretionary powers. ILO has also issued a booklet detailing 11 forced labour indicators aimed at front-line law enforcement officials, labour inspectors, non-governmental organizations and other relevant stakeholders. The publication aims to help them quickly detect forced labour situations, even if not specifically focused on children.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, including child prostitution, child pornography and other child sexual abuse material
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Movement
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Tackling the demand for the sexual exploitation of children 2016, para. 31
- Paragraph text
- The consumption of child sexual abuse material has been facilitated by the rise of information and communications technologies and it is more and more characterized by its international nature. The ease of obtaining child abuse material through information and communications technologies has given rise to a greater range of offenders. Such offenders can generally be compared to offline offenders, in particular as most of them are male, though there are some differences in relation to offline offenders. For instance, online offenders are younger and more likely to be white than offline perpetrators, in the specific context of studies in the United States of America. Furthermore, according to some studies there is some form of greater self-control or inhibitory mechanism among online offenders since the majority have not committed contact sexual offences. There are nonetheless significant crossovers between online and offline offenders which can render the differentiation between the two groups artificial.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, including child prostitution, child pornography and other child sexual abuse material
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Tackling the demand for the sexual exploitation of children 2016, para. 35
- Paragraph text
- The most common providers of children for sexual exploitation are facilitators, who can range from procurers to traffickers and intermediaries, and include financial actors. Such individuals are not always part of criminal networks. Procurers are generally called by their vernacular name, such as "pimp" in English. They are the ones who identify the children and force them into sexual exploitation. Grooming is an essential part of the process. The aim is to entrap the children into a life of sexual servitude and manipulate them at will through extreme methods ranging from physical and psychological abuse to the provision of drugs and alcohol. The demography of procurers is diverse. Though most of them are men, there is a significant presence of women among procurers. There have also been cases of peer driven exploitation. There is also a substantial number of cases of parents and/or family members pushing their children into sexual exploitation in order to provide the family with supplementary income.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, including child prostitution, child pornography and other child sexual abuse material
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Families
- Men
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Tackling the demand for the sexual exploitation of children 2016, para. 83c
- Paragraph text
- [The Special Rapporteur invites the international community to reinforce the coordinated global response by:] Holding military and peacekeeping troops and personnel accountable in cases of child sexual exploitation by having zero tolerance for such crimes, setting up prompt and thorough investigations, implementing strong penalties for those guilty of such crimes, taking measures such as suspension, repatriation and termination of the deployment and ensuring the follow-up to those procedures. Care, recovery and reintegration measures should also be provided to child victims as part of their right to a remedy.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, including child prostitution, child pornography and other child sexual abuse material
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Humanitarian
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Tackling the demand for the sexual exploitation of children 2016, para. 68
- Paragraph text
- At the international level, the Green Notice system established by INTERPOL provides warnings and criminal intelligence about persons who have committed criminal offences and are likely to repeat the crimes in other countries. It is an essential border control tool that must be embraced and used effectively by member countries of INTERPOL. The Special Rapporteur invites member countries and law enforcement agencies to study the need for and feasibility of creating a specific notice for offenders convicted of sexual abuse and exploitation of children.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, including child prostitution, child pornography and other child sexual abuse material
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Tackling the demand for the sexual exploitation of children 2016, para. 83b (i)
- Paragraph text
- [The Special Rapporteur invites the international community to reinforce the coordinated global response by:] Strengthening international cooperation as is required by the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography in key areas, by: Sharing and updating information related to child victims and offenders to effectively investigate and prosecute perpetrators and criminal networks responsible for the sexual exploitation of children;
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, including child prostitution, child pornography and other child sexual abuse material
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Tackling the demand for the sexual exploitation of children 2016, para. 83b (iii)
- Paragraph text
- [The Special Rapporteur invites the international community to reinforce the coordinated global response by:] Strengthening international cooperation as is required by the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography in key areas, by: Promoting active membership of INTERPOL and partaking in and utilizing effectively the Green Notice system, particularly for the identification of travelling sex offenders;
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, including child prostitution, child pornography and other child sexual abuse material
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Tackling the demand for the sexual exploitation of children 2016, para. 24
- Paragraph text
- For the purpose of the present study, a theoretical model has been developed. It is composed of three levels of demand, namely the immediate, intermediate and underlying levels. The theoretical model facilitates the inclusion and classification of all those who are involved in the sexual exploitation of children from the demand side. Common understanding of the demand is often limited to those who directly exploit and abuse children, with little consideration for those who aid and abet in the commission of such crimes or contribute to the enabling environment.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, including child prostitution, child pornography and other child sexual abuse material
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Tackling the demand for the sexual exploitation of children 2016, para. 41
- Paragraph text
- The underlying level of the demand factor relates to the social, cultural, gender and institutional constructs that foster the conditions in which the sexual exploitation of children is either ignored, tolerated or even accepted. Those factors sustain the market for child sexual exploitation by allowing offenders and facilitators to act.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, including child prostitution, child pornography and other child sexual abuse material
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Sale of children for the purpose of forced labour 2016, para. 23
- Paragraph text
- The crime of trafficking in children has a number of similarities with the sale of children for the purpose of forced labour. In accordance with article 3 (a) of the Palermo Protocol, child trafficking is the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harbouring or receipt of a child for the purpose of exploitation. As a general rule, the key characteristic of trafficking is the transfer of the child for the purpose of exploitation, which may or may not involve sale. Sale does not necessarily imply transportation, but does involve a transfer of control or authority, leading to an overlap with trafficking. Yet some forms of sale of children for the purpose of forced labour do not amount to trafficking, even if the effects may be similar. In sum, both crimes may cover similar realities, for instance, children may be trafficked without financial transactions and may be victims of sale for the purpose of forced labour without the characteristics of trafficking. In both cases demonstrating the intent suffices to identify the crime.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, including child prostitution, child pornography and other child sexual abuse material
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Movement
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Sale of children for the purpose of forced labour 2016, para. 41
- Paragraph text
- The European Police Office (Europol) has found that many children are sold and trafficked for the purpose of forced begging. Children may be sold by their families, or pregnant women may be recruited and forced to sell their babies. Children have been sold for up to 40,000 euros. According to a comparative study on forced child begging, criminal networks have developed strategies in which they push poor families into debt and then claim the children as a way to pay back those debts. The study found reports of criminal gangs controlling child beggars and practices in which small children were being "rented out" for the purpose of begging.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, including child prostitution, child pornography and other child sexual abuse material
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Families
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Sale of children for the purpose of forced labour 2016, para. 42
- Paragraph text
- Criminal activities are among the services children may be forced to undertake and are considered a form of forced labour. ECPAT UK has highlighted the situation of children engaged in forced labour in cannabis production in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, who have been trafficked from other countries. The children are forced by organized criminal groups to work in cannabis factories under hazardous conditions and with no possibility of leaving. Criminal groups use debt bondage and threats of reprisals against the children and their families to prevent them from escaping.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, including child prostitution, child pornography and other child sexual abuse material
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Movement
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Families
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Sale of children for the purpose of forced labour 2016, para. 49
- Paragraph text
- A report by the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Syrian Arab Republic describes how Yazidi women and girls were sold by Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) in slave markets, through auctions and sometimes as groups to be resold individually. In the last year, ISIL fighters have started to hold online slave auctions with pictures and personal details of captured women and girls. The fighters, and sometimes their wives, regularly engage Yazidi women and girls in forced domestic labour, in addition to inflicting systematic sexual violence. Yazidi men and boys over the age of puberty are also engaged in forced labour by ISIL in tasks including construction work, digging trenches and looking after cattle (see A/HRC/32/CRP.2).
