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One of the least known and spoken about crimes of child abuse is child pornography. Unlike other crimes it exists where it cannot be easily detected. However, the fact that you do not know about it does not mean it is not happening.

Child pornography refers to the pornographic images involving children below the age of 18 years. In terms of the Film and Publications Act child pornography includes "any image, real or simulated, however created, or any description, of a person who is, or who is depicted or described as being, under the age of 18 years;

engaged in sexual conduct, or
assisting another person to engage in sexual conduct, or
showing or describing the body, or parts of the body, of such a person in a manner or in circumstances which, within context, amounts to sexual exploitation, or in such a manner that it is capable of being used for the purposes of sexual exploitation."
According to the Act, it is also an offence to possess, create, produce, distribute, import, access, advertise or promote child pornography images. Each of these acts carries a maximum penalty of 10 years imprisonment. Failure to report knowledge of child pornography images to the police is also an offence. It is also an offence to expose children to pornography. Even if one commits any of these acts outside South Africa, you may be prosecuted when you return to South Africa.

In its essence, child pornography is child abuse and constitutes a violation of the childhood, the innocence and the rights of the children. Beyond the image of child pornography is the child that has been sexually abused for real; and even if it is a simulated image, it signifies all children who stand the risk of being sexually abused for real. What is worse about it is that the actual crime of child abuse continues beyond the actual physical abuse of the child; it continues to live on the web, videos, computer disks and photographs or other images as it is circulated from one person or groups of people to the next.

Some cold facts about this matter include that the number of paedophilia websites has sky-rocketed globally. More than 20,000 images of child pornography are posted online every week; approximately 20% of all Internet pornography involves children; and there are approximately 100,000 websites that offer child pornography and more than 1 million images of child pornography on the Internet.

Today, child pornography is conducted as a multi-billion dollar business by crime syndicates and our own country is not exempted. The SAPS reported that there was a radical rise in the rates of violence against children in South Africa, manifested amongst other things in the rising cases of child pornography currently under investigation or before the Courts, involving teachers and even the parents of children in some instances.

More than 99% of child pornography images are accessed and distributed through the Internet and mobile phones, and children themselves are reported to be increasingly involved in the distribution of these images. What is equally perturbing and harmful is the increasing ease with which children can access pornography on the Internet, mobile phones and both electronic and print media. What exacerbates this is the ignorance of the parents, teachers and guardians who allow children to view any television programme, and access internet and mobile phones without educating them about the harmful risks posed by this technology and to use such technology without adult supervision. Some of the electronic media, especially the broadcasters, are intransigent to monitoring and protecting children. Driven by the desire to make profit, they flight adult movies with unsuitable content for children even before they go to bed.

In a survey conducted by the Film and Publication Board (FPB) in 2006 among learners in Gauteng, Western Cape and KwaZulu-Natal on this matter of the exposure of children to pornography, it was found that:
67% had watched a pornographic film;
64% had seen pornographic images on the internet;
81% know their friends had pornographic images on their cell phones;
Internet and cell phones are more popular amongst the youth than traditional means such as magazines;
70% of the pupils in the schools surveyed in Gauteng and the Western Cape had watched pornography as compared to 62% in KZN; and
Chat rooms on the internet and cell phones are popular among children in all provinces and very few of them were aware of the potential dangers from internet predators who use chat rooms as hunting grounds for children.
The likelihood of sexual exploitation of children during the 2010 FIFA World Cup cannot be ignored. During previous world cup events hosted in Greece (2004) and Germany (2006) an exceptional growth in the demand for sexual services were experienced which do not exclude the sexual exploitation of children. It is estimated that the 2010 FIFA World Cup will create conditions that will increase the vulnerability of children and provide opportunities for abusers, exploiters, traffickers, collectors of child pornography and paedophiles to meet the perceived increased demand for cheap labour and sexual services.

