Child Pornography

“. . . 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, the dominant characteristic of which is depiction for a sexual purpose.”
- Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography. Article 2(c)

“ . . . ‘child pornography’ shall include pornographic material that visually depicts: a) a minor engaged in sexually explicit conduct; b) a person appearing to be a minor engaged in sexually explicit conduct; c) realistic images representing a minor engaged in sexually explicit conduct.”
- Council of Europe Convention on Cybercrime. Article 9 (2)

Child pornography is a violation against children. It involves sexual abuse and exploitation of children and is linked to the prostitution of children, child sex tourism and the trafficking of children for sexual purposes. While individual and community understandings of child pornography may vary within and between societies, the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), Article 34, commits signatories to act to prevent “the exploitative use of children in pornographic performances and materials”. The Convention’s Optional Protocol on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography expands on this to offer a good general description of child pornography. But a more comprehensive definition that more adequately addresses computer-generated images is incorporated into the Council of Europe’s Convention on Cybercrime (although the scope for its application remains limited geographically).

There are many different kinds of child pornography materials, made available through a variety of media, but essentially they involve depicting a child or children in a manner that is intended to aid sexual arousal and gratification. Hard-core materials depict a child engaged in real or simulated explicit sexual activities or lewdly depict parts of a child’s body. Soft-core pornography is not sexually explicit but involves naked and seductive images. Child pornography includes not only the use of real children to make these materials but also artificially created imagery. This ‘virtual’ material is usually referred to as pseudo-child pornography, and includes digitally created images and ‘morphed’, or blended, images of adults and children. ‘Pseudo’ in this sense, however, should be used warily. Its synonymic link to ‘false’ could have the effect of downplaying the exploitative significance of such imagery and its power to normalise images of child sexual abuse and to incite sexual exploitation of children (under the pretext of such pornography not being ‘real’). It is with reference to these kinds of images that the Convention on Cybercrime’s definition is worthy of emulation.

General definitions of child pornography most commonly focus on visual representations of a child, and audio materials to a lesser extent. They do not tend to incorporate sexualised depictions of children or very young-looking people in mainstream media. As well, many definitions appear to overlook texts that describe sexual acts and/or fantasies involving children, although the term ‘pornography’ was coined in reference to writing (originally from pornographos, for writing about prostitutes). This creates difficulties in pursuing prosecutions for the possession of pornographic texts depicting sex with children.
Child pornography exploits children in many different ways. Firstly, children may be physically forced or coerced to engage in making it. This involves direct sexual abuse and exploitation. Pornographic images of children are often copied multiple times and may remain in circulation for many years; the victim continues to be subjected to humiliation long after the image has been made.

The person who views images of child abuse - seeking sexual gratification from the victimisation of a child - is an abuser too, whether or not they make pornography and whether or not they seek sex with other children as a result of the sexual stimulation and validation provided by their use of child pornography. In the same way, the consumption of simulated materials not only degrades and victimises children in general, but it has the same potential to encourage actual sexual abuse of a child.

It is common for child sexual abusers and exploiters to use pornographic materials to lower a child’s inhibitions and to entice or coerce them into engaging in inappropriate sexual behaviour. This crime can be committed using materials depicting real or ‘virtual’ children.
Finally, the makers of pornography also commonly use their products to intimidate and blackmail the children used in the making of such material.
As a result of relatively easy and supposedly anonymous internet access, more people who might not be defined technically as paedophiles or preferential abusers are said to be viewing, trading, downloading and keeping online child pornography, while new technology is also facilitating the development and reach of well-organised networks of child sex abusers who also produce and distribute child pornography for profit. As well, the technological sophistication of the global distribution of child pornography over the net is making it more and more difficult for national law enforcement authorities to launch successful crackdowns and prosecutions locally.

Definitions of child pornography may seem similar, but there are variations in understandings between organisations and between States, as well as between sub-State jurisdictions. This has implications for law enforcement. For example, in many countries, legal definitions of pornography refer to definitions of obscenity that identify a wide range of different images, only some of which may be illegal and thus limiting the response of law enforcement. Similarly, in some countries it is assumed that there is no legal basis for the police to intervene or take action against the abusers and exploiters of a child if that child has reached the legal age of consent, which may be below 18. But, in keeping with the CRC, young people aged under 18 cannot be expected to give full and informed consent to the making of pornographic material. Again, the definition of a child is a critical issue in all matters related to child protection, and child pornography specifically.