Reference on Child Pornography on the Internet
Final Report
Advisory Council of Jurists
December 2000
On August 8 - 9 2000 the Advisory Council of Jurists considered two issues referred to it by
the Forum. Seven Forum members have nominated representatives to the Council. As the
most recent member to the Forum, Nepal is yet to nominate its representative to the Council.
The Jurists present at the meeting were the Honourable Justice Dame Silvia Cartwright of
New Zealand (President), Sir Ronald Wilson of Australia, Professor J E Sahetapy of
Indonesia and Mr Sedfrey Ordonez of the Philippines. The Jurists present at the meeting
decided to solicit the comments of the absent Members before distributing their final report as
they felt that the final report should reflect the views of all Members. The Council invites the
Forum to consider action it might take in light of the following recommendations.
The Council has been asked to advise on the validity of measures taken to regulate child
pornography on the internet and whether such measures can be reconciled with national and
international laws guaranteeing the rights of freedom of expression, privacy and freedom of
information.
Before deciding whether measures are valid the Council considers that it is first necessary to
define,
•
"child"; and
•
the meaning of "pornography"
Definition of child
In defining a child, the Council notes the definition in Article 1 of the Optional Protocol to the
Convention on the Rights of the Child which defines a child as a person
... below the age of eighteen years unless, under the law applicable to the
child, majority is attained earlier.
2