Child sexual abuse Warning: You are not logged in. Your IP address will be publicly visible if you make any edits. If you log in or create an account, your edits will be attributed to your username, along with other benefits.Anti-spam check. Do not fill this in! ==International law== {{Main|Laws regarding child sexual abuse}} Child sexual abuse is outlawed nearly everywhere in the world, generally with severe criminal penalties, including in some jurisdictions, [[Life sentence|life imprisonment]] or [[capital punishment]].<ref name=Levesque>{{Cite book |title= Sexual Abuse of Children: A Human Rights Perspective |last= Levesque |first= Roger J. R. |publisher= Indiana University Press |year= 1999 |pages= [https://archive.org/details/sexualabuseofchi0000leve/page/1 1,5β6,176β180] |quote= The world community recently has recognized every child's fundamental human right to protection from sexual maltreatment. This right has been expressed in recent declarations, conventions, and programs of action. Indeed, the right to protection from sexual maltreatment is now entrenched so strongly in international human rights law that no country can relinquish its obligation. |isbn= 978-0-253-33471-8 |url= https://archive.org/details/sexualabuseofchi0000leve/page/1 }}</ref><ref name=UNchildren>{{cite web|url=http://www2.ohchr.org/english/law/crc.htm |title=United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child |publisher=Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights |year=1989 |quote=Parties shall take all appropriate legislative, administrative, social and educational measures to protect the child from all forms of physical or mental violence, injury or abuse, neglect or negligent treatment, maltreatment or exploitation, including sexual abuse ... States Parties undertake to protect the child from all forms of sexual exploitation and sexual abuse. For these purposes, States Parties shall in particular take all appropriate national, bilateral and multilateral measures to prevent: (a) The inducement or coercion of a child to engage in any unlawful sexual activity; (b) The exploitative use of children in prostitution or other unlawful sexual practices; (c) The exploitative use of children in pornographic performances and materials. |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100611182141/http://www2.ohchr.org/english/law/crc.htm |archive-date=2010-06-11 }}</ref> An adult's sexual intercourse with someone below the legal [[age of consent]] is defined as [[statutory rape]],<ref>''Black's Law Dictionary 8th Edition''. '''child''', "at common law, a person who has not reached the age of 14." ''See also'' definition under '''rape''' "carnal knowledge of a child is frequently declared to be rape by statute."</ref> based on the principle that a child is not capable of consent and that any apparent consent by a child is not considered to be [[Legal consent#Sex|legal consent]]. The United Nations [[Convention on the Rights of the Child]] (CRC) is an international [[treaty]] that legally obliges states to protect children's rights. Articles 34 and 35 of the CRC require states to protect children from all forms of sexual exploitation and sexual abuse. This includes outlawing the coercion of a child to perform sexual activity, the [[prostitution of children]], and the [[child pornography|exploitation of children in creating pornography]]. States are also required to prevent the abduction, sale, or trafficking of children.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.unhchr.ch/html/menu3/b/k2crc.htm|title=unhchr.ch|website=www.unhchr.ch}}</ref> As of November 2008, 193 countries are bound by the CRC,<ref name=untreaty>United Nations Treaty Collection. ''[http://treaties.un.org/Pages/ViewDetails.aspx?src=IND&id=132&chapter=4&lang=en Convention on the Rights of the Child ] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150122055936/https://treaties.un.org/Pages/ViewDetails.aspx?src=IND&id=132&chapter=4&lang=en |date=2015-01-22 }}''. Retrieved on 26 November 2008.</ref> including every member of the [[United Nations]] except the [[United States]] and [[South Sudan]].<ref>United Nations Treaty Collection. ''[http://treaties.un.org/Pages/ViewDetails.aspx?src=TREATY&mtdsg_no=IV-11&chapter=4&lang=en Convention on the Rights of the Child] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140211151110/https://treaties.un.org/pages/viewdetails.aspx?src=treaty&mtdsg_no=iv-11&chapter=4&lang=en |date=2014-02-11 }}''. Retrieved 21 May 2009.</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Government of Somalia ratifies UN Convention on the Rights of the Child|url=http://www.unicef.org/media/media_78732.html?p=printme|publisher=UNICEF|access-date=20 January 2015}}</ref> The Council of Europe has adopted the [[Council of Europe Convention on the Protection of Children against Sexual Exploitation and Sexual Abuse]] in order to prohibit child sexual abuse that occurs within home or family. In the [[European Union]], child sexual abuse is subject to a [[Directive (European Union)|directive]].<ref>DIRECTIVE 2011/92/EU OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL of 13 December 2011 on combating the sexual abuse and sexual exploitation of children and child pornography, and replacing Council Framework Decision 2004/68/JHA [http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=OJ:L:2011:335:0001:0014:EN:PDF Eur-lex.europa.eu]</ref> This directive deals with several forms of sexual abuse of children, especially [[commercial sexual exploitation of children]]. Summary: Please note that all contributions to Christianpedia may be edited, altered, or removed by other contributors. If you do not want your writing to be edited mercilessly, then do not submit it here. You are also promising us that you wrote this yourself, or copied it from a public domain or similar free resource (see Christianpedia:Copyrights for details). Do not submit copyrighted work without permission! 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