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advertisement. The European advertisement industry has become more sensitive overmatters concerning children. 312Several agencies of the UN have acknowledged that the press and other media haveessential functions in promoting and protecting the fundamental rights of the child and inhelping to make reality of the principles and standards of the CRC. For example, in May2000, the UN adopted the Optional Protocol on the sale of children, child prostitution andchild pornography. The Optional Protocol came into force on January 18, 2002 and offeredan opportunity for journalists to assess governmental action surrounding CSEC. As well,the Protocol and the CRC have measures to monitor countries and give journalists theopportunity to review human rights records pertaining to children in their own country.Every country, once every five years, must submit a report explaining any progress oractions that have been implemented with regards to the CRC. As a result, the media hasthe capacity scrutinise the strengths and weaknesses of each country’s action. To date thishas largely been opportunity lost.Modern media culture has had an increasing influence on youth with regards to sexuality –in many cases, overshadowing traditional sources of such education. New programmes arebeing designed to approach such education in ways compatible with traditional worldviews.Journalists can promote sex education serving to address some important reproductivehealth issues, such as HIV/AIDS and pregnancy. Since 120 million children do not attendschool around the world, it is important for children to get sex education beyond theclassroom. 313 Such campaigns have been manifested in comic books, magazines, and musicaimed at youth and in other popular culture media. 314 Furthermore, it is widely recognisedthat ignorance of sex and sexuality can be very dangerous to youth as myths regardingcontraception and sexuality lead youth to be highly vulnerable to CSEC. For example,an innovative programme administered by the local journalist union in Nigeria bases itscampaigns on the premise that, “only teenagers who know and value themselves, who areaware of options and who are skilled have the capacity to practise safer and responsiblesex”. 315 There is increasing international consensus that mass media outlets, such asjournalistic reporting, is uniquely situated to promote education and empowerment tohelp counteract CSEC because of its wide youth appeal. 316Finally, it is important to recognise the potential role that media industries can playin promoting youth empowerment. Confidence and identity-building activities arefundamental in atoning youth to their potential and helping prevent their exploitation.For instance, journalists in South Africa generally narrow children to ‘innocent’, ‘angels’,‘troublemakers’, ‘rowdy’ and ‘delinquents’. However, many children in South Africa havemade it clear that they do not want to be seen as victims of war, famine, or abuse. They would78|Private Sector Accountability in Combating the Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children