“Hope for Children” UNCRC Policy Center has signed the joint Communiqué for the No Grey Areas on the Internet.
A press release by UNCRC says that 20th of November marks the Universal Children’s Day, pointing out that depictions of sexual exploitation of children (“any representation, by whatever means, of a child engaged in real or simulated explicit sexual activities or any representation of the sexual parts of a child for primarily sexual purposes” – so called child pornography) are proscribed by law in many countries worldwide.
However, it says, the sexual exploitation of children is not manifested only through child abuse images. In our modern societies children can be sexualized and treated as sexual objects in many different ways, for example on the Internet through images depicting children in erotic or suggestive poses.
“These are part of so called “Grey Area” imagery that does not necessarily cross the lines drawn by the law to qualify as child sexual abuse imagery, but is exploitative in nature. It also violates children´s dignity and their right to privacy and damages their sense of security. These images are spread widely throughout the Internet and are much easier to find than child sexual abuse imagery”, the press release reads.
The statement was signed by more than 30 organizations from many countries around the world and is a call from the organizations to declare a policy of zero tolerance based on the expanded focus and understanding of exploitative imagery.
CNA/KCH/ΜΜ/2015
ENDS, CYPRUS NEWS AGENCY