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, including child prostitution, child pornography and other child sexual abuse material
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Humanitarian
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Boys
- Girls
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Sale of children for the purpose of forced labour 2016, para. 54
- Paragraph text
- Discrimination on the basis of age, gender and ethnicity and caste also increases the vulnerability of children to being sold for the purpose of forced labour. With limited exceptions, forced labour victims are much younger than those freely employed. Gender primarily affects the type of exploitation to which children are vulnerable. The sale of children for forced labour in domestic work or for servile marriage mainly affects girls. They respond to common perceptions that girls will be safe and protected and, in the case of domestic work, prepared for married life. Other forms of forced labour, such as forced begging, chiefly involve boys.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, including child prostitution, child pornography and other child sexual abuse material
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Movement
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Boys
- Children
- Girls
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Tackling the demand for the sexual exploitation of children 2016, para. 21
- Paragraph text
- At the regional level, several instruments call for the prevention and prohibition of the sexual exploitation of children and thus entail the sanctioning of offenders. This is the case of the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child (art. 27), the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation Convention on Preventing and Combating Trafficking in Women and Children for Prostitution (art. 3), the Inter-American Convention on International Traffic in Minors (art. 7) and the Council of Europe Convention on the Protection of Children against Sexual Exploitation and Sexual Abuse (chaps. 2, 5 and 6). Further protection is offered, as detailed below, by that Council of Europe Convention and in the explanatory report thereto, specific guidance on sanctions is given. The Council of Europe Convention on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings is also noteworthy as it specifically addresses the demand factor (art. 6) by providing that States parties shall adopt preventive measures such as research, awareness-raising and education programmes.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, including child prostitution, child pornography and other child sexual abuse material
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Sale of children for the purpose of forced labour 2016, para. 61
- Paragraph text
- Final demand from consumers paves the way for complex and globalized supply chains, which are driven by competition for price and lack adequate monitoring and transparency mechanisms to ensure fair working practices at the bottom of the chain. As highlighted by the Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences, "the lower levels have been shown to be at risk of products or raw materials being sourced from home-based or small workshops in the informal economy and made in situations of debt bondage, forced labour or the worst forms of child labour" (A/HRC/30/35). The flexibility of supply chains, which enables major companies to quickly move production from one area to another, may also affect the economic balance in specific areas, creating a shock that families may cope with by resorting to the sale of children for forced labour.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, including child prostitution, child pornography and other child sexual abuse material
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Families
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Tackling the demand for the sexual exploitation of children 2016, para. 27
- Paragraph text
- The notion of paedophilia is complex and there are several varying definitions. The definition used by the World Health Organization is slightly broader than others; it is "a sexual preference for children, boys or girls or both, usually of prepubertal or early pubertal age". The medical condition is often widely used to characterize any adult who has sexual intercourse with a minor, yet the definitions above indicate that the general consensus is that a paedophile has a preference for young children. Furthermore, offenders are considered to be paedophiles if they are at least 16 years old and 5 years older than their victims. Different subgroups have been identified among paedophiles, ranging from fixated to regressed and aggressive. A fixated offender will go to great lengths to reach a child and is often associated with such methods as grooming. Regressed offenders, on the other hand, often require facilitators before acting and will target unknown victims. Aggressive offenders also derive their sexual gratification from the sense of power and control they feel by inflicting pain on the child.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, including child prostitution, child pornography and other child sexual abuse material
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- Boys
- Children
- Girls
- Youth
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Tackling the demand for the sexual exploitation of children 2016, para. 28
- Paragraph text
- As indicated above, certain preferential offenders cannot be described as paedophiles as they are interested solely in pubescent children. The specific sexual interest in teenagers is called hebephilia and derives from a range of factors linked to the underlying level of demand. A strong motivation for committing such sexual exploitation of children is, for instance, linked to the context of sexually transmitted diseases with offenders believing that virgins or young children pose less of a health risk. There are also other practices, such as adults becoming sexually involved with teenagers in exchange for money or goods. This phenomenon is present across the world and those adults are often referred to as "sugar daddies", and the practice is often referred to as "compensated dating". It is also at the heart of the exploitation of children in the context of tourism and travel.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, including child prostitution, child pornography and other child sexual abuse material
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Health
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Adolescents
- Children
- Youth
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Tackling the demand for the sexual exploitation of children 2016, para. 30
- Paragraph text
- In all of the above-mentioned offender categories, the majority of perpetrators are men; there is only anecdotal evidence of female offenders. Law enforcement data has consistently identified female offenders in the developed world, but without clearly classifying their crime. A 2005 study indicated that women accounted for up to five per cent of all sexual offences against children. The exact traits and motivations of female offenders are still the subject of numerous discussions and further research is required. They have generally been identified in cases of child abuse, and in respect to child sexual exploitation have fulfilled the role of accomplices to male offenders. Female offenders are indeed much more likely to act with a male offender. Comprehensive and updated data at the global level is nonetheless lacking. This is partly owing to pre-existing social constructs that have led to underreporting, since in most societies it has often been considered unimaginable for women to be sex offenders.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, including child prostitution, child pornography and other child sexual abuse material
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Men
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Tackling the demand for the sexual exploitation of children 2016, para. 70
- Paragraph text
- There have been several initiatives developed to rehabilitate preferential offenders. The need for such programmes is confirmed by the risk of recidivism. Cognitive behavioural therapy is the most widely used treatment as it aims to change offenders' behaviour and enable them to control their urges. There have also been treatments based on drugs and measures such as surgical castration. It should be emphasized that the latter is non-human rights compliant, as it can amount to inhuman and degrading treatment, particularly when there is no consent from the offender. Studies on the effectiveness of the different rehabilitation treatment programmes in reducing recidivism rates of sex offenders are inconsistent. Therefore, there is a need for further comprehensive and evidence-based research, particularly on the exact profile of child sex offenders.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, including child prostitution, child pornography and other child sexual abuse material
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Tackling the demand for the sexual exploitation of children 2016, para. 71
- Paragraph text
- Complementary solutions, such as community-based support for sexual offenders once they have been released from prison, have also been developed. This is the case of the Circles of Support and Accountability, which are based on a group of four to six volunteers who act as a support network for socially isolated sex offenders in the community. A review of the programme demonstrated that offenders who had attended had a lower reoffending rate. Another treatment that has been developed is the Good Lives Model of Offender Rehabilitation, which focuses on helping sex offenders to attain their life goals in a way that will not harm others.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, including child prostitution, child pornography and other child sexual abuse material
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Violence
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Tackling the demand for the sexual exploitation of children 2016, para. 73
- Paragraph text
- There have been several positive initiatives taken by different branches of the private sector, as has been regularly underlined in previous thematic reports. Of particular relevance are the Code of Conduct for the Protection of Children from Sexual Exploitation in Travel and Tourism, and the Global Code of Ethics for Tourism. The former has focused on training staff in the tourism sector, with 125,890 persons trained worldwide in 2013. The emphasis placed on raising awareness of the criminal nature of the sexual exploitation of children and thus reaching potential offenders is particularly crucial. Furthermore, trained staff get to understand their reporting obligations and the prohibition from facilitating the sexual exploitation of children. The Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights should also be used as a benchmark by the private sector in its entirety as they complement those initiatives.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, including child prostitution, child pornography and other child sexual abuse material
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Tackling the demand for the sexual exploitation of children 2016, para. 50
- Paragraph text
