A/HRC/55/55 B. International legal framework 22. The rights of children and minimum standards for their protection in all areas of life are outlined in the Convention on the Rights of the Child. Article 34 of the Convention specifically addresses protection from sexual exploitation and sexual abuse, including involvement in pornographic performances and materials. Article 13 provides for the child’s right to freedom of expression, including in the form of art, or through any other media. That right is not absolute, however, and is subject to certain restrictions, including for respect of the rights or reputations of others or for the protection of national security or of public order or of public health or morals. 23. In article 5, States parties are enjoined to respect the rights and duties of parents or other persons legally responsible for the child to provide, in a manner consistent with the evolving capacities of the child, appropriate direction and guidance in the exercise by the child of the rights recognized in the Convention. Article 16 provides for the child’s right to privacy, family, home and correspondence and for protection from unlawful attacks on the child’s honour and reputation, including the protection of the law against such interference or attacks. 24. Highlighted in the preambular paragraph of the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography is the right of the child to be protected from economic exploitation and from performing any work that is likely to be hazardous or to interfere with the child’s education, or to be harmful to the child’s health or physical, mental, spiritual, moral or social development. In article 2 (a), the sale of children is explicitly defined to mean any act or transaction whereby a child is transferred by any person or group of persons to another for remuneration or any other consideration. In article 3 (1) it is underscored that any acts and activities relating to the sexual exploitation of the child or the engagement of the child in forced labour must be fully covered under each State party’s criminal or penal law, whether such offences are committed domestically or transnationally or on an individual or organized basis. 25. While States parties to the Convention on the Rights of the Child are obligated to protect children from economic exploitation, in the Minimum Age Convention, 1973 (No. 138), of ILO, the minimum ages of 13 years for work that is done outside of school hours and 16 years for full-time employment are specified. In the Minimum Age Recommendation, 1973 (No. 146), of ILO, in addition to measures to protect children from hazardous work, conditions of employment and enforcement are outlined as are requirements relating to health and safety standards; annual holidays; social security and other insurance and benefit schemes; fair remuneration and its protection, bearing in mind the principle of equal pay for equal work; the strict limitation of the hours spent at work in a day and in a week and the prohibition of overtime, so as to allow enough time for education and training, including the time needed for homework related thereto; for rest during the day and for leisure activities; and the granting, without possibility of exception save in genuine emergency, of a minimum consecutive period of 12 hours’ night rest and of customary weekly rest days. 26. In the Worst Forms of Child Labour Convention, 1999 (No. 182), of ILO, the worst forms of child labour, including the sexual exploitation that could occur in the context of child labour, are addressed. The Convention also contains a call for the protection of children from such exploitation. Additional safeguards relating to child labour are set out in other ILO conventions, including the Violence and Harassment Convention, 2019 (No. 190), the Violence and Harassment Recommendation, 2019 (No. 206), the Night Work of Young Persons (Non-Industrial Occupations) Convention, 1946 (No. 79), and the Night Work of Young Persons (Industry) Convention (Revised), 1948 (No. 90). 27. In its general comment No. 16 (2013), the Committee on the Rights of the Child highlighted the obligations of States regarding the impact of the business sector on children’s rights, including the obligations of States to encourage the mass media, including private media, to disseminate information and materials of social and cultural benefit to the child, for example, regarding healthy lifestyles. It also stated that the media must be regulated appropriately to protect children from harmful information, especially pornographic materials and materials that portrayed or reinforced violence, discrimination and sexualized GE.23-25843 7