Iulia-Elena Cazan
(ZENIT News – Center for Family and Human Rights / New York, 08.14.2024).- Western countries want to decriminalize certain forms of child pornography in a new cybercrime treaty, including pornographic material shared by children via sexting and pornographic material depicting AI-generated or fictitious children.
Western countries argued during negotiations in the first week of August that children who consensually share sexualized images of themselves with other children or even adults should not be criminalized because they have a «right to develop sexual relationships.»
An EU delegate said there was “absolutely no way” that any EU member state would join a convention unless it had these exceptions.
The treaty negotiated for over a year is ostensibly about combatting cybercrime, including criminalizing the production, dissemination, and possession of online “child sexual abuse” materials, but the United States and the European Union want “exceptions” for some forms of child pornography.
These include when sexual abuse material does not depict “a real child” and when the material is self-generated or created as part of a consensual relationship and held for private use. Western states argued that in such cases criminal prosecution should be optional.
These forms of child pornography have been banned everywhere until now under a protocol of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child promoted by the United States. The exceptions backed by Western countries would overhaul the universal ban with one that varies between countries.
The chair of the Committee on Cybercrime said the sections on child sexual abuse corresponded to the most controversial provisions of the convention, making it difficult for countries to reach a consensus.
A delegate from Austria argued the Western point of view with candor.
“Children above the age of 14 have a right to develop sexual relationships. Children at this age may choose to have a sexual relationship with someone who is 19 years old, therefore an adult,” she said referring to Austria’s national laws.
She emphasized that “Children may produce pictures in the course of sexual engagement and share it with each other. It is our conviction that pictures produced as part of the legal and voluntary relationship should not be criminalized.”
Germany said such exceptions “reflect the bare minimum we can subscribe to.”
A delegate from Syria delivered a statement on behalf of 22 countries opposing the exceptions saying that such exceptions would “defeat the very purpose sowed in the operation of the convention” of protecting children.
They argued that States retained discretion to develop “corrective or rehabilitative measures” to protect children and that it was not necessary to overhaul the international legal framework against child pornography to show leniency toward teenagers who get caught up in sexting.
The delegate delivered the statement on behalf of Bahrain, Bangladesh, Belarus, Egypt, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Libya, Mali, Mauritius, Morocco, Nicaragua, Oman, Pakistan, Qatar, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, UAE, and Yemen.
China agreed and said that the convention should stay consistent with the current standards for prosecuting child pornography under the protocol of the Convention on the Rights of the Child.
Rwanda said that the current text creates “immunity and impunity” for sexual abusers.
A delegate from Congo said that decriminalizing sexting entirely was like letting children play with electric wires.
The United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights argued for the exceptions on the basis that without them there would be a risk of criminalizing “legitimate expressions of art and literature depicting fictitious individuals.”
Human Rights Watch, an organization funded by Western governments, also argued that the exceptions are necessary to protect works of “artistic value” and to protect children’s rights.
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