- In the specific case of situational offenders, awareness-raising programmes that aim to reduce the recourse to prostitution can be helpful. Indeed, as underlined above, such offenders do not seek children per se and will end up exploiting them out of disregard or ignorance of their age. There have been several programmes developed in the United States targeting adults who engage in prostitution that aim to sensitize them about the plight of the individual they are exploiting and prevent the renewed solicitation of prostitutes. These programmes have generally been applied in the context of the criminalization of the purchase of sex and participation in them has been imposed or offered as an alternative to prosecution. In the case of the sexual exploitation of children, situational offenders must be prosecuted regardless of the laws on adult prostitution, as is provided by international law. The prevention programmes could nonetheless prove to be useful in order to preclude potential prostitution users from exploiting children in the first place.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, including child prostitution, child pornography and other child sexual abuse material
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Tackling the demand for the sexual exploitation of children 2016, para. 13
- Paragraph text
- Building upon the work of one of her predecessors, the Special Rapporteur aims in the present report to address the demand for the sexual exploitation of children. In her previous thematic study, the Special Rapporteur focused on child victims and their right to care, recovery and reintegration. In the present report, she has chosen to address the opposite end of the issue, namely the perpetrators. The report seeks to recall the obligation of Member States to address effectively the demand factor as well as to share good practices and recommendations that will contribute to the eradication of the sexual exploitation of children through prevention, accountability and rehabilitation measures. Significant progress has been achieved in the research on the underlying causes of sexual exploitation of children, yet there are still significant gaps in understanding offenders and how to reduce the demand for such abhorrent crimes.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, including child prostitution, child pornography and other child sexual abuse material
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Tackling the demand for the sexual exploitation of children 2016, para. 58
- Paragraph text
- The Convention is also important in respect to intermediaries. Indeed, it specifically lists measures such as the seizure and confiscation of proceeds derived from the relevant offences or property equivalent in value. Targeting financial proceeds is a particularly strong deterrent and reparatory measure, since on the one hand intermediaries are motivated by profit and on the other hand the seized resources can be used to fund care, recovery and reintegration programmes.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, including child prostitution, child pornography and other child sexual abuse material
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Tackling the demand for the sexual exploitation of children 2016, para. 19
- Paragraph text
- The International Labour Organization Worst Forms of Child Labour Convention 1999 (No. 182) also calls in article 7 for the provision and application of penal sanctions or, as appropriate, other sanctions in order to prohibit and eliminate the worst forms of child labour.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, including child prostitution, child pornography and other child sexual abuse material
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Tackling the demand for the sexual exploitation of children 2016, para. 48
- Paragraph text
- External factors, such as humanitarian crises or conflicts, can also foster the demand factor. The ensuing chaos and lawlessness empowers offenders to target vulnerable children in order to sell and/or sexually exploit them.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, including child prostitution, child pornography and other child sexual abuse material
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Humanitarian
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Sale of children for the purpose of forced labour 2016, para. 44
- Paragraph text
- The sale of child athletes for competitive training and ultimately profit amounts to a form of sale of children for the purpose of forced labour. It generally features an imbalance of power, in which financial power is used to draw children and their families who are in economic hardship into unfair practices over which they have no control. Recruiters may then treat child athletes as commodities with no rights, whose "value" depends on their capacity to work and from which they expect to make a rapid profit.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, including child prostitution, child pornography and other child sexual abuse material
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Sale of children for the purpose of forced labour 2016, para. 77
- Paragraph text
- Access to an effective remedy is particularly important for preventing the phenomenon. Children who have been sold and are engaged in forced labour are often isolated, with no access to remedy. The vulnerability that is specific to the relationship of dependency with the employer presents specific challenges, in addition to the need for child-sensitive access to justice and redress mechanisms. Such children may distrust the police, fear retaliation and lack the documentation for legally staying in the country concerned.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, including child prostitution, child pornography and other child sexual abuse material
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Movement
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Sale of children for the purpose of forced labour 2016, para. 16
- Paragraph text
- The study concentrates solely on the sale of children for the purpose of forced labour. However, all situations in which children are engaged in harmful work call for responses and accountability measures based on criminal law and policy interventions. Although it can involve situations of forced labour, the sale of children for the purpose of sexual exploitation is beyond the scope of the present study and has therefore been excluded.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, including child prostitution, child pornography and other child sexual abuse material
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Sale of children for the purpose of forced labour 2016, para. 22
- Paragraph text
- Similar yet different notions addressed in international instruments are "forced labour", "worst forms of child labour", "slavery" and "slavery-like practices" and "trafficking in children". According to article 3 of ILO Convention No. 182 on the Worst Forms of Child Labour, the sale of children and forced labour both constitute the worst forms of child labour and forms of slavery or practices similar to slavery.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, including child prostitution, child pornography and other child sexual abuse material
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Sale of children for the purpose of forced labour 2016, para. 57
- Paragraph text
- Demand is an important factor behind the sale of children for the purpose of forced labour. It encompasses the individual offenders who offer and receive the child, expecting some benefit through his or her exploitation; intermediaries who service the demand; and the constructs that create an environment in which the sale of children for the purpose of forced labour is either ignored, tolerated or accepted (see A/HRC/31/58).
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, including child prostitution, child pornography and other child sexual abuse material
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Tackling the demand for the sexual exploitation of children 2016, para. 29
- Paragraph text
- The majority of offenders do not automatically have a sexual preference for children and have been classified as situational offenders. Individual offenders often resort to prostitution involving children simply because it is available; they do not take the child's age into account. Since those offenders are not considered to be driven by a sexual attraction to children, their motives can be attributed to several cultural, social and economic factors linked to the other two levels of demand.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, including child prostitution, child pornography and other child sexual abuse material
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Health
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Sale of children for the purpose of forced labour 2016, para. 64
- Paragraph text
- Weak governance systems create a rule of law vacuum in which the sale of children and forced labour can prosper. However, even in countries with solid governance structures, hidden forms of exploitation may be difficult to detect. Corruption has been identified as a major factor facilitating trafficking in persons. Limited effective labour inspection has also been identified as a factor easing the use of forced labour.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, including child prostitution, child pornography and other child sexual abuse material
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Sale of children for the purpose of forced labour 2016, para. 82
- Paragraph text
- All stakeholders must take into account the informal nature of most intermediaries and the wide range of services they perform, in order to adopt adequate policies to promote and monitor fair recruitment processes for decent work conditions and deter intermediaries from delivering and/or selling children for exploitation.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, including child prostitution, child pornography and other child sexual abuse material
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Sale of children for the purpose of forced labour 2016, para. 99n
- Paragraph text
- [The Special Rapporteur invites all States to:] Ensure that children who have been sold for the purpose of forced labour have the ability to be heard and contribute to developing strategies to address the phenomenon in a way that ensures that their rights and needs are taken into account.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, including child prostitution, child pornography and other child sexual abuse material
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Sale of children for the purpose of forced labour 2016, para. 100d
- Paragraph text
- [The Special Rapporteur invites the international community to:] Actively participate in and support Alliance 8.7 and the Global Partnership to End Violence against Children, both of which aim to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals to ensure that children grow up free from violence and exploitation.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, including child prostitution, child pornography and other child sexual abuse material
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Sale of children for the purpose of forced labour 2016, para. 86
- Paragraph text
- There have been initiatives aimed at filling the inspection gap by offering a social label on the production of goods. For instance, the GoodWeave certification ensures that rugs are made without child labour, forced labour or bonded labour. By joining the programme, rug exporters and importers issue an assurance that no child labour was used in the making of a rug and accept unannounced visits by GoodWeave inspectors.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, including child prostitution, child pornography and other child sexual abuse material
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Sale of children for the purpose of forced labour 2016, para. 87
- Paragraph text
