It will surprise many to learn that child pornography is considered a form of commercial sexual exploitation of children (CSEC) but not human trafficking. In the 2009 Trafficking in Persons Report, the United States Department of State proclaimed that "CSEC includes all child prostitution as well as child pornography. This is not human trafficking per se, as some forms of CSEC such as child pornography are not always a form of human trafficking."
Sadly, the Department of State is right as far as pertaining to child trafficking for the purpose of sexual exploitation. The United States Trafficking Victims Protection Act 2000, as amended, (TVPA) defines severe forms of trafficking in persons as:
"sex trafficking in which a commercial sex act is induced by force, fraud, or coercion, or in which the person induced to perform such act has not attained 18 years of age"
The TVPA further defines a commercial sex act as:
"any sex act on account of which anything of value is given to or received by any person."
The term sexual act is defined in Title 18 of the United States Criminal Code Section 2246 as penetration, oral sex and intentional touching. So what of instances of child pornography that involve naked pictures of children who are posing and not engaged in sex acts? Under the TVPA these would not be instances of severe forms of trafficking in persons!
Although child pornography is a form of child trafficking for the purpose of forced labor, it should also be included in the definition of child trafficking for sexual exploitation. Congress should amend the TVPA (now called the William Wilberforce Act) to specifically include child pornography in the definition of severe forms of trafficking in persons for sexual exploitation.
Regardless of any change in the William Wilberforce Act, the Department of State must understand that trafficking children for the purpose of producing pornography is human trafficking.
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