Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Child Protection : Analysing the Legal Framework for the Protection of Sexual Violence against Children and the Implications of AI in Protecting Children’s Rights against Online Child Sexual Exploitation and Abuse

Abstract

Children are subjected to crimes of sexual violence every day and all over the world. Child sexual abuse and exploitation is one of the greatest scourges we face as a society and its rapid growth and the countless forms it is taking is extremely worrying. One of the forms of child sexual abuse and exploitation that has dramatically increased in recent years, as a result of technological advances, is the creation, distribution and use of child sexual abuse material, images and videos depicting child sexual abuse and exploitation. The rapid advances and sophistication of artificial intelligence (AI) have placed this technology as one of the most transformative of our time. One of the most significant competencies of AI is the ability to prevent and detect child sexual abuse material, through increasingly faster and more effective scanning of large volumes of data, reporting mechanisms, and identification of child victims. However, while AI offers immense benefits, it is also being misused to create and distribute child sexual abuse material more efficiently, using AI’s faculties to manipulate existing child sexual abuse material and/or to create sexually explicit AI-generated content involving children. This thesis analyses the impacts and consequences of AI in the context of child sexual abuse material and grooming. As well as the ethical and legal challenges and the benefits and opportunities related to the development of AI for child protection. Moreover, the existing legal framework in the EU for child protection, and its shortcomings and legal gaps, are also analysed in this thesis. The Child Sexual Abuse Directive criminalises child sexual abuse material across European Union (EU) countries and urges States to block access and guarantee the prompt removal of websites that contain or disseminate child sexual abuse material hosted in their territory. Child sexual abuse material is also criminalised by the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) and, under Council of Europe (CoE) law, by the Lanzarote Convention and the Budapest Convention. Despite the existence of this international and regional legal framework, the EU is still failing to protect children from falling victim to online child sexual abuse and exploitation. For this reason, the European Commission (EC) has elaborated the Child Sexual Abuse Proposal (CSA Proposal), which seeks to set a clear and harmonised legal framework to prevent and combat online child sexual exploitation and abuse. The CSA Proposal is examined in-depth, along with numerous debates on its shortcomings and risks. This thesis concludes that the establishment of a long-term and harmonised legal framework to prevent and combat child sexual abuse material has been proven to be necessary, to be able to effectively advance in the fight against all forms of child sexual abuse and exploitation.