STOP CHILD LABOR:

 

FROM EXPLOITATION TO EDUCATION

Terry R. Lord, Chief

Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section

Criminal Division

United States Department

June 22, 2000

Washington, D.C. 

Panel: Bringing it Home:

A U.S. Response to the Worst Forms of Child Labor

Introductory statement

§ Pleasure to be here and join forces with the Child Labor Coalition, Department of Labor in our mission against the exploitation of children and what the ILO Convention # 182 means to the Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section of the Criminal Division of the Department of Justice.

§ We recognize that the fight to protect children cannot be accomplished by any one office or Department or substantive area alone and so this invitation is most welcome.

CEOS’ involvement on the ILO Convention Means to CEOS

In 1998 the Department of Labor, International Labor Affairs Bureau, Child Study Section, approached us to work on ILO Convention # 182.   I was a little surprised because we don’t think about the activities of the section as addressing labor.  We were initially concerned about calling commercial sexual exploitation of minors a form of child labor because we were wary of any claims to legitimate work being raised.  Our colleagues at the Department of Labor convinced us that they too abhor the activities of child exploitation, and that the ILO Convention would address exploitation not as a legitimate form of labor but as part of  the illicit activities of what is called the sex industry.  So, we joined in the background work on the worst forms of child labor as articulated in ILO Convention 182 and were very pleased to be invited to work on that project.  Combined with the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child Optional Protocol on the Sale of Children, we have strong international statements against the sexual exploitation of children.

If Pornography and Prostitution of Youth are not Labor what are they?

For us at CEOS, there is a long history of simply calling these forms of child labor what they really are -  molestation and exploitation.  The basic statutes have been on the books for decades.  And lately every year, Congress and the Administration have reviewed the statutes to keep up with technology and ways in which we view exploitation.   The States also have responsibilities in protecting youth from commercial and noncommercial sexual molestation.  Two  basic tenets of these statutes are that one cannot consent to being exploited and sexual abuse of minors is a crime.  The producers of child pornography and the trafficker in youth for prostitution are both subject to prosecution for violating minors because these are really strict liability crimes.  Section 3 of Convention # 182 specifically outlines two types of sexual exploitation as among the worst forms of child labor - child pornography and youth prostitution – prosecuting those who exploit minors in through sexual exploitation is what we do.

The exchange of money or shelter or other commodities doesn’t turn sexual molestation into labor.  This is nothing more than trying to purchase the child’s consent to be molested.  This exchange of money or other benefits to the child is merely a way of exerting more power and control over the child and for the offender to rationalize his behavior.  It cannot be tolerated because the actual sexual contact between the child and the adult portrayed in the pornography is sexual abuse and is outlawed in all 50 states.

We take a strong position against youth prostitution.  We also know that even where adult prostitution is legal, in several counties in Nevada as well as in a few European countries, child prostitution is illegal.  It is a form of sexual molestation of children and not a legitimate form of labor.  Each customer contributes to this crime and continues to endanger the lives of the victims.  Recruiters or traffickers or pimps choose the children and youth to “work” or offer themselves in commercial sexual activities based on vulnerability, economic conditions.  They disregard the health and safety of youth by exposing them to violence, sexually transmitted diseases, and the psychological trauma of repeated victimization.  No matter what role the youth has in participating in the sexual activities, we view them as victims and witnesses.  We have been successful in prosecuting recruiters and pimps for what they really do - enable others to engage in molestation of minors.  Trafficking youth for sexual activity either within the United States or between countries exploits vulnerable youth.  In some countries, youth are easily victimized because of their dire economic conditions.  Younger and younger children are being recruited into these activities.  Some exploiters rationalize their payment to minors for sexual services believing they are helping the child and his/her family economically.  This is not a justification; they are still molesters and should be prosecuted.  We are working with other countries to bring those who molest children to justice.  Americans and others who travel abroad, sometimes called sex tourists, for sex cannot escape paying for their crimes.  ILO Convention # 182 is a reminder to countries to work together against this type of exploitation. Why child pornography is a crime: Child pornography is the memorialization of the molestation of a child.  The production of the picture and the molestation are only a portion of the crimes.  The pictures may then be sent to others or traded.  These activities perpetuate the initial molestation indefinitely.  Possession, receipt, distribution and production of child pornography are all illegal in the United States.  United States federal law on child pornography covers at least what was outlined in ILO # 182 if not more.  Three federal law enforcement agencies, the FBI, US Customs Service and the US Postal Inspection Service, as well as a myriad of local and state agencies, are working to uncover child pornography crimes. The number of prosecutions in recent years is in the hundreds.

