New UN cybercrime treaty opens door to pedophilia, legalizes child sexting

NEW YORK, Aug. 16 (C-Fam) The United Nations General Assembly will adopt a new international convention on cybercrime that opens the door to images of pedophilia and legalizes some forms of child pornography long considered illegal. The move by European countries has left many traditional nations unhappy.

Under Article 14 of the convention, countries can choose to decriminalize the production, distribution and possession of visual, written or audio content depicting sexually abused children, as long as the content does not depict an “actual person” or is not a visual representation of actual “sexual abuse or sexual exploitation of children.”

The delegation from Iran and the Democratic Republic of Congo last week called for a vote to remove these exceptions in tense final negotiations, arguing that they would be used to harm children and promote perverted sexual practices.

Congo’s delegate said the provisions were in conflict with the prohibition on child pornography in the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child, a binding international treaty ratified by 173 states. Fifty-one countries voted to remove the provisions, but the provisions were ultimately retained. Ninety-one countries, led by the United States and the European Union, voted to retain them.

The United States’ support for these provisions is surprising, given that just twenty-five years ago, the U.S. government was the primary promoter of the strict standard against child pornography in the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child. That treaty established groundbreaking rules to help combat child pornography, including strict liability for the mere possession of child pornography.

Many delegations also sought to remove provisions in the treaty that give countries the option to legalize sexting by children, including sexting between children of the age of consent and adults. The treaty only prohibits the non-consensual distribution of such images outside of the consenting parties.

Delegations supporting the exceptions for certain forms of child pornography argued that they would not harm children and stressed that the treaty was groundbreaking in requiring all parties to criminalise the “non-consensual disclosure of intimate images”.

The international effort to promote pornography to children is not new. A few years ago UNICEF published a report, later retracted under pressure, which stated that pornography can be good for children.

After the adoption of the new treaty text, several delegations remained unconvinced and reiterated their concerns about the loopholes. These included Nicaragua, Niger, Djibouti, Pakistan, Papua New Guinea, Iraq, Guatemala, Mali, Tanzania, Venezuela, Thailand, Syria, Burkina Faso, Paraguay, Senegal, Morocco, Sudan, Uganda, Kenya and Zimbabwe.

“I would like to ask once again whose rights are we protecting, those of criminals or those of victims?” said a delegate from Russia.

The new treaty was adopted last Friday after three years of negotiations. In addition to the issue of child sexual abuse, it requires cooperation between law enforcement agencies to investigate and prosecute data crimes, financial crimes and other crimes committed using information technology. It also contains several voluntary provisions on providing financial assistance and capacity building to poor countries.

The treaty is expected to be formally adopted by the General Assembly later this year and will be open for signature by countries. It will only enter into force after 40 countries have ratified it.