frequently asked questions
The following is a list of frequently asked questions. Simply click on the question to see the answer below. If your question is not answered here, please feel free to contact us. We will give you feedback as soon as possible. Thank you.
What does ECPAT stand for?
ECPAT stands for End Child Prostitution, Child Pornography, and the Trafficking of Children for Commercial Sexual Purposes.
Who is a child?
An easy question with a complex answer.
According to Article 1 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, which New Zealand has ratified, a child is a person aged under 18 years of age.
What is Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children (CSEC)?
The Declaration and Action for Agenda of the World Congress Against Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children (1996) provided this definition of the practice in general:
"The commercial sexual exploitation of children is a fundamental violation of children's rights. It comprises sexual abuse by the adult and remuneration in cash or kind to the child or a third person or persons. The child is treated as a sexual object and as a commercial object. The commercial sexual exploitation of children constitutes a form of coercion and violence against children, and amounts to forced labour and a contemporary form of slavery."
Commercial sexual exploitation of children consists of practices that are demeaning, degrading and many times life-threatening to children.
There are three primary and interrelated forms of commercial sexual exploitation of children: prostitution, pornography, and trafficking for sexual purposes. Other forms of sexual exploitation of children include child sex tourism and early marriages.
Find out more about CSEC.
What is child prostitution?
Child prostitution involves the use of a child in sexual activities for remuneration or any other form of consideration. (Source: Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child).
What is child pornography?
Child pornography is defined as "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." (Source: Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child).
This can include photographs, negatives, slides, magazines, books, drawings, movies, videotapes and computer disks or files. Generally speaking there are two categories of pornography: one is soft core which is not sexually explicit but involves naked and seductive images of children, and another is hard core which relates to images of children engaged in sexual activity. The use of children in the production of pornography is sexual exploitation. (Source: Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child).
What is child sex tourism?
Child sex tourism:
"...is the commercial sexual exploitation of children by foreigners, who travel from their own country to another usually less developed country to engage in sexual acts with children, or foreigners who engage in sexual activity with a child while overseas."
Child sex tourists include paedophiles, businessmen and travellers. Child sex tourism often involves a third party who procures a child from local communities.
What is trafficking in children?
There is no international consensus on a definition of trafficking. Trafficking is defined as the transporting of a person from one place to another through means of deception, kidnapping, actual threatened or implied violence, and/or the abuse of individuals actual or perceived by a person in a position of authority eg. immigration officer, police officer, etc.
An individual may be trafficked for the purposes of domestic employment, work in the commercial sex industry, manual labour, arranged marriage etc. The term trafficking implies a profit arises from the transportation of the child, which can occur across borders or within countries, across State lines, from city to city and from rural to urban areas.
Is virtual child pornography legal?
No, it is illegal.
Using digital graphics software to combine two images into one, or distort pictures to create a totally new image which is called morphing. All of these are not just about pictures of naked children. There are some clear linkages between the pornography of children - virtual or real - and sexual abuse in the real world.
What should I do?
- If someone in my home receives an email or file that contains child pornography?
- If my child has been sexually solicited by someone who knows my child is nder 16?
- If my child has received sexually explicit messages from someone who knows my child is under 16?
- If I find child pornography on a website?
In all instances, don't copy or forward any of the messages on your computer. Close the screen but do not delete the message. If you are on a website, record the address and leave the site immediately. Report to us.
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