have also proposed definitions, such as the “visual depiction of a child engaged in explicit sexual conduct, real or simulated, or the lewd exhibition of the genitals intended for the sexual gratification of the user, and involves production, distribution and/or use of such material.”44 While the term “child pornography” is still widely used, “child sexual abuse material” has been increasingly used to describe sexually explicit representations of children, as the term is believed to more accurately reflect the grave nature of the content and to challenge any notion that such acts might be carried out pursuant to the consent of the child.45 The COSPOL Internet Related Child Abusive Material Project (CIRCAMP), for example, advocates the notion that “[a] sexual image of a child is ‘abuse’ or ‘exploitation’ and should never be described as ‘pornography’. Pornography is a term used for adults engaging in consensual sexual acts distributed legally to the general public for their sexual pleasure. Child abuse images are not. They involve children who cannot and would not consent and who are victims of a crime.”46 Indeed, from a law enforcement perspective, child sexual abuse material is documented evidence of the crime of sexual abuse or rape in progress.47 Child sexual abuse material comes in many forms, including photographs, negatives, slides, magazines, books, drawings, movies, videotapes and computer disks or files.48 In essence, however, child sexual abuse material consists of a recording, usually in still or video, which depicts a child engaged in sexually explicit activity.49 While the term “child pornography” is the one most commonly used in legal definitions and in international policy documents, this study preferentially uses the term “child sexual abuse material” for the reasons set out above. Ibid. P. 33. Quayle, E., et al. In: Ainsaar, M., Lööf, L. (eds.). P. 12. 46 COSPOL Internet Related Child Sexual Abuse Material Project www.circamp.eu/index. php?option=com_content&view=article&id=10:child-pornography-versus-child-sexual-abuse-material 47 Ibid. 48 http://www.ecpat.org.nz/Resources/FAQ.aspx#_Anchor11. 49 See www.inhope.org/gns/Internet-concerns/overview-of-theproblem/child-pornography.aspx. Commercial sexual exploitation of children Advances in technology have become instrumental in the commercial sexual exploitation of children, including trafficking in children for the purposes of sexual exploitation, and the abuse and exploitation of children in the travel and tourism industries. International law defines trafficking in persons as “the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harbouring or receipt of persons, by means of the threat or use of force or other forms of coercion, of abduction, of fraud, of deception, of the abuse of power or of a position of vulnerability or of the giving or receiving of payments or benefits to achieve the consent of a person having control over another person, for the purpose of exploitation.”50 In this context, it is important to note that the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harbouring or receipt of a child for the purpose of exploitation shall be considered trafficking in persons, even if it does not involve any means of threat or use of force or other forms of coercion, abduction, fraud, deception or the abuse of power or of a position of vulnerability or the giving or receiving or payments or benefits.51 Article 2 (b) the Optional Protocol to the CRC on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography defines the prostitution of children as the use of children in sexual activities for remuneration or any other form of consideration. This definition provides detail for the purposes of article 34 of the CRC, which obliges States Parties to take measures to prevent the exploitative use of children in prostitution or other unlawful sexual practices. By its nature, prostitution of children involves someone other than the child benefiting from a commercial transaction in which the child is made available for sexual purposes.52 The terms, “child prostitution” and “the prostitution of children,” are often used interchangeably with “the commercial sexual exploitation of children”. Technically, however, sexual exploitation encompasses a broader array of commercial offences in addition to the prostitution of children and may include child marriage, domestic labour and the trafficking of children for sexual purposes.53 44 45 United Nations, Treaty Series, vol. 2237. Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children, supplementing the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime. Article 3 (c). 52 Subgroup Against the Sexual Exploitation of Children, 2005. P. 13. 53 Quayle, E., et al. In: Ainsaar, M., Lööf, L. (eds.). 50 51 10 STUDY ON THE EFFECTS OF NEW INFORMATION TECHNOLOGIES ON THE ABUSE AND EXPLOITATION OF CHILDREN