to download the document in PDF format - Child Centre: Expert ...

definition in Article 20 – Offences concerning child pornography:1 Each Party shall take the necessary legislative or other measures to ensure that thefollowing intentional conduct, when committed without right, is criminalised:a producing child pornography;b offering or making available child pornography;c distributing or transmitting child pornography;d procuring child pornography for oneself or for another person;e possessing child pornography;f knowingly obtaining access, through information and communicationtechnologies, to child pornography.2 For the purpose of the present article, the term “child pornography” shall mean anymaterial that visually depicts a child engaged in real or simulated sexually explicitconduct or any depiction of a child’s sexual organs for primarily sexual purposes.3 Each Party may reserve the right not to apply, in whole or in part, paragraph 1.a and eto the production and possession of pornographic material:• consisting exclusively of simulated representations or realistic imagesof a non-existent child;• involving children who have reached the age set in application ofArticle 18, paragraph 2, where these images are produced andpossessed by them with their consent and solely for their own private use.4 Each Party may reserve the right not to apply, in whole or in part, paragraph 1.f.It is important to note that this definition is restricted to visual materials but does notrequire that a real child be used in their production (as is the case in the US). However,member states may opt not to criminalise the production and possession of virtual childpornography. The Convention also creates a number of new offences and the offence ofpossession of child pornography is made broader as there is no requirement to prove theintent to distribute the materials. The Convention, however, is clear on criminalising thesexual exploitation through the clear description of the different crimes that connectto child abusive images. Importantly the Convention has chosen not to criminalise theconsensual production and possession of materials created by children who have reachedthe age of consent. However, most instruments do not directly address the issue ofadolescents who make or access indecent images of children. This in itself may prove tobe problematic. Piper (2001) has argued that one of the landmark changes in terms ofcriminal justice policy in recent times has been the approach to juvenile crime, which inthe UK led in the 1990s to the effective reduction in the age of criminal responsibility toChild Pornography and Sexual Exploitation of Children Online |85