VATICAN CITY:
Nobel Peace Laureate Kailash Satyarthi met Pope Francis in Vatican City earlier today seeking support for a New Legally Binding International Law against Online Child Sexual Abuse.
The Holy Father has extended his full cooperation and support to Kailash Satyarthi towards this endeavor and all other associated recommendations that are mentioned in the summary of discussion presented in this press note. Pope has already appointed an Officer from the Vatican to coordinate with Kailash Satyarthi Children’s Foundation to work in this direction. The Nobel Peace Laureate is building a global movement for an international law and response mechanism against digital and online forms of child sexual exploitation and abuse. In this regard he is meeting all stakeholders irrespective of caste, creed, religion, ethnicity, political affinity and nationality. Notably the Indian Government banned 857 pornographic websites in October following the demand that Kailash Satyarthi had made at Nagpur earlier last month for ending online child sexual abuse and child pornography.
Following is the summary of the discussion that ensued between Nobel Peace Laureate and The Holy Father:
Nobel Peace Laureate, Kailash Satyarthi sought support from His Holiness for a legally binding global UN Convention against online child sexual abuse, backed by a new Global Task Force against online child pornography, child sexual abuse and child trafficking to provide victims with holistic support.
Notably he has been demanding for a new convention since over a year now. Nobel Peace Laureate has already written to all Heads of States with his appeal for a new convention. This request has also been submitted to the UN Secretary General and the OECD. In fact this was one of the key demands of Kailash Satyarthi led Nobel Laureates and Global Leaders’ summit held in Jordan earlier in March 2018;
Given that online crimes transcend across borders, extraterritorial jurisdiction for the proposed law is absolutely essential, emphasized Satyarthi;
Satyarthi also put forth the necessity for a dedicated international toll-free helpline for reporting cases related to online child sexual abuse under the supervision of International Criminal Police Organization (Interpol)/ or any other relevant agency;
Noteworthy is the fact that Pope Francis has summoned the Presidents of Catholic Bishops conferences worldwide to the Vatican in February 2019 to discuss protecting children and preventing sexual abuse by priests. The meeting, on Feb. 21-24, is believed to be the first of its kind and comes amid growing child sex-abuse cases dating back decades.
Satyarthi thanked him for all efforts being made against rampant child sexual abuse in the Church and other associated institutions and expressed hope that a clear roadmap for preventing child sexual abuse by priests emerges out of the global meeting of the Presidents of Catholic Bishops. Pope assured to Kailash Satyarthi that this would be a practical meeting to effectively address this burgeoning issue.
The Nobel Peace Laureate further called upon all religious leaders across faiths to ensure that not only the institutions are cleaned up and the followers be constructively engaged for the protection of children. We must ensure that sexual abuse and exploitation of our most vulnerable children is never repeated.
Kailash Satyarthi also sought support of Pope Francis for his ongoing global efforts to end child trafficking, slavery and all forms of violence against children in an endeavor to ensure their peace, freedom, safety, health and education.
Emphasizing upon the constructive role that youth leadership can play in ending violence against children, The Nobel Peace Laureate also apprised him about the unique 100 million for 100 million campaign. This campaign initiated by Satyarthi in 2016 endeavors that 100 million privileged youths and children world over stand together with their 100 million not so privileged peers and support their efforts to move from slavery, danger, violence and despair to freedom, safety, peace and hope.
Apprising him about yet another unique intervention to bring in global policy changes for ending violence against children, Satyarthi spoke how the platform Laureates and Leaders for Children that came into existence in 2016 is building a sense of urgency, collective responsibility and a strong moral voice to galvanize political will to protect the rights of the most marginalized children of the world.
On Universal Children’s Day (20 November 2018) Kailash Satyarthi will be meeting some distinguished Interfaith Leaders, in particular Top Islamic Clerics during the ‘Child Dignity in the Digital World’ conference in Abu Dhabi that he will be addressing raising a clarion call for his demand for a new UN convention against online child sexual abuse.
