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Abuse against children - unlawful images

From the statement of Carmen Madrinan - Executive Director - ECPAT International

The recording of abuse against a child advances power and control to the abuser. The impact on the child is profound and cannot be underestimated. It creates a fear that then opens opportunities for the child to be exploited in many other ways. The ease, speed and extent of instantaneous distribution of abuse materials serves further to consolidate an abuser's power over a child. Often, images of the abuse are then used to lower the defences of another child who is being prepared, or "groomed", for abuse. Of great concern are advances in technology that enable sexual violence against a child to be organised to occur live online, in real-time, whereby multiple abusers may participate from different physical locations across the world. Another concern...is that child sexual abuse images and other pornographic materials are commonly used as a sex education tool that inducts young people into perceiving human relationships in light of these representations. (p. 4)

From Violence Against Children in Cyberspace: A contribution to the United Nations Study on Violence against Children, ECPAT International, September 2005. ISBN: 974-93664-1-7.