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The phenomenon of child pornography
Despite the fact that the number of perpetrators is unknown, it is in any case important to realise that
there are too many perpetrators to be able to prosecute them all under criminal law. 382 , 383 This can also
be called ‘safety in numbers’, which is something that many a perpetrator is aware of. 384 It may be clear
that a means of tackling the issue purely under criminal law will never be sufficient. Alternative methods
of dealing with the problem 385 and the involvement of the private sector in combating child abuse material
386 therefore form very important developments.
1.5.2 The number of victims
As is the case with numbers of perpetrators, the number of victims of child pornography is unknown. 387
For that reason, this sub-section will examine the scope of the three areas that overlap with the scope
of child pornography victims, specifically: the number of victims of child sexual abuse, 388 the number
of minors who have been contacted by individuals online for sexual purposes 389 and the extent of
‘sexting’.
The number of victims of child sexual abuse
The sexual abuse of children forms a global problem of considerable proportions. 390 However, statistical
findings from different (particularly retrospective 391 ) studies vary significantly from one another. 392
382 Even if they could theoretically be (partly) identified.
383 The shortcomings in the capacity of the criminal justice process to tackle child pornography are discussed
in detail in §3.4.3. However, even if this capacity was expanded, it will not be feasible to deal
with all perpetrators.
384 Jenkins, 2001, p.71.
385 See §3.5.1.
386 See §3.8.
387 Report of the Special <strong>Rapporteur</strong> on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography (Ms.
Najat M’jid Maalla), UN Doc A/HRC/12/23, 13 July 2009. In this report the Special <strong>Rapporteur</strong> stated that
estimates of victims of child pornography range from 10,000 to 100,000. These findings are based upon
a questionnaire that was drawn up and then completed by governments, international organisations,
non-governmental organisations and the private sector in March 2009.
388 The proportion of victims of child sexual abuse who are also victims of child pornography is potentially
larger than expected (see §3.3.2.3).
389 Contact on the Internet for sexual purposes does not mean by definition that a child also ultimately
becomes a victim of child pornography, but a relationship may exist between these two events.
390 Stoltenborgh et al., 2011.
391 In retrospective studies, adult respondents are asked to report their experiences as victims of sexual
abuse in their childhood. In such cases events are likely to be underreported as respondents may not
be able to remember everything from their childhood and/or do not wish to report everything. An
additional disadvantage is that this type of study cannot generate any information about the current
generation of children.
392 This has proved to be the case in multiple meta-analyses performed on hundreds of retrospective studies
of victimisation as a result of child sexual abuse all over the world: Finkelhor, 1994; Putnam, 2003;
Creighton, 2004; World Health Organisation, 2005; Stoltenborgh et al., 2011.
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