- International standards emphasize the importance of cooperation between the public sector and the business sector in addressing the exploitation of children. The United Nations Global Compact and the Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (A/HRC/17/31, annex) provide guidance on the obligations of States to promote and support businesses and the corresponding corporate responsibility to respect human rights.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, including child prostitution, child pornography and other child sexual abuse material
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Tackling the demand for the sexual exploitation of children 2016, para. 52
- Paragraph text
- An essential part of any prevention strategy is to fight against corruption in law enforcement and judicial bodies. On the one hand it ensures the prosecution and conviction of offenders and on the other hand it ends a climate of impunity, which fosters the demand for the sexual exploitation of children.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, including child prostitution, child pornography and other child sexual abuse material
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Tackling the demand for the sexual exploitation of children 2016, para. 53
- Paragraph text
- In respect to gender-based discrimination and entrenched gender stereotypes, there have been positive initiatives such as the Empowering Young Men to End Sexual Exploitation module created by the Chicago Alliance Against Sexual Exploitation. It has focused on educating children, particularly boys, about masculinity and the realities of the commercial sex trade, as well as human trafficking.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, including child prostitution, child pornography and other child sexual abuse material
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Gender
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Boys
- Children
- Youth
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Sale of children for the purpose of forced labour 2016, para. 45
- Paragraph text
- Children are often transferred from one country to another and find themselves in an unknown setting, with an uncertain legal status, which binds them to their employer. They may be traded from club to club and forced to train intensively, under the threat of finding themselves undocumented, having their dreams crushed and with no resources.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, including child prostitution, child pornography and other child sexual abuse material
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Tackling the demand for the sexual exploitation of children 2016, para. 82g
- Paragraph text
- [The Special Rapporteur invites all States to:] Ensure easy access to child-sensitive complaint and reporting mechanisms through comprehensive and adequately resourced child protection systems in order to facilitate the detection, investigation and prosecution of offenders;
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, including child prostitution, child pornography and other child sexual abuse material
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Tackling the demand for the sexual exploitation of children 2016, para. 82h
- Paragraph text
- [The Special Rapporteur invites all States to:] Ensure and strengthen capacity-building and specialist training of relevant professionals, ranging from social services and education professionals to law enforcement personnel and magistrates, to effectively detect, investigate, prosecute and sanction offenders;
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, including child prostitution, child pornography and other child sexual abuse material
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Sale of children for the purpose of forced labour 2016, para. 71
- Paragraph text
- In situations of the sale of children for the purpose of forced labour, children's right to be heard is seriously undermined, since they are treated as commodities and left with no possibility to choose or influence their lives. Younger children are particularly vulnerable and making them unable to express their concerns is often a strategy used by traffickers to keep control over them.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, including child prostitution, child pornography and other child sexual abuse material
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Youth
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Tackling the demand for the sexual exploitation of children 2016, para. 83a
- Paragraph text
- [The Special Rapporteur invites the international community to reinforce the coordinated global response by:] Reinforcing the comprehensive and global legal framework preventing and criminalizing the sexual exploitation of children with explicit guidance on penalties;
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, including child prostitution, child pornography and other child sexual abuse material
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Tackling the demand for the sexual exploitation of children 2016, para. 85
- Paragraph text
- There is a need for State intervention when the private sector does not take sufficient measures to ensure that it does not become or remain a facilitator in the demand for the sexual exploitation of children. Measures such as conducting background checks, particularly for employment that involves coming into contact with children, such as childcare workers, should become a mandatory practice.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, including child prostitution, child pornography and other child sexual abuse material
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Tackling the demand for the sexual exploitation of children 2016, para. 77
- Paragraph text
- Unfortunately, the above-mentioned private sector initiatives are all voluntary and are not binding. An added challenge is the multiplication of suppliers, which renders the recognition and acceptance of the standards by all the entities concerned difficult. Moreover, most of the initiatives do not come with a monitoring mechanism; when they do, it is weak and lacks external oversight.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, including child prostitution, child pornography and other child sexual abuse material
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Tackling the demand for the sexual exploitation of children 2016, para. 81
- Paragraph text
- In order to eradicate the sexual exploitation of children, it is critical for States and all stakeholders to focus on the demand factor and establish comprehensive strategies to reduce it effectively. The Special Rapporteur recommends the adoption of the following measures.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, including child prostitution, child pornography and other child sexual abuse material
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Tackling the demand for the sexual exploitation of children 2016, para. 32
- Paragraph text
- Child sexual exploiters, both preferential and situational, have been regularly identified in certain contexts regardless of their specific profile. This is, for example, the case in travel and tourism where the defining characteristic of their act is the targeting of child victims in a different geographical setting to theirs. An essential feature of those offenders is their knowledge or belief that their actions will go unpunished. Moreover, the economic and cultural differences at the heart of the exploitation define the actions of the offender. It is important to note that the expression "child sex tourism" to describe this type of demand is outdated and leaves out other categories of offenders who are travelling, such as business travellers, foreign workers, supporters travelling in the context of major sporting events, volunteers, government employees deployed overseas and expatriates on extended travel or residing abroad. In addition, military servicemen stationed abroad have fuelled demand for prostitution, with several children being sexually exploited in the process. Military personnel who are preferential offenders have also taken advantage of their position to sexually exploit children.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, including child prostitution, child pornography and other child sexual abuse material
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Tackling the demand for the sexual exploitation of children 2016, para. 63
- Paragraph text
- International cooperation between law enforcement agencies and initiatives led by the International Criminal Police Organization (INTERPOL) and the European Police Office (Europol) have facilitated the pursuit of accountability in the context of transnational child sexual exploitation. With the help of the International Child Sexual Exploitation image database, around 3,800 offenders have been identified. The Virtual Global Taskforce, which consists of law enforcement partners including INTERPOL and Europol and a number of private sector partners, is also of particular interest. It focuses on online child sexual abuse and child sexual exploitation and has led to successful operations such as Operation Atlas, Operation Endeavour and Operation Rescue. The first led to the arrest across the globe of 303 individuals involved in the sharing and distribution of child sexual abuse material. The second concerned the live streaming of child sexual abuse on demand in the Philippines and led to 29 international arrests. The third led to the dismantling of a global paedophile ring and 184 arrests across the world. Regrettably, it is unclear how many of those arrests led to convictions.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, including child prostitution, child pornography and other child sexual abuse material
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Sale of children for the purpose of forced labour 2016, para. 51
- Paragraph text
- Socioeconomic factors are prominent determinants of the sale of children for the purpose of forced labour. Studies on child labour in domestic work have highlighted how poverty is a constant variable underlying the practice, sometimes to repay family debts. Targeting poor families has been found to be part of a deliberate strategy by recruiters, especially in cases where the sale of children for the purpose of forced labour involves organized criminal groups or intermediaries.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, including child prostitution, child pornography and other child sexual abuse material
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Poverty
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Families
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Sale of children for the purpose of forced labour 2016, para. 53
- Paragraph text
- There is evidence from research that the literacy level of a child's parents or caregivers, and in particular that of the head of the household, is a determinant of vulnerability to child labour. The literacy level has been found to be lower for children in forced labour than for those not in forced labour.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, including child prostitution, child pornography and other child sexual abuse material
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Families
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Sale of children for the purpose of forced labour 2016, para. 55
- Paragraph text
- Children are more vulnerable to exploitation through begging when they come from poor families and belong to groups particularly affected by social exclusion and discrimination, such as the Roma. Ethnicity has also been found to be a factor in the vulnerability of children to being engaged in exploitative forms of domestic work. The Special Rapporteur on minority issues has stressed how caste systems perpetuate discrimination and forced labour and slavery-like practices (A/HRC/31/56).
