Human rights Council

Statement by Ambassador Warren W. Tichenor
on the Report of the Special Rapporteur on the Sale of Children,
Child Prostitution and Child Pornography

Monday, September 25, 2006

Thank you, Mr. President.

The United States welcomes Mr. Petit’s report.

We are particularly appreciative of his very apt decision to focus on the demand factor in the commercial exploitation of children. We agree with him that additional attention is needed to this crucial aspect of the problem.

The United States is proud to be a State Party to the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on this subject. We are grateful that the report notes the extensive actions that my government – and others – have taken to combat this scourge.

We have two comments related to this report:

• First, we appreciate its mention of the problem of child sex tourism, a shameful assault on the dignity of children and a form of violent child abuse with devastating consequences for its victims. It would be useful if the Special Rapporteur could in the future expand on his views of the measures that states should take on a priority basis in this area.
  
  
• Second, we have noted the Special Rapporteur’s stated intention to coordinate his work closely with the Special Rapporteur on Trafficking in Persons. This makes particular sense to us because there are many similarities between the two mandates. We would like to know more about his plans to coordinate with Ms. Sigma Huda.
  
  
  
  

Thank you very much, Mr. President.