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<strong>Child</strong> PornograPhy First report oF the Dutch NatioNal rapporteur
Focus: the protection of children from sexual violence
The aforementioned core elements of the phenomenon make it clear that child pornography is inextricably
linked to other forms of sexual violence, and that it cannot be tackled, neither can that strategy be
monitored, if the focus solely rests on the child abuse material and does not extend to the underlying
sexual violence. This also means that the reporting role must be performed in such a way that the phenomenon
of child pornography is regarded as one aspect of the broad area of sexual violence against
children, both offline and online. If the reporting task is limited to child abuse material as such, the
purpose it would serve would be too limited. 19
There is a broad consensus with regard to the great importance of protecting children from sexual violence
and with regard to the harm that sexual violence causes to the child’s development and wellbeing.
20 <strong>Child</strong> pornography has been made a punishable offence in order to provide a means of tackling
the sexual abuse of children. 21 The criminalisation is in keeping with the obligation imposed upon
countries, in the form of various conventions and tools, in order to protect children from all forms of
sexual exploitation and abuse, including the use of children in pornographic material. 22 For this reason,
tackling child pornography partly serves to protect children from sexual violence, both in the form of
actual abuse and in the form of exposure to the implications of the production, distribution and possession
of such images. The production, acquisition and viewing of child abuse material via Internet are
deemed to constitute online sexual violence, whilst the actual abuse constitutes a form of offline sexual
violence against children. 23
Perspective: from the viewing of child abuse material to protection policy
In this report, we will examine the policy used by the government and other organisations to protect children
from sexual violence in a broader context, from the perspective of child pornography. As such, this
report will not allow us to fully map out this policy of protection, nor can we examine the even broader
topic relating to the combating of child abuse in general. However, this report can indicate the extent to
which aspects associated with child pornography are taken into account in the protection policy and its
implementation in practice. In short, the findings boil down to the fact that policy initiatives that aim to
tackle sexual violence in the analogue, real world do not take account of specific online aspects (such as
child abuse images), and that the same applies vice versa. With regard to the practical implementation
of the policy, we not only examined specific interventions in relation to child pornography (since these
chiefly concern repressive measures based upon detection and monitoring, pursuant to Article 240b of the
Dutch Criminal Code, and would not take account of the principles expressed in the Lanzarote Convention)
19 Performing this task in a way that covers the full extent of sexual violence would reach too far beyond
the task in hand at present and the means that are currently available.
20 Smallbone et al., 2008
21 See §1.2.
22 For example, see Article 34, sub-section c of the UN Convention on the Rights of the <strong>Child</strong>: “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 […] The exploitative use of children in pornographic performances and materials”;
see §1.3 with regard to the Lanzarote Convention and other international documents.
23 See Table 1.1 and Table 1.2 for an explanation of the forms of offline and online sexual violence against
children.