A/HRC/28/56 developing countries. Online child streaming appears to be a form of child sex tourism in that it allows offenders to abuse children across national boundaries without the need to travel. 43. Few international instruments specifically tackle that form of abuse. Classifying it as child pornography does not fully recognize the nature of the harm because offenders are not simply viewing abusive images; they are participating in their real-time abuse and therefore facilitating it. The Council of Europe Convention on the Protection of Children against Sexual Exploitation and Sexual Abuse allows for the prosecution of those who aid or abet the abuse of a child (art. 24), which constitutes a more comprehensive approach towards tackling the online streaming of child abuse. D. Comprehensive strategies to prevent and combat the sale and sexual exploitation of children facilitated through new technologies 44. While it has been noted that there are numerous ways in which new technologies can facilitate the commission of the crimes of sale and sexual exploitation of children and other harms, there have been many instances of good practices in trying to combat that exploitative behaviour. The Special Rapporteur advocates a holistic approach towards effectively combating the sale and sexual exploitation of children facilitated through new technologies. That involves promoting the design and implementation of comprehensive child protection strategies which encompass adequate legislation, detection and reporting, prosecution of offenders (including their treatment to avoid recidivism), rehabilitation and reintegration of victims, prevention and protection programmes with the involvement and empowerment of children, international cooperation and engagement of the business sector. 1. Adequate legislation 45. States need to adopt adequate national legislation to effectively combat the sale and sexual exploitation of children which is committed or facilitated through new technologies. States should criminalize those activities through the ratification and domestication of relevant international instruments, in particular the Optional Protocol on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography;40 the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime and the Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children, supplementing it; the International Labour Organization Convention No. 182 (1999) concerning the Prohibition and Immediate Action for the Elimination of the Worst Forms of Child Labour; and the Convention on Protection of Children and Cooperation in respect of Intercountry Adoption. 46. At the regional level, some instruments, such as the Council of Europe Convention on the Protection of Children against Sexual Exploitation and Sexual Abuse, offer additional protection through the criminalization of activities not specifically covered by international instruments. National laws should ensure the protection of children from new threats and criminalize new forms facilitated by new technologies. In that context, States should criminalize child pornography, including its visual and non-visual depiction, possession, offering, facilitation and accessing. Unfortunately, there are still national and regional gaps and differences in legislation which make it difficult to effectively combat, including through transnational cooperation, the sale and sexual exploitation of children online. Similarly, national laws should ensure that a person who either uploads or 40 12 169 States are party to the Optional Protocol, 9 are signatories only, while 19 States have taken no action.

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