In light of the 2010 FIFA World Cup the following risks have been identified;
Lack of effective childcare, development and protection services in under-resourced communities place children at risk;
The large influx of people ˆ local & foreign - to host cities; is expected to increase the abuse, exploitation and trafficking and child pornography;
The expected economic gain will fuel and increase the demand and supply factors that place children at risk to provide cheap and exploitable labour, sexual and other services;
It is also feared that the expected economic gain will increase rural child migration, children surviving and living on the street - increase in children/youth begging from locals and foreigners or forced to sell goods to them; and
Increase usage of the Internet and cellphone social networking forums.
Researchers indicate that paedophilia cannot be redeemed, treated or converted and hence anyone found to have committed this crime must thus forever be removed from working or interacting with children.

We need to engage in a sustained campaign, involving schools, religious institutions, NGOs, the media, parents, teachers and children themselves to combat this dangerous crime. Working together, we need to unite in a people's contract to fight violence against women and children. All South Africans should challenge the social acceptance of domestic violence and sexual and gender-based abuse. Most violence against women and children is committed in family homes and by people known to the victims. Accordingly, we must break through the silence in and concealment by families and communities of this crime, expose the perpetrators and ensure they are brought to book.

At the same time, child pornography and the exposure of children to pornography in general must be made an abomination in our society, something we are not prepared to tolerate. It was in recognition of these facts, and the seriousness of this matter, that the FPB established a telephone and internet hotlines (0800 148 148 and www.fpbprochild.gov.za <http://www.fpbprochild.gov.za> ) to report cases of child pornography.

Further, it is important to mobilise the whole society to engage in a united campaign against all pornography, especially on the national media, both print and electronic, especially the TV.

The Films and Publications Act has been amended to make the investigation and prosecution of child pornography offenders more effective. The Act has taken radical steps to provide a broad definition of child pornography and to impose harsher sentences on the culprits.

Every child deserves childhood that includes a period of innocence. We are not protecting our children when we, by our silence and inaction, allow them to be used for the sexual gratification of adults or to be exposed to pornography and other harmful content. We have a collective duty to protect our children from harmful materials by monitoring our children's use of the Internet and mobile phones. Critically, we also have a fiduciary responsibility to educate ourselves as responsible parents and as organs of civil society, about the main risks to our children and talk to them to let them know that we are there to guide them and pass on essential safety advise. The protection of children is not somebody else's problem but ours.

The campaign against child pornography has included both proactive and preventative interventions, so that we can better protect our children. In pursuit of this, we appointed a broadly-representative Ministerial Advisory Task Team Against Child Pornography to forge strategic partnerships with mobile phone operators and internet service providers, the public broadcaster and other government and non-governmental institutions and harness our collective energies, wisdom and resources towards this common objective.

The FPB also joined the International Association of Internet Hotlines (INHOPE) in pursuit of forging international partnerships and thus became the first African classification authority both to have an anti-child pornography internet hotline and become a member of INHOPE. This will assist it to exchange information about illegal content with other INHOPE members worldwide thereby enhancing the capability to respond to reports of suspected illegal websites. The international networking with INHOPE will allow South Africa to take action against images of child sexual abuse images on the internet which are hosted outside South Africa.

The website, a first of its kind on the African continent, is also intended to alert Internet Service Providers of criminal activities, relating to child pornography and or sexual abuse images hosted on their servers or distributed through their infrastructure.

Meanwhile, the objectives of the campaign to curb child pornography and inappropriate and easy access to pornography were further bolstered by the Department of Public Service and Administration's request to SITA to:
monitor usage of the internet by government employees,
implement filters that will deny access by Government employees to web content that is deemed inappropriate, such as pornography, audio-video, and others, and
investigate the implementation of SPAM filters.
Every government department and province is expected to develop and implement an Internet and Electronic Mail Management Policy; and the DPSA will develop a general internet usage framework policy for guidance to departments.

It is imperative that private corporate and companies implement similar measures to curb child pornography and inappropriate easy access to pornography by the employees.