This groundbreaking report, often referred to as ICMEC's Rule of Law project, analyzes child sexual abuse material (CSAM) legislation in 196 countries around the world, and offers a “menu” of concepts to be considered when drafting anti-CSAM legislation. First released in April 2006, the report is currently in its 10^th edition. The latest edition's findings show that since inception 150 countries have refined or implemented new anti-CSAM legislation, 140 countries criminalize simple CSAM possession, 125 countries define CSAM, and only 32 countries require ISP reporting of suspected CSAM.Read More

February 2023, ICMEC Report - Protecting children against sexual offences in ASEAN Member States An overview and analysis of the current legal framework for the protection of children against sexual exploitation and abuse in ASEAN Member States. Published by the International Centre for Missing & Exploited Children and Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer.Read More

October 2021 (ICMEC, Romulo Mabanta Buenaventura Sayoc & Delos Angeles) The purpose of this paper is to strengthen the child protection legal framework such that it leaves no child in the Philippines vulnerable to sexual exploitation and abuse. The analysis and recommendations reflect the real-world challenges faced by dozens of professionals navigating the, admittedly, robust child protection legal framework in the Philippines, and recommendations from a diverse stakeholder group that supports the child protection agenda. The paper enumerates several impediments faced by law enforcement, regulators, policymakers, private industry, civil society, and others to advance effective action to combat this crime. Through practical recommendations, we endeavor to detail the current legal statutes that hinder or collectively challenge operational action by the diverse stakeholder group. We respectfully urge policymakers in the Philippines Congress to take up the cause and support the review, revision, and/or drafting of new legislation that will address the challenges identified to close the gaps that still exist leaving our children vulnerable.Read More

This groundbreaking report, often referred to as ICMEC's Rule of Law project, analyzes child sexual abuse material (CSAM) legislation in 196 countries around the world, and offers a “menu” of concepts to be considered when drafting anti-CSAM legislation. First released in April 2006, the report is currently in its 9^th edition. The latest edition's findings show that since inception 150 countries have refined or implemented new anti-CSAM legislation, 140 countries criminalize simple CSAM possession, 125 countries define CSAM, and only 32 countries require ISP reporting of suspected CSAM. For a brief overview of the 9^th edition click here.Read More

(ICMEC) - The Internet has global reach, which fuels the need for international legal cooperation to develop more stringent, overt laws to protect children from technology-facilitated child sex trafficking. While vast research exists regarding child sex trafficking broadly, this paper specifically focuses on: how and why technology is increasingly used to recruit, advertise, and send/receive payments for child sex trafficking; examining available international and regional legal instruments; reviewing a sampling of relevant national legislation; presenting model legislative language for consideration; and discussing the role of the technology and financial industries to deter traffickers from misusing their platforms to sexually exploit children.Read More

(ICMEC) Developed as a supplement to Child Pornography: Model Legislation & Global Review, this unique review looks at whether the 161 countries having anti-child pornography legislation in place as of the release of the 8^th Edition of the Model Legislation report are taking steps to support their national legislation. ICMEC assessed implementation efforts using a menu of concepts – 7 benchmarks – that represent well-rounded national responses. The report contains a detailed explanation of the benchmarks along with country-specific information.Read More

(ICMEC, UNICEF) The primary objective of these guidelines is to determine whether laws and policies exist in Latin America that address prevention, reporting mechanisms, tools, and specialized units for the investigation and prosecution of crimes related to online child sexual abuse and exploitation through the review of the regulatory frameworks in each country. The guidelines are intended to be used by relevant stakeholders including law enforcement, investigators, prosecutors, judges, and governmental and non-governmental organizations seeking to promote reform in legislation and in their fields of action, as well as to advocate for the development and reform of policies concerning prevention, victim assistance, and investigation of production, sale, distribution, and possession of child sexual abuse material.Read More

(UNICEF) UNICEF commissioned this report to better understand online risks faced by children, identify gaps in legislation, ensure removal of harmful materials, support investigation and law enforcement and to identify services for victims of online exploitation and abuse. The aim was to identify priorities for government, NGOs, IT companies and other international agencies and determine appropriate interventions.Read More

(ICMEC) This report was undertaken within the scope of a grant from the U.S. Department of State, U.S. Embassy in Moscow, with a focus on the issues of missing and exploited children. This report reviews current legislation, policies, and best practices related to missing children in six countries: Belarus, Canada, Finland, Kazakhstan, Russia, and the United States. While not representative of a single region, ICMEC reviewed legislation, policies, and practices in Russia and the United States (per the terms of the grant) along with a sampling of countries nearby to each, including post-Soviet countries and others, in an effort to review a variety of approaches and possible scenarios. The report contains country-specific information – including legislation, policies, and practices – along with a gap analysis and recommendations for developing and strengthening existing mechanisms in each of these countries.Read More

(ICMEC) This report, the second in the series, reviews current legislation, policies, and best practices related to missing children in ten Southeast Asian countries, as determined by their membership in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN): Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Lao People’s Democratic Republic (also referred to as Lao PDR or Laos), Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam. This report contains a regional review and country-specific information – including legislation, policies, and practices – along with a gap analysis and regional recommendations for developing and strengthening existing mechanisms concerning missing and abducted children in Southeast Asia.Read More

(ICMEC, The World Bank, Associação dos Juízes Federais da Primeira Região do Brasil) In the framework of the Global Forum on Law, Justice and Development, ICMEC, The World Bank and Associação dos Juízes Federais da Primeira Região do Brasil published a Latin America regional study on legislative responses for the protection of children from violence through Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) in response to a growing concern over the use of ICTs to commit violence against children.

(ICMEC, The World Bank) In the framework of the Global Forum on Law, Justice and Development, ICMEC and The World Bank published an Asian regional study on legislative responses for the protection of children from violence through Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) in response to a growing concern over the use of ICTs to commit violence against children.Read More

(ICMEC) This white paper reviews the reasons why the Russian Federation has delayed ratification of the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the Sale of Children, Child Prostitution and Child Pornography and the Council of Europe Convention on the Protection of Children against Sexual Exploitation and Sexual Abuse and attempts to determine the primary challenges for bringing Russian law in line with these international instruments.Read More

(ICMEC, The Protection Project) This is a comprehensive model law on protecting children from all forms of neglect, abuse, maltreatment and exploitation which incorporates international standards and best practices of child protection, based on the protection measures of CRC and its two optional protocols and citing 130 domestic laws from 68 countries.Read More