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, including child prostitution, child pornography and other child sexual abuse material
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Sale of children for the purpose of forced labour 2016, para. 33
- Paragraph text
- Child marriage may amount to the sale of children for the purpose of forced labour when the marriage agreement includes a transaction in the form of financial payment or in-kind benefits. In such transactions, children are treated as commodities and exchanged for goods or money, or to settle debts or disputes. A study has highlighted the dynamics that lead children to be sold for the purpose of forced labour under the cover of marriage.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, including child prostitution, child pornography and other child sexual abuse material
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Sale of children for the purpose of forced labour 2016, para. 99d
- Paragraph text
- [The Special Rapporteur invites all States to:] Ensure that the rights of child victims are fully respected, including when they are forced to engage in illegal activities. They should not be criminalized and have the right to receive comprehensive care, recovery and reintegration services;
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, including child prostitution, child pornography and other child sexual abuse material
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Movement
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Sale of children for the purpose of forced labour 2016, para. 99e
- Paragraph text
- [The Special Rapporteur invites all States to:] Carry out primary research and collect qualitative and quantitative data to better understand the situation of children sold for the purpose of forced labour and the factors of vulnerability, in order to develop adequate interventions;
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, including child prostitution, child pornography and other child sexual abuse material
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Movement
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Sale of children for the purpose of forced labour 2016, para. 99g
- Paragraph text
- [The Special Rapporteur invites all States to:] Regulate the role of intermediaries, ensuring that they do not charge fees for job placements and hold them accountable for situations leading to the forced labour of children. Regulation and monitoring mechanisms should also take into account the often informal nature of intermediaries;
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, including child prostitution, child pornography and other child sexual abuse material
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Movement
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Sale of children for the purpose of forced labour 2016, para. 38
- Paragraph text
- The carpet-weaving industry is a case in point, which has been extensively documented in South Asia. As employers pay very low or no wages, workers, including children, are compelled to contract debts to survive, which in turn forces them to remain in forced labour/debt bondage. Strategies have also been identified in which the head of the household is offered a loan and the conditions for repayment imply putting the entire family to work in debt bondage for years.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, including child prostitution, child pornography and other child sexual abuse material
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Families
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Sale of children for the purpose of forced labour 2016, para. 43
- Paragraph text
- Criminal activities may be associated with forced begging when the same organized criminal group exploits children for both activities. Europol has found that children are often forced to commit various types of robbery and theft. Criminal groups ensure obedience through threats, use of force, deprivation and psychological manipulation and may take away their documents.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, including child prostitution, child pornography and other child sexual abuse material
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Tackling the demand for the sexual exploitation of children 2016, para. 56
- Paragraph text
- The cornerstone of any effective policy to reduce the demand factor is accountability, which gives the assurance that the crimes will be fully investigated, prosecuted and sanctioned. Accountability, in particular with a comprehensive and commensurate set of criminal penalties, is also a fundamental deterrent. As outlined above in the section on the legal framework, international and regional instruments set clear standards for the criminalization of the sexual exploitation of children. The Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography states in article 3 (3) that the offences in question must be punishable by appropriate penalties that take into account their grave nature. The United Nations Model Strategies and Practical Measures on the Elimination of Violence against Children in the Field of Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice confirm the same notion of appropriate penalties taking into account the grave nature of the offences. They add the notion of aggravating circumstances as well as criminal responsibility even when under the influence of substances. The Model Strategies also urge Member States to ensure that safety risks, including the vulnerability of victims, are taken into account in decisions concerning non-custodial sentences, bail, conditional release, parole or probation, especially when dealing with repeat and dangerous offenders.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, including child prostitution, child pornography and other child sexual abuse material
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Tackling the demand for the sexual exploitation of children 2016, para. 14
- Paragraph text
- During a working visit to Geneva on 1 and 2 October 2015, the Special Rapporteur held an expert consultation with ECPAT International on understanding the demand for the sexual exploitation of children, in preparation for her report. The Special Rapporteur wishes to thank ECPAT International for organizing the consultation and for providing research materials based on a comprehensive literature review on the demand factor.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, including child prostitution, child pornography and other child sexual abuse material
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Tackling the demand for the sexual exploitation of children 2016, para. 20
- Paragraph text
- The basic principles on the right to an effective remedy for victims of trafficking in persons add the supplementary angle of guarantees of non-repetition, which require that perpetrators be effectively sanctioned and that the root causes of trafficking, such as poverty, gender inequality and discrimination, be addressed effectively.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, including child prostitution, child pornography and other child sexual abuse material
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Gender
- Poverty
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Tackling the demand for the sexual exploitation of children 2016, para. 22
- Paragraph text
- In the present report, demand encompasses both the individual offenders who pay, financially or in kind, for sexual services involving children, sexually abusing them in the process, and the social, cultural, gender and institutional constructs that create an environment in which the sexual exploitation of children is either ignored, tolerated or even accepted. Those who service the demand are intrinsically linked to the sexual exploitation of children and are thus included in the definition.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, including child prostitution, child pornography and other child sexual abuse material
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Tackling the demand for the sexual exploitation of children 2016, para. 25
- Paragraph text
- The immediate level of demand for the sexual exploitation of children covers those who directly exploit children, such as purchasers of commercial sexual acts with children or of child sexual abuse material. They are normally individual offenders whose objective is to satisfy personal sexually abusive drives, desires and fantasies. Their reward is direct sexual gratification with the child and the sexual services of various types that they seek to obtain from their victim. They generate demand.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, including child prostitution, child pornography and other child sexual abuse material
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Health
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Tackling the demand for the sexual exploitation of children 2016, para. 69
- Paragraph text
- The growing use of sex offender registers has nonetheless been criticized in some cases. Provisions such as residency restrictions are particular controversial and have not proved to prevent offending. Moreover, there is a particular danger when the registry is made publicly accessible as it can encourage vigilantism. When offenders are minors, there is the risk that they will be placed on a sex offender register, which can last for life, thus hampering any rehabilitation and reintegration.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, including child prostitution, child pornography and other child sexual abuse material
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Adolescents
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Tackling the demand for the sexual exploitation of children 2016, para. 76
- Paragraph text
- The media and the advertising world should also be actively involved in prevention efforts by refraining from promoting sexualized images of children. They lead not only to children believing that certain behaviour is acceptable at a young age, but also to potential offenders purporting that children are legitimate objects of sexual desires.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, including child prostitution, child pornography and other child sexual abuse material
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Sale of children for the purpose of forced labour 2016, para. (d)
- Paragraph text
- The intent of engaging the child in forced labour is sufficient for the offence to be identified as such, even if the exploitation has not actually occurred.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, including child prostitution, child pornography and other child sexual abuse material
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Sale of children for the purpose of forced labour 2016, para. 26
- Paragraph text
- The sale of children for the purpose of forced labour does not constitute a specific category for which data is collected at the global level. However, an examination of the data available for similar situations makes it possible to draw a picture of the extent of the phenomenon and major trends.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, including child prostitution, child pornography and other child sexual abuse material
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Movement
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Tackling the demand for the sexual exploitation of children 2016, para. 44
- Paragraph text
- Gender discrimination is further compounded by the inherent power imbalance between children and adults. Children are often not considered as rights holders and can even be viewed as property. In addition, their right to be heard is generally flaunted, which prevents them from voicing their concerns or experiences. This objectification of the child helps to comfort offenders in their actions.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, including child prostitution, child pornography and other child sexual abuse material
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Gender
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Tackling the demand for the sexual exploitation of children 2016, para. 47
- Paragraph text
- Intrinsically related to the impunity of offenders is the inappropriate care given to child victims of sexual abuse or exploitation. Research on preferential offenders has demonstrated that a significant percentage of them were themselves victims of abuse and exploitation during their childhood. A lack of care, recovery and reintegration of child victims can thus indirectly fuel the demand.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, including child prostitution, child pornography and other child sexual abuse material
