Submitted by crinadmin on
Summary: This month is the 5th anniversary of the
passing of the UN Optional Protocol on the
sale of children, child prostitution and child
pornography last 25 May 2000. Father Shay
Cullen writes on the urgency of the problem.
This month is the 5th anniversary of the passing of the UN Optional
Protocol to the CRC on the sale of children, child prostitution and child
pornography. Since I last wrote on the urgency for all countries to co-
operate and specially developing countries to address this serious
situation of child pornography and cyber-sex, I had some important
responses. Most expressed their outrage at the abuse saying it was the
first time they had heard of such deviant behaviour. One person wrote to
give total support saying she was a survivor of child sexual abuse and
could hardly believe that this was allowed to happen live as if on TV. The
lack of public awareness is a big part of the problem.
The public has a right to be astounded and I know that all survivors of child
sexual abuse who are perhaps holding their pain and life long trauma in
silence to bury it no more. Some of the bravest and most dedicated
fighters for children's rights are courageous survivors.
Working to save children can't be a healing process and by all of us
working together, more abusers can be brought to justice and the children
can recover. I was verbally abused and physically slapped, boxed caned,
and punched all through my school life and can never forget it. I do what I
can so other kids never get beaten by cruel teachers or school yard bullies.
Some of our strongest supporters are survivors themselves. They know
what it is like and they understand the damage it does to the lives of
countless children who are sexually assaulted, abused, raped and even
abducted.
The impunity of the Internet Server providers who host and register child
pornography and enable others to access such deviant sites have to be
held responsible when they know the contents. They claim that the
material illegal as it is may be and placed stored on the rented space of
their server computers, transmitted, imported or exported from there
computers for sale or not is not their responsibility. There are some laws
that uphold this but they are wrong on this point.
The convention on the rights of the child, which every country except the
United States, has ratified explicitly, makes illegal "The exploitative use of
children in pornographic performances and materials". This is extended in
the Optional Protocol to the convention adopted by the general assembly
in May 2000.
The protocol states that production, distribution, dissemination,
importation, exporting, offering, selling or possessing child pornography
are criminalized if any of those acts are for the sexual exploitation of the
child. Another protocol states that an attempt to commit any of the acts, or
complicity or participation in any of the acts must also be covered under
the criminal law of the ratifying states.
The Philippines has signed and ratified this protocol. Likewise the
Philippines ratified the Declaration and agenda for Action of the world
congress against the commercial exploitation of children in Stockholm,
Sweden in 1996. I was there myself to witness the Philippine vote. The
protocol made it abundantly clear the intentions of the world community,
ratifying countries would.
"Develop or strengthen and implement national laws to establish criminal
responsibility of server providers customers and intermediaries in child
prostitution child trafficking, child pornography, including the possession of
child pornography and other unlawful sexual activity..."
The Internet Server Providers are up to their neck in empowering and
enabling the pedophiles and child pornographers to do anything they want
in exploiting and abusing children. There is a crime going on in their front
room so to speak, and they are turning the other way.
We all have a moral obligation to protect children from such abuse.
Business corporations who allow the criminals to peddle their deviant
wares have much to answer for.