Submission Link : ASA Submission link
Submission Summary:
The Special Rapporteur on child sexual exploitation undertook a Call for Input on existing and emerging sexually exploitative practices against children in the digital environment.
Anti-Slavery Australia’s submission highlights the prevalence and rise of online child sexual abuse in Australia and globally with emerging practices such as online enticement and the production of sexually exploitative content related to generative AI. The submission discusses the significant challenged faced by law enforcement in combatting child sexual exploitation and abuse in the evolving digital landscape as it relates to preventing the crime, identifying victim-survivors and detecting offenders.
The submission commends Australia’s robust online safety framework through the Online Safety Act 2021 (Cth). However, the submission finds that this ‘soft law’ approach has limitations related to the enforcement of Australian laws extraterritorially, demonstrating the regulatory gaps that still leave Australians, especially children, vulnerable to harm.
Therefore, Anti-Slavery Australia makes the following recommendations:
- Strengthening legislative and regulatory frameworks, including the regular review, reform and enforcement of robust legislative, regulatory and institutional frameworks, particularly in areas like online grooming, artificial intelligence, cryptocurrency, and social media.
- Implementation of robust data collection processes and research conducted with and by children, to inform national legislation, policy and practice.
- States to provide free, child-friendly educational resources on the appropriate use and risks of children using digital technologies, on a positive and respectful approaches to sexuality and relationships. Additionally, the submission advocates for education and training for all frontline workers to effectively identify, respond and refer children experiencing online sexual exploitation and abuse to appropriate support services.
- Increased investment into digital technologies that may support the prevention and identification of child exploitation and abuse. While supporting such investments, the submission emphasises the importance for caution and oversight around emerging technologies such as AI.
- Implementation of trauma-informed and well-funded child-specific specialist services tailored to the form of exploitations experienced and the victim-survivors’ individual needs. Such support frameworks should be multidisciplinary, multi-agency and child-friendly to prevent children’s revictimization
- States to provide children with child-sensitive and age-appropriate information on their rights and on the reporting and complaint pathways available to them in instances where their rights in relation to the digital environment have been violated.
- States to ensure adequate funding is available for pro bono legal advice and representation.
- States to establish a compensation scheme that is managed by the government from which victim-survivors can claim compensation.