The Lanzarote Committee of the Council of Europe has embarked on a new monitoring round under its Convention on the Protection of Children against Sexual Exploitation and Sexual Abuse (“the Lanzarote Convention”). The new round will focus on protecting children against sexual exploitation and abuse facilitated by information and communication technologies (ICTs).
Constantly and rapidly evolving ICTs have created new means for sexual offenders to target and harm children. Children are increasingly using ICTs, in particular social media and mobile messaging. They are often unaware that the images and videos they produce for fun and/or for sharing with friends may be used, without their consent, by offenders to sexually coerce them or extort benefits (money or other) from them under the threat of sharing this material.
