On January 18th and 19th, 1999, UNESCO organized a conference in Paris,. This was purportedly a "Meeting of 'Experts'" to formulate plans to combat the "danger to children of pedophilia on the Internet". From the mass of papers we give only a part.

Homepage

[Site disappeared]

This page consists of well drawn pictures of kids at some school or something, apparently looking at pictures on a computer screen, suggesting they're surfing the net. Two kids are looking at some soccer picture, one kid is looking at the Mona Lisa and the kid at the front sees the back of a naked boy. The kid behind this terminal is looking very angry and wags his finger up as if saying "this shouldn't happen." The screens have been dramatized by adding background colors and such on the soccer and Mona Lisa screens while the naked boy is shown on a completely white background.

In a box: The Convention on the Rights of the Child.

"... Protect the child from all forms of sexual exploitation and sexual abuse" Article 34

"...The child has the right to freedom of Expression" Article 13

A window for children

It is through the window that a child makes first contact with the external world -- discovering the culture of others, forming a vision of the world, building the basis of beliefs. And then having just encountered this world, a new skylight opens.

It is the television, where zapping brings the child to every part of the world and opens new magic vistas. Sometimes it also brings the violence of fiction or of reality. Hardly does the child begin to appreciate these wonders, and still another window shakes the old habits and seeks to grab attention:

Internet.

This new space for free expression keeps the child busy, alone or with others. One need only click to consult, to navigate, to communicate with someone at the other end of the world. Through this space for free expression and pleasure, the child discovers a virtual but interactive world where images flow constantly sometimes instructive, sometimes shocking.

The child has to learn to make the best use of these resources

The clickable main title brings us to:

[Site disappeared]

Here we find what we're looking for, the introduction to the conference.
Here are some quotes from the Introduction .

The problem

In responding to the views expressed by many Member States, UNESCO is deeply concerned with the problems of sexual abuse of children, child pornography and paedophilia on the Internet - because these children are at the very crossroads where education, culture, tolerance and peace should be making headway, and not the traffic of moral corruption, violence and hatred. These are the children who should be in the schools that UNESCO and its Member States seek to assist and for which the Organization seeks to provide the latest resources and techniques in education, science and culture. The minds of children are the seeding grounds for the peace of the next generation. And if these very children are corrupted in morals and their ethical sense is distorted at this very tender age, what is to become of the adults tomorrow.

[…]

Scope of the problem

The sexual abuse of children, child pornography and paedophilia on the Internet today are problems of international proportion. Through satellite, cable and the Internet, they touch all levels of society, they reach all regions, they put at risk children who should be in school and studying to contribute to their society.

The global community has recognised that children who are victimised by implicit or explicit sexual acts and recorded on camera photographically or digitally for commercial sale and distribution also face a future of psychological trauma and potential sickness. It should also be realised that repeating this audiovisual presentation over and over again to audiences of several thousands also repeats the sense of victimisation of these children.

It is estimated that many of the girls and boys trafficked for sex slavery and tourism in Asia and Africa end up victims of AIDS (over a million in South Asia alone). A proportionally high number are tempted to commit suicide.

The problem is internationally widespread. The solution must also be international, enjoining the resources and forces of all concerned. There are no excuses for sexually abusing children at any time, in any place and under any circumstances. Every child has the right to protection from cruelty, neglect and exploitation. Every child is a human being and must be respected and treated as such.

The numbers

Most of the data regarding the extent and nature of the problem have focussed on North America and Northern European regions, which have also played a key role in the production, distribution and consumption of child pornography not only in these regions but all over the world.

In developing countries, the reality of child pornography is often dwarfed by the magnitude of other problems such as poverty, infant mortality, illiteracy, hunger, and disease and often there is little reliable data on the subject. Street children, poor children, juveniles from broken homes, and disabled minors are especially vulnerable to sexual exploitation and to being seduced or coerced into the production of pornographic material.

Thus, a combination of factors -- economic, social, cultural, attitudinal -- push children to fend for themselves, often taking them into situations of exploitation. Wherever they live, problems within or among the family environment often either precede or become the causes for child abuse, neglect or exploitation. One cannot be remiss in appreciating these social factors when proposing solutions.

It has not been easy to determine how many child pornographic or paedophiliac sites there are, nor to estimate how many consult these sites deliberately every day. Simple key word searches could raise from 100,000 to over a million sites dealing with everything from sexy pinups to videos of paedophilia. But this does not take into account multiple use of keywords nor multiple referrals to the same sites. Nor do any of these counters distinguish deliberate visitors from casual or accidental visitors, or those doing research. But numbers aside, the problem of paedophilia and child pornography on the Internet does exist. Perhaps quantification is itself a problem to be analysed, tackled and referred to a competent institution.

Redefining the jargon

It is always helpful to clarify terms. The meaning of the sexual abuse of children is usually self evident, until one starts to quibble between research definitions and those used in legal work and jurisprudence. Sexual abuse of children refers to the persuading or forcing of children (as determined by the legal age of majority) to engage in implicit or explicit sexual acts, alone or with another person of any age, of the same sex or the opposite sex.

Most dictionaries define paedophilia as a sexual aberration or perversion in which the preferred sexual objects are prepubescent children, usually under the age of 13. Paedophilia is thus a synonym for the sexual abuse of children. Because this is usually understood as a psychiatric description, law enforcement agents often employ a broader definition of paedophilia to include adults who have a sexual attraction for persons legally considered children.

The question of what constitutes child pornography can be complex. The standards applied are often subjective and contingent upon moral, cultural, sexual, social and religious beliefs that differ from country to country and sometimes among different societies in the same country. Nor do these mores readily translate into law in the strictly juridical sense. Legal definitions of both child and child pornography differ globally and may differ among legal jurisdictions within the same country.

However, the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, now adopted by 191 Member States, provides an international definition of the Child as being anyone under 18. The Council of Europe defines child pornography in broad terms as any audiovisual material which uses children in a sexual context. The International Criminal Police Organisation (INTERPOL) defines child pornography as the visual depiction of the sexual exploitation of a child, focussing on the child's sexual behaviour or genitals.

For this meeting, it is difficult to separate any one of the three aspects of the meeting title for an exclusive discussion. The three aspects must be considered together: child pornography and paedophilia on the Internet are two mediatized aspects of the one evil, the sexual abuse of children.

The paedophile

Child exploiters, paedophiles and pornographers represent a cross-section of the larger community including highly esteemed members of the population. Furthermore, they frequently seek occupations that bring them into habitual contact with children, such as schools, social centres, orphanages. Such sex exploiters frequently target neighbourhood children or those with whom they have contact through their occupation.

It is important to note that child pornography serves significant purposes for both paedophiles and child molesters. Child Pornography and paedophilia on the Internet are usually sought to aid an adults sexual arousal and gratification; or to reassure him or her that their behaviour is shared by thousands of others and therefore not abnormal; to seduce children thus lowering their inhibitions and grooming them to model their sexual behaviour along this orientation; to blackmail the child into keeping silent about the abuse; to share audiovisual images of paedophilia with other paedophiles; and commercially to make profits. Paedophiles and child molesters often possess large collections of child pornography that are meticulously catalogued and carefully guarded. The incidence of women paedophiles, however, is rare.

[…]

"This worldwide initiative follows UNESCO Director-General Federico Mayors declaration of 20 July 1998 on the need for urgent action against the "unthinkable perversity" of paedophiles and the sexual and commercial exploitation of children and adolescents that he considers to be "crimes against humanity". On that occasion, Mr. Mayor expressed support for an international observatory on abuses committed against children."