A/HRC/31/34
74.
The Child Helpline International Foundation is a global network of 192 child
helplines in 145 countries that together receive more than 14 million contacts a year from
children and young people in need of care and protection. It supports the creation and
strengthening of national toll-free child helplines worldwide, and uses child helpline data
and knowledge to highlight gaps in child protection systems and to advocate for the rights
of children.
VII. Conclusion and recommendations
75.
While OHCHR notes that efforts have been made at different levels to ensure
effective laws and policies to protect children from sexual exploitation online, it is
fundamental that States:
(a)
Ratify all relevant regional and international instruments regarding the
sale and sexual exploitation of children online;
(b)
Establish clear and comprehensive legal frameworks to prohibit and to
criminalize all forms of sale and sexual exploitation of children online;
(c)
Improve coordination through effective multi-stakeholder engagement
bringing together relevant State agencies, non-governmental organizations and
representatives of industry; at a general level, a multi-stakeholder platform should be
put in place to propose a safe, inclusive and empowering digital agenda for children;
(d)
Strengthen support for services responsible for the identification of
victims, as well as for the detection, investigation, prosecution and punishment of
those responsible for any offences committed;
(e)
Ensure that children – both girls and boys, as well as children in
vulnerable or marginalized situations – are consulted in order to take into account
their views and experiences in developing laws, policies and programmes relating to
digital media and ICTs;
(f)
Promote and facilitate international and regional coordination and
collaboration to ensure effective enforcement of the applicable legal framework;
(g)
Establish a permanent global task force to harmonize practices and
procedures, share expertise and scale-up good practices, and to provide States with
assistance in developing national laws, policies and strategies to effectively combat
online child sexual exploitation;
(h)
Encourage public-private partnerships to promote the use of ICT to
support children’s access to information on their rights and to facilitate their
participation in the shaping of policies, programmes and services concerning them;
(i)
Coordinate with the ICT industry so that it develops and puts in place
adequate measures to protect children from the risks posed by ICT. Where such risks
are detected, States and industry should work together to provide prompt and
effective procedures for the removal of prejudicial or harmful material involving
children. States should comply with the ITU/UNICEF Guidelines for Industry on
Child Online Protection;
(j)
Further strengthen awareness-raising and education programmes for
children on preventing and responding to risks when they use digital media and ICT,
with the involvement of children, including through the development of child-friendly
information material; this should include programmes on privacy risks related to the
use of digital media and ICT and regarding self-generated content;
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