GENERAL COMMENT No 7
on ARTICLE 27 of the ACRWC
“SEXUAL EXPLOITATION“
JULY 2021
LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS AND ACRONYMS
ACRWC African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child
ACERWC African Committee of Experts on the rights and Welfare of the Child
ACHPR African Commission on Human and People’s Rights
ART Antiretroviral therapy
AU African Union
CRC Committee on the Rights of the Child
CSAM Child Sexual Abuse Materials
CSEA Child Sexual Exploitation and Abuse
DGD Day of General Discussion
EUROPOL European Police Office
HIV Human immunodeficiency virus
ICTs Information and Communication Technologies
IOT Internet of Things
ILO International Labor Orgnaization
INTERPOL International Criminal Police Organization
NGO Non-governmental Organization
OCSE Online Child Sexual Exploitation
OPSC Optional Protocol on the Sale of Children, Child Prostitution and Child Pornography
PEP Post-exposure Prophylaxis STI Sexually transmitted infection
UNGA United Nations General Assembly
General Comment No. 7 on article 27 on Sexual Exploitation of the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child
Article 27: Sexual Exploitation
1. States Parties to the present Charter shall undertake to protect the child from all forms of sexual exploitation and sexual abuse and shall in particular take measures to prevent
a) the inducement, coercion or encouragement of a child to engage in any sexual activity;
b) the use of children in prostitution or other sexual practices
c) the use of children in pornographic activities, performances and materials.
I. INTRODUCTION
1. The African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child (ACRWC) includes a provision which requires States to protect children from sexual exploitation and abuse. The contents of this article proceed further to oblige States Parties to take measure to prevent the inducement, coercion or encouragement of a child to engage in any sexual activity, the use of children in prostitution or other sexual practices and the use of children in pornographic activities, performances and materials.
2. This General Comment relates to the overall mandate of the African Committee of Experts on the rights and Welfare of the Child (ACERWC/the Committee) to guide State Parties in their obligations towards child victims of child sexual exploitation and abuse (CSEA). They can achieve this only if they clearly know and understand their obligations under the Charter, which entail the obligation to respect, protect and fulfil the rights. The Committee feels the need to clarify and interpret what constitutes CSEA for these purposes, and what States responses should at best be undertaken. There is a strong need to demystify CSEA, taking into account the cultural context of various African Communities. It is widely known that the reality in the region is that the major threat for children is abuse by people that they encounter in person on a daily basis (e.g. family members, teachers and school administrators).
3. The African Union has longed expressed concern, in different forms, about the prevalence of sexual exploitation of women and children on the continent. This has manifested, amongst others, in plans of action to reduce Gender Based violence,(1) end child marriage,(2) and to address impunity for violations committed during peace keeping operations in Africa.(3)
4. In an international context, the Sustainable Development Goals adopted by the UNGA in September 2015 include sexual exploitation as a form of violence. The implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development entails monitoring progress on both the elimination of all forms of violence against women and girls (Target 5.2) and the elimination of all forms of violence against children (Target 16.2). This also forms one of the priority goals for the Agenda 2040 adopted by this Committee in 2015 at the 25th anniversary of the Charter.
5. This General Comment is furthermore grounded in the AU Executive Council Decision which mandates “the ACERWC to scale up its work in safeguarding and promoting the rights and welfare of children in the cyberspace, namely the protection of children’s information, rights to safety, informed choices and digital literacy.” Formerly, the AU had information, rights to safety, informed choices and digital literacy.” Formerly, the AU had adopted the African Union Cyber Security and Data Protection Convention (Malabo Convention) in 2014. The Malabo Convention spells out the options for an African wide cyber security policy. It has four chapters, where chapter 3 deals with promoting cyber security and combating cybercrime. Chapter 3 Section 2 article 29 (3) is an important provision for the topic at hand. It deals with content related offences committed in cyber space concerning children and calls upon State parties to criminalize them.(4) The Malabo Convention can also be used to tackle the challenge of extraterritorial jurisdiction – chapter 3 article 28 deals with this issue (international cooperation and extra-territorial jurisdiction). The African Union also hosted a Global Summit on Online child sexual exploitation in December 2019, in collaboration with We Protect Global Alliance. Similarly, the African Commission on Human and People’s Rights developed
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(1) Maputo Plan of Action 2015-2030 (available at https://au.int/sites/default/files/documents/24099-poa_5-_ revised_clean.pdf).
(2) African common position on the AU campaign to end child marriage in Africa (available at https://au.int/ sites/default/files/documents/31010-doc-cap_on_ending_child_marriage_-english_0.pdf).
(3) African Union Policy on Prevention and Response to Sexual Exploitation and Abuse for Peace Support Operations https://reliefweb.int/report/world/african-union-policy-prevention-and-response-sexualexploitation-and-abuse-peace (December 2018).
(4) The Malabo Convention requires State Parties to criminalise the following (amongst others): (a) produce, register, offer, manufacture, make available, disseminate and transmit an image of or a representation of child pornography through a computer system; (b) procure for oneself or for another person, import or have imported, and export or have exported an image or representation of child pornography through a computer system; (c) possess an image or representation of child pornography in a computer system or on a computer data storage system.
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