Equality Now submitted this brief to the Office of the Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, including child prostitution, child pornography, and other child sexual abuse material, in response to the call for submissions on addressing the vulnerabilities of children to sale and sexual exploitation in the framework of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), to be presented to the 77th session of the UN General Assembly in October 2022.
In this brief, we share our concerns, gaps, challenges, and good practices in addressing the protection of victims and survivors of sexual exploitation and violence. This brief details our concerns regarding the manifestations of the sale and trafficking of children and sexual exploitation of children, particularly adolescent girls, online. The roots of sexual
exploitation and abuse of children can be found in vulnerabilities that arise from sex and gender-based discrimination, intersecting inequalities (such as poverty, quality of education, age, ethnicity, and migrant status), and harmful cultural beliefs and social norms.