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WORLD DAY FOR PREVENTION OF CHILD ABUSE - NOVEMBER 19, 2004

REAL Women joined in a global partnership to raise awareness about child abuse around the world. Over 400 non-government organizations (NGO's) in 86 countries, formed this coalition. A worldwide Day for Prevention of Child Abuse to mark these concerns was set for November 19th. This special day was endorsed by Kofi Annan, United Nations Secretary General, Dr. Juan Miguel, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the sale of children, prostitution and child pornography, and UNICEF.

To mark this event, REAL Women decided that priority should be given to three major areas of child abuse in Canada - issues on which we want the government to take action. These were: (1) raising the age of consent for sexual activity for adolescents, which is set at 14 years of age, and which is one of the lowest in the western world; (2) closing the loophole of "artistic merit" in our child pornography law; and (3) curtailing cross-border pedophiles luring Canadian children on the Internet for sexual purposes. Canadian children are more vulnerable in this regard than children in other countries because of Canada's low age of consent for sexual activity and also because Canada has more households with computers than anywhere else in the world.

To publicize these three areas of concern, REAL Women held a national press conference on November 19th in the Charles Lynch Press Room in the Center Block, Parliament Buildings, Ottawa. Other press conferences also took place at the same time by local REAL Women chapters, such as the Durham Chapter. Co-Presidents of the Durham Chapter Barb Laing and Perry Cleary for example, gave an excellent presentation to about twenty people who attended, followed by a brief talk by Whitby MPP Jim Flaherty's executive assistant. Oshawa MPP Jerry Ouellette also came to show his support, although he was unable to stay for the entire conference.

The CHEX nightly news broadcast in the Durham area played a tape which highlighted a brief pre-conference interview with both Perry and Barb, a shot of the pamphlet launched by REAL Women on the dangers of the Internet, and a bit of footage of some of the discussion going on during the conference.

A few days later Barb and Perry appeared with local news-talk hostess Rita Nave of CHEX TV in the Oshawa studio, for an approximately three-minute interview which aired live that day. Perry was first given an opportunity to describe why REAL Women had launched a pamphlet about Internet safety, making the point that while this is an international concern, Canadian children are much at risk of being lured on the net as we are one of the most "wired" countries. Barb provided pointers on Internet safety.

Although for some reason the local newspaper chose not to cover this event, the Durham Chapter press conference did receive excellent coverage by CHEX TV. The Durham Chapter was also grateful that the North Oshawa Library provided free access to the conference area.

REAL Women's concerns about the three issues raised have been outlined in a previous issues of REALity, but can be summarized as follows:

1. Age of Consent:

At the present time, the Criminal Code sets the age of consent for sexual activity between adults and young persons at 14 years of age.

This is one of the lowest ages of consent for sexual activity in the western world and, we believe, must be raised to at least 16 years of age.

The reality is that young people, at 14 years of age, do not have the maturity to make responsible decisions in regard to sexual activities with adults. Sex between young persons and adults can lead to long-range problems that will affect young people for the rest of their lives. Such activity can lead to sexually transmitted diseases (STDs), AIDS, unexpected pregnancies, the lowering of self-esteem, and the curtailment of education, among other difficulties.

Consideration should be given to amending the Criminal Code to raise the age of consent to 18 years of age. It is acknowledged that raising the age of consent to 18 years is higher than the age agreed to by the federal-provincial Attorneys General at their meetings in 1998, 1999 and 2003 when this issue was discussed by them. However, we believe that the Criminal Code provisions on the age of consent should be more consistent with the Youth Criminal Justice Act, which provides special protection for youths under 18 years of age within the criminal justice system. Moreover, raising the age of consent for sexual activity to 18 would be more in line with most provincial child abuse legislation, as well as laws relating to the sale of alcohol and tobacco to young persons. (Most provinces permit the sale of these substances only to those over 18 years of age.)

It is the responsibility of society to protect young people from sexual predators who take advantage of their youth and vulnerability. Raising the age of consent for sexual activity should be a priority.

2. Child Pornography

Ever since infamous Canadian child pornographer, Robin Sharpe, of Vancouver was partially successful in 2001 in challenging the 1993 Child Pornography Law, the Liberal government has been trying to tighten the law - without success.

Its difficulties in doing so centre around the problem created by the defense of "artistic merit" in regard to child pornography charges. It was this defense that led to Robin Sharpe's acquittal in 2002 in regard to the stories he wrote about children and adults involved in sexual acts that included sadism and masochism. Mr. Justice Duncan Shaw of the Supreme Court of BC concluded that these stories, even though they may be morally repugnant, did not constitute child pornography because they had "artistic merit."

Since that decision, the Liberal government has been tinkering with the law, trying to come up with more effective legislation. Its most recent effort in this regard was the introduction of legislation in the House of Commons on October 8, 2004 (Bill C-2). Although this proposed amendment narrows somewhat the "artistic merit" defense, by requiring that child pornography serve a "legitimate purpose" in connection with justice, science, medicine or art, and that the so-called "artistic" work must not pose "an undue risk of harm to children," it still does not adequately protect children.

It is well established that child pornography can be dangerous. Studies by Dr. William Marshall, Queens University, who studies child pornographers, among other places, at Kingston Penitentiary, indicates that child pornography is used by pedophiles to excite themselves and encourage them in their sordid activities. Pedophiles also show child pornography to their intended victims, in order to persuade them that such activities are "normal."

Child pornography, which is the depiction of children in sexual activities, is intrinsically harmful, corruptive, and morally reprehensible. The defense of freedom of expression for artists must not be used to allow exceptions to legislation that is supposed to protect children.

In fact, there is no artistic merit in child pornography; it serves no legitimate purpose. In a civilized society, such a vague concept of merit should not be permitted. The defense of "legitimate purpose" in art in the proposed child pornography bill should also be removed.

3. Luring of Children on the Internet:

Cross-border pedophiles are using the Internet to seek out Canadian children for pornography and other sexual purposes. The Internet has become a massive vehicle that criminals use to both lure and abuse Canadian children, and to distribute their illegal material.

It should be mentioned in regard to the luring of children on the Internet, that the federal government did amend the Criminal Code in 2002 to make this an offence. Although this was a very important and significant step in protecting children, it is only a partial answer to this growing problem.

One of the main problems in stopping pedophiles from luring Canadian children on the Internet is that Canadian police forces do not have sufficient manpower and training to effectively deal with the issue. Searching and analyzing thousands of pages of information on hard drives for evidence are laborious, time-consuming tasks. Police need proper forensic training, and it takes up to five years to acquire the knowledge to analyze the computer as a crime scene.

This problem, we're pleased to report, is gradually being addressed by the provincial and territorial Attorneys General.

The National press conference was picked up by several newspapers - mostly the religious press in Canada, but not the secular media. Other REAL Women chapters that raised these issues for the World Day for Prevention of Child Abuse, found a similar lack of support from the media. Apparently the latter have their own selective agenda which does not place the abuse of children as a high priority!

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