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Tackling the demand for the sexual exploitation of children 2016, para. 72
- Paragraph text
- Of interest are the Standards of Care for the Treatment of Adult Sex Offenders, which were adopted by the International Association for the Treatment of Sexual Offenders. They underline, inter alia, the importance of appropriately trained and competent professionals for the care of sex offenders and recall that it is fundamental to ensure that any rehabilitation of offenders is undertaken in accordance with human rights principles.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, including child prostitution, child pornography and other child sexual abuse material
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Sale of children for the purpose of forced labour 2016, para. 48
- Paragraph text
- Various recent and ongoing events have shed light on the relevance of the issue in current conflicts. After the kidnapping of over 200 schoolgirls in Chibok, Nigeria, in 2014 by Boko Haram, the armed group announced it would "sell" them.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, including child prostitution, child pornography and other child sexual abuse material
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Humanitarian
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Sale of children for the purpose of forced labour 2016, para. 58
- Paragraph text
- The immediate level of demand covers those who directly exploit children through transactions for the purpose of forced labour. They turn to intermediaries or traffickers to find and recruit victims.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, including child prostitution, child pornography and other child sexual abuse material
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Movement
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Sale of children for the purpose of forced labour 2016, para. 66
- Paragraph text
- The sale of children for the purpose of forced labour violates multiple rights of the child, increasing children's vulnerabilities and impairing their development to the fullest potential.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, including child prostitution, child pornography and other child sexual abuse material
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Tackling the demand for the sexual exploitation of children 2016, para. 78
- Paragraph text
- There have been several initiatives to stem the demand for the sexual exploitation of children at both the national and international levels. Existing measures to investigate and prosecute online and offline offenders are gaining pace. The private sector has also gradually understood its potential role as a facilitator and has taken several countermeasures in response. Yet the scourge of child sexual exploitation has not disappeared. This is due to the absence of comprehensive strategies to face the three levels of demand. Firstly, the continuing absence of data prevents the comprehensive mapping of the demand. Secondly, there are still too many individuals and groups at the intermediary level who see child sexual exploitation as a profitable business, despite its illegal nature. Thirdly, the underpinning causes of the demand factor are not systematically addressed and thus foster the perpetuation of child sexual exploitation. Lastly, there is still room to harmonize criminal provisions and penalties to ensure that no offender enjoys impunity. Concurrently, significant gaps remain in the implementation of the legal standards and the sharing of information leading to an inadequate law enforcement response.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, including child prostitution, child pornography and other child sexual abuse material
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Sale of children for the purpose of forced labour 2016, para. 24
- Paragraph text
- Following an analysis of relevant concepts, it can be inferred that the crime of the sale of children for the purpose of forced labour includes the following elements:
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, including child prostitution, child pornography and other child sexual abuse material
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Sale of children for the purpose of forced labour 2016, para. 29
- Paragraph text
- Children are sold and compelled to engage in forced labour in a wide variety of sectors and occupations. While some situations can immediately be identified as falling under the category of the sale of children for the purpose of forced labour, other situations amount to the same crime but may not readily be identified as such.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, including child prostitution, child pornography and other child sexual abuse material
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Sale of children for the purpose of forced labour 2016, para. 63
- Paragraph text
- The underlying level of demand is related to the social, cultural, gender and institutional constructs that foster the conditions in which the sale of children for the purpose of forced labour is socially accepted, thus facilitating the crime. Social acceptability of domestic work has been found to determine not only the extent of the use of children in such activities, but also the way the children are treated.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, including child prostitution, child pornography and other child sexual abuse material
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Tackling the demand for the sexual exploitation of children 2016, para. 38
- Paragraph text
- The private sector in the domain of information and communications technologies is also a significant intermediary in the demand for the sexual exploitation of children. Indeed, the technology in itself has created a means for offenders to contact children directly and initiate the process of grooming victims. Furthermore, it makes it easy to access child sexual abuse material, is affordable and can provide anonymity. For example, live streaming of child sexual abuse is only feasible with the spreading of video streaming technologies. In addition, developers of the "dark web" and peer-to-peer networks are increasingly facilitating the sexual exploitation of children online, with the majority of child sexual abuse material estimated to be exchanged on such platforms. Content providers have also become intermediaries by hosting child abuse material. Besides, certain content providers promote and profit from certain genres of pornography that can amount to child sexual abuse material or at the very least, foster tolerance for such themes. This is confirmed by the search results from the biggest pornography platform, Pornhub, which listed "teen" as the most sought-after genre in 2013 and 2014. Lastly, the financial sector is widely used to process monetary transactions for purchasing child abuse material and paying for the sexual exploitation of children without leaving traces, thus facilitating impunity.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, including child prostitution, child pornography and other child sexual abuse material
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Tackling the demand for the sexual exploitation of children 2016, para. 82b
- Paragraph text
- [The Special Rapporteur invites all States to:] Ensure that legal frameworks specifically address the demand for child sexual exploitation by providing clear guidance on penalties that are commensurate with the gravity of the offence;
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, including child prostitution, child pornography and other child sexual abuse material
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Tackling the demand for the sexual exploitation of children 2016, para. 82d
- Paragraph text
- [The Special Rapporteur invites all States to:] Pay particular attention to the prosecution and conviction of all intermediaries, such as procurers, traffickers and facilitators in the tourism and entertainment industries, as well as financial and technology sector staff, at every level of the supply chain in order to effectively stem the sexual exploitation of children;
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, including child prostitution, child pornography and other child sexual abuse material
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Tackling the demand for the sexual exploitation of children 2016, para. 82e
- Paragraph text
- [The Special Rapporteur invites all States to:] Ensure that all the proceeds and assets derived from the sexual exploitation of children are effectively seized and confiscated in order to fund care, recovery and reintegration programmes, which should include compensatory measures for the victims;
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, including child prostitution, child pornography and other child sexual abuse material
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Tackling the demand for the sexual exploitation of children 2016, para. 82k
- Paragraph text
- [The Special Rapporteur invites all States to:] Conduct research to map all the levels of the demand factor, namely the immediate, intermediary and underlying levels, in order to provide comprehensive and evidence-based data that will feed into comprehensive strategies to eradicate the sexual exploitation of children;
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, including child prostitution, child pornography and other child sexual abuse material
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Tackling the demand for the sexual exploitation of children 2016, para. 82l
- Paragraph text
- [The Special Rapporteur invites all States to:] Conduct research on offenders, with a particular focus on online offenders and female offenders, and on the effectiveness and success of prevention and rehabilitation programmes;
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, including child prostitution, child pornography and other child sexual abuse material
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Tackling the demand for the sexual exploitation of children 2016, para. 82m
- Paragraph text
- [The Special Rapporteur invites all States to:] Involve and empower child victims throughout legal proceedings and in the development of compensation measures as part of comprehensive care, recovery and reintegration programmes;
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, including child prostitution, child pornography and other child sexual abuse material
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Tackling the demand for the sexual exploitation of children 2016, para. 82n
- Paragraph text
- [The Special Rapporteur invites all States to:] Address the underlying causes of the demand factor through comprehensive awareness-raising and education of children, society at large and professionals working with children on gender equality, non-discrimination and the rights of the child.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, including child prostitution, child pornography and other child sexual abuse material
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Education
- Equality & Inclusion
- Gender
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Sale of children for the purpose of forced labour 2016, para. (a)
- Paragraph text
- The act of selling the child that materializes with a form of transaction in which the person(s) offering the child obtain(s) a gain (remuneration or any other consideration) and the person(s) receiving the child expect(s) some benefit through exploitation of the child;
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, including child prostitution, child pornography and other child sexual abuse material
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Sale of children for the purpose of forced labour 2016, para. (c)
- Paragraph text
- A definition of forced labour from a child rights perspective takes into consideration children's specific vulnerability. Working and living conditions may be particularly harmful to children's development, especially when separated from their family environment;
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, including child prostitution, child pornography and other child sexual abuse material
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Families
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Sale of children for the purpose of forced labour 2016, para. 99a
