Barbara Lambourn*

This op-ed was originally published in the Manawatu Standard, 13 February 2010. It is republished here courtesy of the Manawatu Standard.

The sordid and repugnant world of internet-based exploitation of children has been brought home to New Zealanders once again in the case of a prominent citizen of Manawatu, convicted of downloading more than 300,000 pornographic images, including images of children.

The sentence of four months’ home detention and suppression of his name generated widespread controversy. We can only assume that the judge made careful consideration of the situation and acted in the interests of protection for the man’s family and for his position in the community.

The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, an international treaty that New Zealand signed up to in 1993 obligates our agencies of the State to act always in the best interests of children.

Internet-based child pornography is a growing and increasingly alarming phenomenon. There is no count of the victims of this appalling crime – but a 2009 report from the UN Children’s Fund estimates millions of victims and says that boys and girls of all ages and backgrounds and in every region of the world are subjected to this type of sexual abuse and exploitation.

A Swedish group working to combat the spread of the practice warns that new technology gives people who are sexually interested in children a new medium to network, share information and fantasies and normalise their behaviour.

UNICEF holds firmly to the view that any child pornography is extremely harmful to every child, regardless of the source of the images and no matter where those children live.  The attitudes and behaviour of consumers of child pornography puts all children, including children in this country, at risk. This is a borderless crime. Behind every single one of those images is a real child – hopefully and thankfully not yours or mine but like every child, one who looks to the adult world to demonstrate what a world fit for children should deliver.  

The creators and clientele of the child pornography industry are unrelenting in their pursuit of ever fresher, ever younger victims. Especially concerning is that in most cases no one knows who or where these children are and rescuing them from the horror of their exploitation is deeply challenging for the responsible authorities.

It is not beyond the realms of possibility that images such as in the Manawatu case could be generated in this country. There is nothing to tell us that it is not so. In 2005 a visiting UN expert, Sigma Huda, warned that human trafficking, pornography’s evil cousin, was probably far more prevalent in New Zealand than most people realise. UNICEF is aware that trafficking is the third largest criminal activity in the world – narrowly edged out by the illegal arms and drugs trades. There is also evidence that major events, with an influx of entertainment-thirsty visitors, increase demand for products of the trafficker and the pornographer. Next year’s Rugby World Cup may offer such prospects.

New Zealand is part of the global effort to combat such activities and our Internal Affairs Department has been at the forefront of the worldwide co-operative effort to locate and bring purveyors of pornographic material to account. Their innovative Super Squirrel Hunter software has been customized for more than 20 other countries and is hailed as a major tool in the campaign.

In the 2009 calendar year the department entered 45 prosecutions for offences under the Films, Videos, and Publications Classification Act 1993. Further cases were brought by the Police and Customs.

But the practice will continue until there is widespread awareness and acknowledgement that wherever such images originate, children are being severely harmed. Unreserved condemnation of the activities must be reflected at all levels of our community and legislative systems.

People who live in New Zealand and who commit sexual offences against children in other countries can be prosecuted and called to account in courts here. So it seems reasonable that offences against children through internet based exploitation should be penalized in the same way regardless of where the images of those children originate.

A central tenet of the worldwide child protection movement is that no violence against children can ever be justified. Creating, viewing, profiting from or condoning child pornography is an extreme violation of children’s rights to safety and protection.

Our mission at UNICEF, along with others in the child rights sector, is to make the world a safe and suitable place for children. The message that there is no safe haven for creators and consumers of child pornography must be promoted and acted upon by adults responsible for the world that children live in.

*Barbara Lambourn is UNICEF NZ’s National Advocacy Manager.