Background and objectives

At the invitation of the Government of Germany, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the sale, sexual exploitation and sexual abuse of children, Ms. Mama Fatima Singhateh, will conduct an official visit to the country from 14 to 25 October 2024, to assess the situation and the progress made in combating and preventing the sale, sexual exploitation and sexual abuse of children in the light of international human rights norms and standards.

Country visits are undertaken following an invitation by the Government and are prepared and conducted in close cooperation with the State concerned, in a spirit of cooperation and dialogue. The objective of the country visit is for the Special Rapporteur to gain first-hand understanding of issues related to her mandate, in particular measures taken to uphold and protect the human rights of child victims of sale, sexual exploitation and sexual abuse.

Following a country visit, the Special Rapporteur presents a report with her findings, conclusions and recommendations to the State concerned at the forthcoming Human Rights Council session. The conclusions and recommendations made by the Special Rapporteur are a useful tool for States to improve measures to prevent and eliminate the sale, sexual exploitation and sexual abuse of children, and to strengthen the national child protection systems.

The Special Rapporteur will travel across the country and during the visit, as part of gathering information from all relevant stakeholders, the Special Rapporteur intends to convene meetings with representatives of civil society working on child rights and protection issues, and with youth-led organizations and children. Additional information about the date and venue of these meetings will be shared in due course.

At the end of her mission, the Special Rapporteur will debrief the Government officials on her preliminary findings. In line with established practice, she will also hold a press conference at the end of her visit in order to share the preliminary findings with the broader public. Additional information on the time and the venue of the press conference will be shared prior to the visit.

The Special Rapporteur will submit a full report on the country visit to the 61^st session of the Human Rights Council in March 2026.

Call for Inputs

In preparation of the visit, the Special Rapporteur invites all interested individuals and organizations, including civil society organizations, activists, and academics, to provide input for the preparation of her visit. She would welcome information on issues related to the sale, sexual exploitation and sexual abuse of children and violations having led to it, such as sale and trafficking of children; the sale of children for purposes of use in criminal activities, begging, forced labour, sports, adoption, marriage, transfer of organs, or other purposes; the exploitation of children for sexual purposes in travel and tourism; the possession, production and dissemination of child sexual abuse material, which includes visual and non-visual depictions; the grooming or solicitation of a child, which involves conditioning a child to ensure they agree to engage in sexual activities.

While all submissions are welcome and the topics below are not meant to be exhaustive, the Special Rapporteur would be grateful for comments that address issues pertaining to:

• The nature, scope and magnitude of sale and sexual exploitation of children;
• The root causes and contributing factors of the sale of children, the abuse of children through prostitution and pornography, including demand for the sale and sexual exploitation of children;
• Patterns of sale of children, the abuse of children through prostitution and pornography;
• The legislative, policy and institutional framework, including the legal framework and national strategies and mechanisms of cooperation to tackle the sale and sexual exploitation of children and provide assistance to victims and survivors;
• Early support, including early identification and assistance provided to victims and survivors. Provision of comprehensive care, recovery and rehabilitation for child victims of sale, sexual exploitation and sexual abuse;
• Access to effective remedy, redress and in particular compensation to victims and other measures aiming at the social inclusion of victims and survivors;
• Investigation, prosecution and punishment of perpetrators and the protection of victims’ rights in criminal proceedings, including the non-criminalization principle of victims and survivors;
• Measures aimed at prevention, interventions aimed at identified vulnerable groups;
• Cooperation and partnerships, especially regarding cross border cases but also partnerships and cooperation with other actors such as the private sector in countering this phenomenon including by businesses and supply chains;
• Best practices on measures to combat the sale, sexual exploitation and sexual abuse of children. Major challenges confronting the fight against this phenomenon;
• Existing and emerging technologies facilitating the sale, sexual abuse and sexual exploitation of children;
• Sexual exploitation of children in travel and tourism;
• Surrogacy and sale of children;
• Illegal adoptions.