- Paragraph text
- [The Special Rapporteur invites all States to:] Adopt and implement clear and comprehensive legislation which criminalizes the sale of children for the purpose of forced labour and the conditions leading to it, such as debt bondage;
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, including child prostitution, child pornography and other child sexual abuse material
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Sale of children for the purpose of forced labour 2016, para. 99f
- Paragraph text
- [The Special Rapporteur invites all States to:] To ensure the full liability of companies and their supply chains, including legal persons, whose activities contribute to the sale of children for the purpose of forced labour;
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, including child prostitution, child pornography and other child sexual abuse material
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Sale of children for the purpose of forced labour 2016, para. 99i
- Paragraph text
- [The Special Rapporteur invites all States to:] Support the private sector in establishing mechanisms for monitoring and ensuring the accountability of subcontractors at all levels of the supply chain;
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, including child prostitution, child pornography and other child sexual abuse material
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Sale of children for the purpose of forced labour 2016, para. 99m
- Paragraph text
- [The Special Rapporteur invites all States to:] Ensure that policies aimed at protecting children and reducing their vulnerability also respect their right to make decisions about their own lives, in accordance with their evolving capacities;
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, including child prostitution, child pornography and other child sexual abuse material
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Sale of children for the purpose of forced labour 2016, para. 100a
- Paragraph text
- [The Special Rapporteur invites the international community to:] Develop and further transnational cooperation between law enforcement services to ensure the tracking of child victims of sale and trafficking for forced labour;
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, including child prostitution, child pornography and other child sexual abuse material
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Movement
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Sale of children for the purpose of forced labour 2016, para. 72
- Paragraph text
- Children's civil and political rights, including the right to information, freedom of expression and freedom of association, are also breached when a child is sold for the purpose of forced labour. The inability to form an association with other children in similar conditions to claim their rights makes children even more vulnerable. Lack of information on existing laws and possible remedies is another factor of vulnerability which impedes redress for child victims.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, including child prostitution, child pornography and other child sexual abuse material
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Civil & Political Rights
- Economic Rights
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Sale of children for the purpose of forced labour 2016, para. 99c
- Paragraph text
- [The Special Rapporteur invites all States to:] Guarantee that effective remedies are available and accessible for children, through child-sensitive complaint and reporting mechanisms and child-sensitive justice proceedings, and by ensuring the reduction of barriers that could deny access to remedies. Commensurate compensation should also be part of the remedies;
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, including child prostitution, child pornography and other child sexual abuse material
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Civil & Political Rights
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Sale of children for the purpose of forced labour 2016, para. 34
- Paragraph text
- ILO estimates that agriculture is the sector employing the largest share of working children, nearly 60 per cent or 98 million children. Children may end up in forced labour in agriculture as a result of debt bondage, or because an intermediary has lured them or their parents into farm work by promising good working conditions and then selling the children to farmers. The phenomenon is present across the regions, in different forms depending on the country.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, including child prostitution, child pornography and other child sexual abuse material
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Families
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Sale of children for the purpose of forced labour 2016, para. 36
- Paragraph text
- An ILO study on forced labour in agriculture found that a high proportion of children involved in forced labour had to work to repay debts taken on by their families in lieu of child work, had to work until a family debt was paid off or were born into bondage. Children were recruited by their parents, relatives or recruiting agents, implying that in many instances a transaction had taken place.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, including child prostitution, child pornography and other child sexual abuse material
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Families
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Sale of children for the purpose of forced labour 2016, para. 99h
- Paragraph text
- [The Special Rapporteur invites all States to:] Strengthen governance structures which ensure an adequate labour inspection system and limit corruption, implement adequate sanctions for non compliance and strengthen the role of independent human rights institutions in monitoring labour conditions;
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, including child prostitution, child pornography and other child sexual abuse material
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- All
- N.A.
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Sale of children for the purpose of forced labour 2016, para. 99j
- Paragraph text
- [The Special Rapporteur invites all States to:] Establish and open more regular migration channels and ensure the protection of all human rights in employment. Residence permits should not be linked to an employer, thus enabling migrant workers to change employment in case of abuse;
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, including child prostitution, child pornography and other child sexual abuse material
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Movement
- Person(s) affected
- Persons on the move
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Sale of children for the purpose of forced labour 2016, para. 99k
- Paragraph text
- [The Special Rapporteur invites all States to:] Adopt measures which prevent the phenomenon, in particular by strengthening the resilience of families when faced with shocks, through social protection and health coverage, the promotion of literacy and access to education, and by raising awareness of and facilitating non-exploitative income-generating opportunities;
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, including child prostitution, child pornography and other child sexual abuse material
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Education
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- Families
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Sale of children for the purpose of forced labour 2016, para. 65
- Paragraph text
- During conflict, armed groups destroy the social and economic environment and interrupt the delivery of social services, dismantling a protective environment for children and driving the population into dire poverty. Families may entrust their children to intermediaries who then exploit them for various purposes. The long-lasting effects of institutional breakdown enable trafficking to flourish and lead to its persistence after a conflict has ended (see A/HRC/32/41).
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, including child prostitution, child pornography and other child sexual abuse material
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Humanitarian
- Poverty
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Families
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Sale of children for the purpose of forced labour 2016, para. 69
- Paragraph text
- Children's right to health is also often breached. Forced labour activities are often harmful to the child's physical health, as they involve physical activities or positions that negatively affect their physical development. In some instances, children may be drugged for forced begging. Mental health and self-confidence can also be affected, in light of the numerous vexations and degrading treatments to which children are subjected. Employers may also seriously limit access to health services.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, including child prostitution, child pornography and other child sexual abuse material
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Sale of children for the purpose of forced labour 2016, para. 70
- Paragraph text
- Children sold for the purpose of forced labour are routinely separated from their parents and families and have little or no opportunity to interact with them. Isolation from the family environment affects children's emotional and intellectual development and well-being. It also undermines children's protective environment and makes them more vulnerable to other violations. However, in many cases parents are engaged in the transaction in which the child is sold for the purpose of forced labour.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, including child prostitution, child pornography and other child sexual abuse material
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Families
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Tackling the demand for the sexual exploitation of children 2016, para. 82i
- Paragraph text
- [The Special Rapporteur invites all States to:] Ensure that children who are required to participate in criminal justice proceedings are given appropriate support and counselling to assist them at all stages of proceedings and that they have access to a child-sensitive legal system to facilitate the prosecution and conviction of offenders and avoid their revictimization;
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, including child prostitution, child pornography and other child sexual abuse material
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Civil & Political Rights
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Sale of children for the purpose of forced labour 2016, para. 91
- Paragraph text
- Similarly, the Global Partnership to End Violence against Children gathers actors around the Goals related to the issue, in particular Goal 16.2 for the elimination of all forms of abuse, trafficking and exploitation of, and violence against, children.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, including child prostitution, child pornography and other child sexual abuse material
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Tackling the demand for the sexual exploitation of children 2016, para. 82j
- Paragraph text
- [The Special Rapporteur invites all States to:] Establish and extend prevention programmes, both offline and online, targeting potential offenders and providing them with support and follow-up;
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, including child prostitution, child pornography and other child sexual abuse material
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Tackling the demand for the sexual exploitation of children 2016, para. 49
- Paragraph text
- The Convention on the Rights of the Child and the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography explicitly call for the prevention of the sexual exploitation of children. It is thus the duty of States parties to those instruments to take all appropriate measures to fulfil that obligation. Proactive measures to address the demand factor should be an upmost priority. A prerequisite is to study and map the demand for the sexual exploitation of children in order to develop fitting and coherent policies. A broad strategy is then necessary to deal with all the levels of the demand and can be based on a three-pronged approach. Firstly, prevention is necessary to address the majority of underlying factors of the demand as well as to dissuade individuals from committing such heinous crimes. Secondly, it is essential to deal with existing offenders by ensuring accountability, which also addresses the underlying factor of impunity. Lastly, to be able to prevent reoffending, there should be evidence and results-based rehabilitation programmes. The involvement of the private sector is crucial in this broad strategy.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, including child prostitution, child pornography and other child sexual abuse material
