News

The Steering Committee on the Rights of the Child of the Council of Europe (CDENF) has just approved a Thematic Guidance Note on “Safeguarding children from the risks of access to pornographic content online”following the decision adopted by the Committee during its 10th plenary session held in Strasbourg from 3 to 5 December 2024.

The Note incorporates references to scientific literature and good practices of the Member States of the Council of Europe, including Portugal, disseminated by the national representation in the CDENF and established through national consultations carried out by the National Commission for the Promotion of the Rights and Protection of Children and Youth.

By its content, this Thematic Guidance Note is useful to bodies in various sectoral areas, whose action relates to the rights of the child, entities with competence in the field of children and youth, the Commissions for the Protection of Children and Youth, educators, parents and civil society interested and committed in the protection of children, constituting a contribution to the reflection on the matter, as well as to the preventive and protective action of children against the risks of access to pornographic content. online, by addressing key aspects and by raising issues such as:

• Why is it necessary to protect children from pornography?
• How do children get exposed to pornographic content online?
• What is the nature of current pornography?
• Damage caused to children by access to pornographic content.
• The importance of multiple and complementary measures to safeguard children from this danger.
• Six key measures for impactful child protection action.
• Key standards for impactful child protection action.
• Bibliographic resources that support and allow to deepen the knowledge in this matter.

Thematic Guidance Note is available here.