Commercial Sexual Exploitation in the Age of Computers

The ILO Convention does not specifically address the computer age but our statutes have kept pace with the use of computers.  The Internet has changed the means by which offenders receive and send and even produce child pornography.  The ease of communication and the perceived anonymity are part of what we see as a burgeoning problem.  The Internet means that child pornography can be sent around the world instantaneously.  The digital camera means that no film needs to be developed.  This is important because film developers have often reported production cases based on film brought or sent to them to develop.

The exploitation of minors is continuous and the number of images found on the internet increases as we speak.  The proliferation of users, numbers of images, and the children involved has unfortunately become a big business.  For instance, collectors of child pornography have been able to post a request on a website for whatever type of child pornography they want.  The website then served as a broker sending the request to its customers to fill the request.  There were more than 35,000 individuals using this website! 

Operation Cheshire Cat: Trading and collecting child pornography is not confined to the United States or Western countries.  In another operation we worked with law enforcement in 14 other countries to stop an international ring trading in child pornography.  In order to participate in this ring, an individual had to have a collection of at least 10,000 images and be able to trade images with others.  This raised the stakes for the collector to get more and more child pornography involved activities in many countries around the world with a number of offenders here in the United States.

 Molesters and exploiters also use the chat rooms on the Internet to trade stories about molestation and information about where to find vulnerable victims and how to entice them to submit to the production of child pornography or to molestation.  And now, through the use of the most developed equipment, the interactive computer systems, a computer user may participate remotely in the online molestation of a minor.  The molester on the scene uses a video machine or digital camera to record his sexual exploitation of a minor and transmit the acts through his computer.  At the same time other offenders may be viewing the molestation live on their own computers.  They may, by voice or electronic messaging, then provide suggested acts for the minor to perform and thereby take part in the actual exploitation simultaneously.

Education

 The title of your biennial conference is From Exploitation to Education.  Let me address the last word.  Education takes many forms in our work.  First and foremost we are directly involved in the education and training of law enforcement whose job it is to be up to date on how to investigate these cases and what new means offenders are using to contact children and try to avoid detection.  The attorneys in my section work with federal and local law enforcement on training officers and prosecutors on the state of the law, new technology and applications to child pornography and trafficking.  With each change in technology, law enforcement is confronted with new methods by which the exploiters approach youth. 

Today’s conference is a part of education as well - broadening what we know about our own field of work and your work.  Interdisciplinary conferences help us all in understanding the issues and developing agendas and programs to do together in our efforts against sexual exploitation.  Along with the Austrians, we participated in an international conference on Child Pornography in 1999 in Vienna.  Attended by many countries, this type of conference involved training along with informative sessions on the topic.  We plan to contribute to these types of activities whenever possible.  We hope to contribute to your conferences as well in the future.

Promoting public awareness is part of how we can jointly address the exploitation of children and youth.  There are a number of brochures (SHOW THEM) which are available on the subject of Safety on the Internet.  We encourage you to examine them and use them as part of protecting children from predators.  We use these brochures in our training programs for law enforcement and when we give talks in local communities. We can deter youth from the lures of the exploiters with these efforts.

Well-informed parents, educators, youth service workers and community can together prevent sexual exploitation.

But we won’t always be able to protect and prevent every youth from being exploited.  We need to work with you and others on programs to rehabilitate and redirect youth who have fallen prey to the advances of the exploiters.  These youth, vulnerable to begin with, need our mutual assistance to become reintegrated into the mainstream and be back on the right track.  Many youth who are lured into prostitution have dropped out of school and have no other skills than selling themselves.  As I mentioned earlier we treat these youth as victims and witnesses - we have special provisions for their care in the criminal justice system.  But when the case is over and the defendant is incarcerated our joint efforts on the youth’s behalf should not be over.  It is at this point, if not before, that education and vocational skills are important.  We don’t want to see these same youth as victims again nor to see them as future defendants.  They need to gain the confidence to obtain employment, and the education to function in today’s world.  We look to you to help us provide them with that training so rather than engaging in the worst forms of child labor they can contribute to the legitimate labor field.

Closing