Background

The Convention on the Rights of the Child, adopted in 1989, and the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography, adopted in 2000, are the most comprehensive international legal instruments that promote and safeguard the rights of the child and protect children from sale, sexual exploitation and sexual abuse. However, these treaties were adopted at a time when information and communications technology (ICT) and social media were much less developed and less widespread, and when sexual offences against children did not have the close linkage to the digital environment that is often present today. While the Convention and the Optional Protocol are fully relevant and applicable also in the digital environment, their provisions require an interpretation adapted to today’s realities.

Summary

The main objectives of the present guidelines are to:

1. Foster a deeper understanding of the Optional Protocol’s substantive provisions and of the various modern forms of sale and sexual exploitation of children in light of developments in the digital environment and given the increase in knowledge and experience with regard to the sale and sexual exploitation of children since its adoption;
2. Enable more effective implementation of the Optional Protocol by States parties;
3. Ensure that the Optional Protocol remains an instrument that enhances the protection of children from sale and sexual exploitation, whether such offences are facilitated by ICT or not.

These guidelines also have the objective of supporting and strengthening initiatives and efforts undertaken by States parties to better fulfil their obligations under the Optional Protocol, including in respect of reporting to the Committee as defined in the revised guidelines regarding initial reports to be submitted under the Optional Protocol (CRC/C/OPSC/2), adopted in 2006, and the treaty-specific guidelines regarding the form and content of periodic reports (CRC/C/58/Rev.3), adopted in 2014.