Combating children’s rights violations in the field of child sexual exploitation and abuse online
(2024) JAMM07 20241Department of Law
Faculty of Law
- Abstract
- This thesis examines current international human rights frameworks, current legal research, and reports from experts, to determine the efficacy of current children’s rights protections in the field of online child sexual exploitation and abuse (OCSEA hereafter). The research question addresses the extent to which children’s rights are protected against OCSEA and the argumentation centres on the inadequacy of the current provisions in UN and EU children’s rights conventions. These legal protections were meant to address something else entirely, therefore the rights violations and harms suffered by children as a result OCSEA, does not line up with the protective measures. In order for a child’s right to freedom from OCSEA to be realised, the... (More)
- This thesis examines current international human rights frameworks, current legal research, and reports from experts, to determine the efficacy of current children’s rights protections in the field of online child sexual exploitation and abuse (OCSEA hereafter). The research question addresses the extent to which children’s rights are protected against OCSEA and the argumentation centres on the inadequacy of the current provisions in UN and EU children’s rights conventions. These legal protections were meant to address something else entirely, therefore the rights violations and harms suffered by children as a result OCSEA, does not line up with the protective measures. In order for a child’s right to freedom from OCSEA to be realised, the right needs to be accurately defined, the nature of the harm be reflected in the regulation and the remedies for violating this right must be obtainable. Children’s rights literature and specialised journal articles are analysed to answer the research question, and the legal frameworks are evaluated to establish the gaps.
As conveyed through the discussion of current statistics, the matter of OCSEA is an enormous issue, and the amount victims of OCSEA is growing exponentially. Therefore, its underrepresentation in children’s rights practice and scholarly analysis warrants this research, to establish how weaknesses in the law impacts the rights of children. Select specialised literature addresses OCSEA, but only from one perspective. The contribution of this thesis to the field of research is the analysis of EU and UN legislation and the analysis children’s rights protections against OCSEA from multiple angles. The key legal issues identified are the ineffective regulations, enforcement challenges and lacking access to justice for victims of OCSEA. Therefore, the conclusion of this thesis is that children’s rights are not sufficiently protected with the current legal frameworks, and the complexity of the issue requires action on multiple fronts. The recommended solutions to the challenges raised are the following: improving regulations and legislative gaps, establishing accountability for non-state actors and improving victims’ access to justice. These come from the independent analysis of this thesis, and therefore three recommendations are made for the improvement of children’s rights protection and prevention of OCSEA. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
http://lup.lub.lu.se/student-papers/record/9158866
- author
- Knudsen, Mie Kjær LU
- supervisor
- organization
- alternative title
- The extent to which children’s rights are protected against OCSEA under UN and EU law
- course
- JAMM07 20241
- year
- 2024
- type
- H2 - Master's Degree (Two Years)
- subject
- keywords
- Children's rights International human rights law Protection of children online Violations of children's rights OCSEA Online Child Sexual Exploitation and Abuse CSAM Child sexual abuse material Child pornography
- language
- English
- id
- 9158866
- date added to LUP
- 2024-06-25 11:25:29
- date last changed
- 2024-06-25 11:25:29
@misc{9158866,
abstract = {{This thesis examines current international human rights frameworks, current legal research, and reports from experts, to determine the efficacy of current children’s rights protections in the field of online child sexual exploitation and abuse (OCSEA hereafter). The research question addresses the extent to which children’s rights are protected against OCSEA and the argumentation centres on the inadequacy of the current provisions in UN and EU children’s rights conventions. These legal protections were meant to address something else entirely, therefore the rights violations and harms suffered by children as a result OCSEA, does not line up with the protective measures. In order for a child’s right to freedom from OCSEA to be realised, the right needs to be accurately defined, the nature of the harm be reflected in the regulation and the remedies for violating this right must be obtainable. Children’s rights literature and specialised journal articles are analysed to answer the research question, and the legal frameworks are evaluated to establish the gaps.
As conveyed through the discussion of current statistics, the matter of OCSEA is an enormous issue, and the amount victims of OCSEA is growing exponentially. Therefore, its underrepresentation in children’s rights practice and scholarly analysis warrants this research, to establish how weaknesses in the law impacts the rights of children. Select specialised literature addresses OCSEA, but only from one perspective. The contribution of this thesis to the field of research is the analysis of EU and UN legislation and the analysis children’s rights protections against OCSEA from multiple angles. The key legal issues identified are the ineffective regulations, enforcement challenges and lacking access to justice for victims of OCSEA. Therefore, the conclusion of this thesis is that children’s rights are not sufficiently protected with the current legal frameworks, and the complexity of the issue requires action on multiple fronts. The recommended solutions to the challenges raised are the following: improving regulations and legislative gaps, establishing accountability for non-state actors and improving victims’ access to justice. These come from the independent analysis of this thesis, and therefore three recommendations are made for the improvement of children’s rights protection and prevention of OCSEA.}},
author = {{Knudsen, Mie Kjær}},
language = {{eng}},
note = {{Student Paper}},
title = {{Combating children’s rights violations in the field of child sexual exploitation and abuse online}},
year = {{2024}},
}