EU Statement – UN General Assembly 3rd Committee: Interactive Dialogue on the Sexual Exploitation of Children

Mr/Madam Chair,

On behalf of the European Union and its Members States, I thank the Special Rapporteur for her important report.

Madam Rapporteur,

We fully support your mandate, and welcome the focus of this year's report on technology-facilitated violations against children. We are alarmed by the increasing prevalence and severity of harms caused by the misuse of technologies, and especially the emergence of AI-generated child sexual abuse materials. We are deeply concerned that authorities are not adequately equipped to prevent and tackle online criminal activities against children. We support your recommendations regarding strengthening legal frameworks and regulatory oversight; mainstreaming a child-centric and human rights-based approach, and ensuring that technology companies have all the necessary systems in place to fulfil their responsibility in preventing and responding to the potential violations.

We echo your call to ensure comprehensive and effective reporting mechanisms; age- and gender-sensitive, trauma-informed referral and support services, as well as access to justice and remedy for child victims and survivors, who should never be considered or treated as perpetrators.

The European Union is committed to these goals. For example, the AI Act adopted by the EU aims to identify and minimize the risks deriving from the use of AI, including as it relates to the rights of the child.

Madam Rapporteur, we would like to ask the following questions:

• What can be done if a technology company denies cooperation with public authorities or does not fall under their jurisdiction?
• How can Member States cooperate with your Office to build capacity to prevent child sexual abuse and exploitation, both online and offline?