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Tackling the demand for the sexual exploitation of children 2016, para. 39
- Paragraph text
- At this intermediate level of the demand, there is a much more significant presence of women. Indeed, according to recent figures on trafficking from the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), 28 per cent of persons convicted for trafficking in persons were women and that proportion rose to 38 per cent for those having entered into contact with the criminal justice system. Female traffickers were more frequently involved in the trafficking of girls and in particular in recruitment for sexual exploitation. Women are strongly represented among facilitators, since a key element of that role in the demand process is to build a relationship of trust and lure children into sexual exploitation.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, including child prostitution, child pornography and other child sexual abuse material
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Tackling the demand for the sexual exploitation of children 2016, para. 83b (ii)
- Paragraph text
- [The Special Rapporteur invites the international community to reinforce the coordinated global response by:] Strengthening international cooperation as is required by the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography in key areas, by: Supporting alliances such as the Virtual Global Taskforce and encouraging increased membership or the development of similar collaborations for the effective cooperation in the investigation and prosecution by law enforcement forces of criminal networks and offenders;
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, including child prostitution, child pornography and other child sexual abuse material
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Tackling the demand for the sexual exploitation of children 2016, para. 59
- Paragraph text
- An essential aspect of accountability and thus of the proportionality of penalties is to ensure the safety of victims. The United Nations Model Strategies and Practical Measures on the Elimination of Violence against Children in the Field of Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice underline that protection and assistance measures for child victims of violence must continue after the person accused of that violence has been convicted and sentenced. Member States should particularly ensure the right of a child victim of violence, or his or her parents or legal guardian, to be notified of the offender's release from detention or imprisonment if they so wish. They should also ensure that the risk to a child victim of violence and the best interests of that child are considered at the time of making decisions concerning the release of the offender from detention or imprisonment or the re-entry of the offender into society.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, including child prostitution, child pornography and other child sexual abuse material
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Families
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Sale of children for the purpose of forced labour 2016, para. 52
- Paragraph text
- Families living in poverty may be confronted by events affecting the family's income, such as the loss of a job, an economic crisis or a natural disaster affecting production, or the illness or death of the family's breadwinner. The impact of such shocks may drive families into survival strategies, resorting to debt or delivering children for the purpose of labour or other forms of exploitation. Children from families with only one or no living parent have been found to be particularly vulnerable to being exploited for domestic work or fishing.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, including child prostitution, child pornography and other child sexual abuse material
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Environment
- Poverty
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Families
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Sale of children for the purpose of forced labour 2016, para. 56
- Paragraph text
- Various studies have highlighted the impact of migration on children's vulnerability to being sold and trafficked. A UNICEF publication refers to unaccompanied children having to pay smugglers to be able to continue their journey, a situation that makes them particularly vulnerable to being indebted to smugglers and sold for various forms of exploitation. Migration by carers may also make children vulnerable to being sold for the purpose of forced labour. The large number of children left behind by parents migrating to sustain the family may also constitute a factor of vulnerability.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, including child prostitution, child pornography and other child sexual abuse material
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Movement
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Families
- Persons on the move
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Sale of children for the purpose of forced labour 2016, para. 25
- Paragraph text
- The sale of children for the purpose of forced labour gives rise to a diverse set of realities for child victims. The hidden nature of the phenomenon, the fact that many concepts overlap with its definition and that it is not clearly defined in national legislation, and the lack of a specific focus on the crime by law enforcement means that there are no reliable estimates of the number of child victims of sale for the purpose of forced labour. However, proxy indicators suggest that the phenomenon is widespread and no country is immune.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, including child prostitution, child pornography and other child sexual abuse material
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Tackling the demand for the sexual exploitation of children 2016, para. 26
- Paragraph text
- Individual offenders can be broadly distinguished between those who have a preference for children and those who are considered to be situational offenders. The first group of offenders is generally equated with paedophilia, a psychiatric disorder characterized by a primary or exclusive sexual interest in prepubescent children. Nonetheless, there are other preferential offenders who cannot be classified as paedophiles. They include, for example, offenders who seek to have sexual intercourse with pubescent virgins, for a variety of motivations.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, including child prostitution, child pornography and other child sexual abuse material
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Tackling the demand for the sexual exploitation of children 2016, para. 46
- Paragraph text
- The real or perceived absence of accountability for crimes against children empowers sexual offenders and guides their choice of destinations when they travel. Moreover, the demand thrives on corruption and the complacency or even complicity of law enforcement. Impunity can also derive from social and cultural norms of shame which prevent the reporting of child sexual exploitation. Notions of honour and shame will lead to the blaming of the child victim and even his or her exclusion from the family or the community.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, including child prostitution, child pornography and other child sexual abuse material
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Families
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Sale of children for the purpose of forced labour 2016, para. 27
- Paragraph text
- The overwhelming majority of forced labour consists of labour exploitation. The latest global estimate concludes that a total of 20.9 million persons are victims of forced labour, of which 5.5 million (26 per cent), are children. Women and girls represent the greater share of the total: 11.4 million (55 per cent).
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, including child prostitution, child pornography and other child sexual abuse material
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Girls
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Sale of children for the purpose of forced labour 2016, para. 76
- Paragraph text
- Identification of victims is a critical first step towards ensuring the application of a protective framework. However, child victims receive limited attention and are rarely identified as such. The justice system uses criminal approaches instead of referring child victims to child protection systems. Limited capacities and lack of placement options are cited as underlying reasons, as well as the prejudices of some actors vis-à-vis child victims.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, including child prostitution, child pornography and other child sexual abuse material
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Sale of children for the purpose of forced labour 2016, para. 78
- Paragraph text
- Independent human rights institutions across the regions have focused on child labour as one of their priorities, thereby exercising their monitoring function over the topic. Their role in that respect must be strengthened, in particular through effective legal means to visit places where children are at risk of exploitation, adequate capacities, including financial and human resources, and a strong presence across the country.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, including child prostitution, child pornography and other child sexual abuse material
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Sale of children for the purpose of forced labour 2016, para. 99l
- Paragraph text
- [The Special Rapporteur invites all States to:] Address the root causes of the demand for the forced labour of children through comprehensive awareness-raising and the education of society at large on the rights of the child, non-discrimination and gender equality;
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, including child prostitution, child pornography and other child sexual abuse material
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Equality & Inclusion
- Gender
- Movement
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Sale of children for the purpose of forced labour 2016, para. 84
- Paragraph text
- The United Kingdom Modern Slavery Act of 2015 introduced an obligation for companies whose total turnover is above £36 million to submit an annual statement detailing the steps they have taken to ensure there is no modern slavery in their business and supply chains. The obligation goes beyond guaranteeing that products are free of slavery and requires concrete steps at every stage of the production process in any part of the supply chain.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, including child prostitution, child pornography and other child sexual abuse material
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Sale of children for the purpose of forced labour 2016, para. 101a
- Paragraph text
- [The Special Rapporteur invites the private sector to:] Adopt human rights policy commitments and conduct continuous human rights due diligence in line with the framework established in the Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, which also apply to supply chains;
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, including child prostitution, child pornography and other child sexual abuse material
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Sale of children for the purpose of forced labour 2016, para. 101b
- Paragraph text
- [The Special Rapporteur invites the private sector to:] Effectively implement those commitments beyond auditing, through third-party independent monitoring, proactive investigations, random unannounced assessments and strategies linked to the prevention of the sale of children;
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, including child prostitution, child pornography and other child sexual abuse material
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph