States Parties undertake to protect the child from all forms of sexual exploitation and sexual abuse. For these purposes, States Parties shall in particular take all appropriate national, bilateral and multilateral measures to prevent:
(a) The inducement or coercion of a child to engage in any unlawful sexual activity;
(b) The exploitative use of children in prostitution or other unlawful sexual practices;
(c) The exploitative use of children in pornographic performances and materials.
-UN Convention on the Rights of the Child
Overview of Article 34
Although protection from sexual abuse of children is mentioned in Article 19 of the CRC, Article 34, as elaborated in the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography, imposes specific obligations on States Parties. Article 34 provides for both protective and preventive measures that States Parties must take to prevent child sexual abuse and exploitation. The main focus of the provision is the sexual exploitation of children, mainly the use of children in prostitution, pornography and any coercive sexual activity [1].
The Convention does not provide a comprehensive definition of sexual abuse or sexual exploitation. However, other connected and related international treaties along with CRC general comments provide enough to interpret the Article 34.
For example, CRC General Comment no.13 defines sexual abuse as “any sexual activity imposed by an adult on a child, against which the child is entitled to protection by criminal law. Sexual activities are also considered as abuse when committed against a child by another child, if the child offender is significantly older than the child victim or uses power, threat or other means of pressure. Sexual activities between children are not considered as sexual abuse if the children are older than the age limit defined by the State Party for consensual sexual activities.”
General Comment no.13 also outlines what constitutes sexual abuse and exploitation:
- The inducement or coercion of a child to engage in any unlawful or psychologically harmful sexual activity;
- The use of children in commercial sexual exploitation;
- The use of children in audio or visual images of child sexual abuse; and
- Child prostitution, sexual slavery, sexual exploitation in travel and tourism, trafficking (within and between countries) and sale of children for sexual purposes and forced marriage. Many children experience sexual victimization which is not accompanied by physical force or restraint, but which is nonetheless psychologically intrusive, exploitive and traumatic [2].
Although subsequent definitions and authoritative interpretations of the protection and prevention elements of Article 34 mostly focus on law reform in the criminal law context (although child survivors must not be criminalized or penalized), it is evident that it extends to measures including complaints mechanisms; social policies to reduce vulnerabilities; survivor (victim) protection, recovery and reintegration services; information campaigns; and formal and informal education [3].
Core attributes of Article 34
The core attributes of Article 34 are:
- Protection from sexual exploitation and abuse
- All appropriate national, bilateral and multilateral measures to prevent Sexual Exploitation of Children (SEC)
Each of these attributes can be measured in terms of structural or process implementation or in terms of outcomes achieved through implementation as outlined in the table below. Some indicators, for instance the structural ones, may be common to all attributes. An attempt has been made to balance the use of objective and subjective data indicators as well as qualitative and quantitative ones.
What did children say?
These are some ideas that children from around the world shared with us during the Global Child Rights Dialogue (GCRD) project:
Relevant provisions within the SDGs
- Goal 5. Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls.
- Target 5.2 Eliminate all forms of violence against all women and girls in the public and private spheres, including trafficking and sexual and other types of exploitation.
- SDG indicator 5.2.1 Proportion of ever-partnered women and girls aged 15 years and older subjected to physical, sexual or psychological violence by a current or former intimate partner in the previous 12 months, by form of violence and by age.
- SDG indicator 5.2.2 Proportion of women and girls aged 15 years and older subjected to sexual violence by persons other than an intimate partner in the previous 12 months, by age and place of occurrence.
- SDG indicator 5.3.1 Proportion of women aged 20–24 years who were married or in a union before age 15 and before age 18.
- Target 5.2 Eliminate all forms of violence against all women and girls in the public and private spheres, including trafficking and sexual and other types of exploitation.
- Goal 11. Make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable.
- Target 11.7 By 2030, provide universal access to safe, inclusive and accessible, green and public spaces, in particular for women and children, older persons and persons with disabilities.
- SDG indicator 11.7.2 Proportion of persons victim of physical or sexual harassment, by sex, age, disability status and place of occurrence, in the previous 12 months.
- Target 11.7 By 2030, provide universal access to safe, inclusive and accessible, green and public spaces, in particular for women and children, older persons and persons with disabilities.
- Goal 16. Promote peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development, provide access to justice for all and build effective, accountable and inclusive institutions at all levels.
- Target 16.1 Significantly reduce all forms of violence and related death rates everywhere.
- SDG indicator 16.1.3 Proportion of population subjected to (a) physical violence, (b) psychological violence and (c) sexual violence in the previous 12 months.
- Target 16.2 End abuse, exploitation, trafficking and all forms of violence against and torture of children.
- SDG indicator 16.2.3 Proportion of young women and men aged 18–29 years who experienced sexual violence by age 18.
- Target 16.3 Promote the rule of law at the national and international levels and ensure equal access to justice for all.
- SDG indicator 16.3.1 Proportion of victims of violence in the previous 12 months who reported their victimization to competent authorities or other officially recognized conflict resolution mechanisms.
- Target 16.1 Significantly reduce all forms of violence and related death rates everywhere.
Potential sources of data for users of the indicators sets
- Court case statistics
- Health statistics and surveys
- Household surveys
- Human rights violations reports of CSOs
- Legislation and policies
- Ministry of Interior, police
- Ministry of justice
- National department or ministry of statistics
- National vital registration systems
- NHRIs
- Primary research by National Human Rights Institutions for Children
- University research
References used for the overview
- Muntarbhorn, Vitit. (2007). Article 34: Sexual exploitation and sexual abuse of children. In A. Alen, J. Vande Lanotte, E. Verhellen, F. Ang, E. Berghmans, & M. Verheyde (Eds). A Commentary on the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (p. 2). Leiden, The Netherlands: Martinus Nijhoff Publishers.
- United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child. (2011). General Comment No. 13: The right of the child to freedom from all forms of violence (CRC/C/GC/13), (para. 25 and 31). Retrieved from the United Nations High Commissioner of Human Rights website https://www.refworld.org/docid/4e6da4922.html
- United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF). (2007). Implementation Handbook for the Convention on the Rights of the Child (Fully Revised 3rd Ed., pp. 522-527). Geneva, Switzerland: UNICEF.
References used to create indicators
- Muntarbhorn, Vitit. (2007). Article 34: Sexual exploitation and sexual abuse of children. In A. Alen, J. Vande Lanotte, E. Verhellen, F. Ang, E. Berghmans, & M. Verheyde (Eds.), A Commentary on the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. Leiden, The Netherlands: Martinus Nijhoff Publishers.
- United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF). (2007). Implementation Handbook for the Convention on the Rights of the Child (Fully Revised 3rd Ed.). Geneva, Switzerland: UNICEF.
- United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF). (n.d.). Mapping the Global Goals for Sustainable Development and the Convention on the Rights of the Child. Retrieved from https://www.unicef.org/media/60231/file
- United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child. (2011). General Comment No. 13: The right of the child to freedom from all forms of violence (CRC/C/GC/13), (para. 25 and 31). Retrieved from the United Nations High Commissioner of Human Rights website https://www.refworld.org/docid/4e6da4922.html
- United Nations General Assembly. (2015). Sustainable Development Goals. Retrieved from https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/?menu=1300
- United Nations Office of the High Commissioner of Human Rights (OHCHR). (n.d.). The Universal Human Rights Index (UHRI). Retrieved from https://uhri.ohchr.org/en
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