WUNRN
Cybercrime: Protecting Children from Online Abuse & Exploitation - Girls
Direct Link to Full 59-Page 2015 UNODC Study Report:
http://www.unodc.org/documents/organized-crime/cybercrime/Study_on_the_Effects.pdf
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9
July 2015 - Fast-paced technological innovation and widespread accessibility of
information and communication technology (ICT) have transformed societies
around the world. Children in particular have unprecedented access to computers
and mobile technologies, and have in recent decades tended to adopt these from
an early age, resulting in ICTs becoming thoroughly embedded in their lives.
Although the exploitation of children is not a new phenomenon, the digital age
has exacerbated the problem and created more vulnerability to children.
With
the aim of gaining a better understanding of the problem and the challenges
posed by it, UNODC recently published a Study on the Effects of New Technologies on the Abuse and Exploitation of
Children. The document is based on open source research as well
as the work of a UNODC Informal Expert Group Meeting on the subject, convened
in Vienna in 2013. This meeting brought together experts from international
organizations, law enforcement, specialists on the subject and members of
academia.
A
number of international legal instruments require States to take measures to
protect children from abuse and exploitation, as well as engage in international
cooperation in the investigation and prosecution of child abuse and
exploitation crimes. A lack of consistent and appropriate legislation across
countries globally, however, remains a major impediment to successful
investigations and prosecutions. Individual states vary considerably in their
definitions of child abuse and exploitation, and often cannot move fast enough
to enact laws that keep pace with technology.
To
address these challenges, the Study covers the main forms of ICT-facilitated
child abuse and exploitation, including the creation and distribution of child
pornography, plus the commercial sexual exploitation of children,
cyber-enticement, solicitation and grooming, cyber-bullying, cyber-harassment
and cyber-stalking; as well as exposure to harmful content.
This
Study, one of UNODC's tools to help states prevent and combat cybercrime, is
accompanied by a package of technical assistance which includes law enforcement
and judicial training, activities for improved international cooperation and
awareness raising tools.
Cybercrime
Law Repository: http://www.unodc.org/cld/index-cybrepo.jspx