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	Guidelines on combating child sexual exploitation and the sale of children in the digital age by UN Committee on the Rights of the Child   The United Nations Committee which monitors the Convention on the Rights of the Child has launched new guidelines designed to help States better implement the Convention's Optional Protocol on the Sale of Children, Child Prostitution and Child Pornography.   The Guidelines drawn up by the place a particular focus on the specific new threats confronting children all across the world as a result of digital technologies such as the internet and social media.   Rapidly evolving information and communication technologies have provided sexual offenders with a variety of new opportunities and means to abuse children. They are being used to groom children for sexual purposes; to view and participate in online child sexual abuse via live video streaming; to distribute child sexual abuse material, including self-generated content resulting from sexting; and to commit sexual extortion.   Offenders are connecting and sharing encrypted information with one another, and using the 'darknet' to commit or facilitate offences covered by the Optional Protocol.   This presents new and complex challenges for law enforcement. In a world where internet access is expanding at unprecedented levels, the risk of children being sexually exploited, or of being bought and sold as a commodity, both within and across national borders, has been growing at an alarming rate.   The Guidelines aim to foster a deeper understanding of the provisions of the Optional Protocol, and offer practical solutions based on the good practices and challenges that States have encountered in its implementation.   They are designed to assist the 176 States that have ratified the Optional Protocol so far - as well as those which accede to it in the future, to implement its provisions effectively.   The Guidelines also address the role played by the private sector and States obligation to ensure companies and other private sector entities take action to prevent the sexual exploitation of children.   'The Guidelines cover prevention, prohibition of the sale of children and their sexual exploitation for prostitution and in pornography, measures to prevent impunity of perpetrators and measures to support and rehabilitate child victims', said the Committee's Chair, Luis Pedernera.   'We believe they can be of considerable help to States in their efforts to combat these atrocious crimes which continue to blight the lives of so many children across the world. This is no longer a case of an occasional hidden offender living at the bottom of the street. It is now a case of a multitude of offenders on the other side of the world who can reach directly inside our homes in order to corrupt and destroy our children's lives. This is a battle we simply cannot afford to lose'.   # The Guidelines regarding the implementation of the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography were adopted by the Committee on the Rights of the Child at its 81st session (May 2019). They are now available: http://bit.ly/2ly2udJ Visit the related web page
	5 shocking facts about extreme global inequality by Oxfam International   Extreme inequality is out of control. Hundreds of millions of people are living in extreme poverty while huge rewards go to those at the very top. There are more billionaires than ever before, and their fortunes have grown to record levels. Meanwhile, the world’s poorest got even poorer.   Many governments are fueling this inequality crisis. They are massively under taxing corporations and wealthy individuals, yet underfunding vital public services like healthcare and education.   These policies hit the poor hardest. The human costs are devastating, with women and girls suffering the most. Despite their huge contribution to our societies through unpaid care work, they are among those who benefit the least from today's economic system.   1. Lining the pockets of the world’s billionaires. The very top of the economic pyramid sees trillions of dollars of wealth in the hands of a very small group of people, predominantly men, whose fortune and power grow exponentially.   Billionaires have now more wealth than the 4.6 billion people who make up 60 percent of the planet’s population. Meanwhile, around 735 million people are still living in extreme poverty. Many others are just one hospital bill or failed harvest away from slipping into it.   2. Wealth undertaxed. While the richest continue to enjoy booming fortunes, they are also enjoying some of the lowest levels of tax in decades – as are the corporations that they own. Instead taxes are falling disproportionately on working people.   When governments undertax the rich, there's less money for vital services like healthcare and education, increasing the amount of care work that falls on the shoulders of women and girls.   3. Underfunded public services. At the same time, public services are suffering from chronic underfunding or being outsourced to private companies that exclude the poorest people. In many countries a decent education or quality healthcare has become a luxury only the rich can afford. It has profound implications for the future of our children and the opportunities they will have to live a better and longer life.   4. Denied a longer life. In most countries having money is a passport to better health and a longer life, while being poor all too often means more sickness and an earlier grave. People from poor communities can expect to die ten or twenty years earlier than people in wealthy areas. In developing countries, a child from a poor family is twice as likely to die before the age of five than a child from a rich family.   5. Inequality is sexist. With less income and fewer assets than men, women make up the greatest proportion of the world’s poorest households, and that proportion is growing. They are more likely to be found in poorly paid and precarious employment, supporting the market economy with cheap or free labor.   They are also supporting the state through billions of hours of unpaid or underpaid care work, a huge but unrecognized contribution to our societies and economic prosperity.   http://www.oxfam.org/en/5-shocking-facts-about-extreme-global-inequality-and-how-even-it http://www.oxfam.org/en/tags/inequality Visit the related web page
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