A/HRC/9/21 page 6 B. Scope of the mandate 16. As Vitit Muntarbhorn, the first mandate holder in 1991,3 pointed out, the title of the mandate on “the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography” poses a number of problems of definition and interpretation. The first is the definition of the word “child” itself, and particularly the age criteria applied in domestic legal systems to define a “child”. Article 1 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child provides that “a child means every human being below the age of 18 years unless, under the law applicable to the child, majority is attained earlier”. Similarly, the notion of the “sale of children” may be interpreted narrowly or else more broadly, to cover “child trafficking”. 17. The Special Rapporteur is resolved not to box herself in with a strict and rigid interpretation of her mandate, but to remain alert to emerging trends and methods in the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography. Article 2 of the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography gives the following definitions: (a) Sale of children means any act or transaction whereby a child is transferred by any person or group of persons to another for remuneration or any other consideration; (b) Child prostitution means the use of a child in sexual activities for remuneration or any other form of consideration; (c) Child pornography means any representation, by whatever means, of a child engaged in real or simulated explicit sexual activities or any representation of the sexual parts of a child for primarily sexual purposes. 18. In carrying out her mandate the Special Rapporteur will base her work on this definition and the provisions of article 3 of the Optional Protocol with respect to States parties’ obligation to criminalize certain acts and activities related to the sale of children, child prostitution, and the production, distribution, dissemination, import, export, offer, sale or possession of child pornography. Article 3 of the Optional Protocol refers to acts and activities committed in the context of sale of children for the purpose of sexual exploitation as defined in article 2, in addition to transfer of organs of the child for profit, engagement of the child in forced labour and the illegal adoption of a child. These definitions will allow the Special Rapporteur to implement her mandate within a clear legal framework and yet take into consideration endemic situations and emerging problems. 19. In view of the scope of the mandate, the Special Rapporteur is convinced that close cooperation and ongoing collaboration with particular human rights protection and promotion mechanisms will be needed in order to better ascertain all the causes and consequences of the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography and to recommend comprehensive and holistic programmes of action. 3 E/CN.4/1991/51, paras. 8-14.