Dear Colleague,

Combating child pornography and the sexual abuse of children is a key priority for law enforcement both nationally and internationally.  However, in recent years, there have been attempts to water down the legal standards used to prosecute child pornographers.  Some of these efforts may seem benign or even laudable, such as using terminology that emphasizes that child pornography depicts abuse, but as Stefano Gennarini, J.D. explains in this Definitions article, these changes in terminology mask a worrying erosion of the standard long accepted as a matter of international law.

This article provides an in-depth discussion of the debate around the terms "child pornography" versus "child sexual abuse material" and explains how these debates have recently come to a head as the UN adopts a new treaty on cyber-crime.

Sincerely,

Rebecca Oas, Ph.D.
Director of Research

A new UN treaty against cybercrime expressly allows the production and dissemination of materials that were until now considered illegal child pornography under international law. This Definitions paper will discuss how the treaty undermines existing international law against child pornography and legalizes an endless stream of material depicting sexualized children that will fuel pedophilia and child sexual abuse. The treaty will make it harder for law enforcement to prosecute child sexual abuse and place children in more danger. All this places the burden of protection on children themselves instead of parents, tech companies, and governments. Read more >>>