UN Submission: Children's rights in the digital environment
Corporates must stop aiding and profiting from online child sexual exploitation
Earlier this month Collective Shout made a submission to the United Nations with recommendations related to children's rights in the digital environment. Our submission focussed on the risks of online sexual exploitation and abuse including grooming, exposure to pornography, Live Distant Child Abuse (LDCA), and highlighted the urgent need for governments and corporates to take action to stop it.
Read moreSubmission to Family, Domestic and Sexual Violence Inquiry
House Standing Committee on Social Policy and Legal Affairs Inquiry into family, domestic and sexual violence
Read moreSubmission to Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorism Financing Inquiry
Late last year we made a submission to the Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorism Financing and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2019 Inquiry. We detailed several cases where legal prostitution businesses in Australia and abroad have been found to be engaging in criminal activity including human trafficking. We also described international experience showing that legalisation of prostitution typically gives rise to human trafficking activity.
We stated our strong support of prevention and prosecution of Live Distant Child Abuse, pointing to the grave harms children suffer as the result of these crimes. We highlighted the need for financial institutions to stop facilitating pay-per-view child abuse, and called for heftier financial penalties to enforce this.
We made four recommendations addressing sexual exploitation as a predicate crime in relation to money laundering. We argued also that where sexual exploitation is legalised, criminal activity such as human trafficking, violence, and money laundering intensifies.
We recommended:
- That the sex industry be included in any regulatory mechanisms intended to address money laundering.
- That Live Distant Child Abuse be targeted through strengthening anti-money laundering strategies.
- That cryptocurrencies be addressed in anti-money laundering strategies.
- That international best practice in prostitution legislation could assist in combating money laundering.
Read the full submission here.
*You will note a section of our appendix at page 5 has been redacted. We are seeking to find out why.
Submission on Online Safety Legislation Reform
Collective Shout welcomes the opportunity to contribute to Online Safety legislative reform. We support intentions to consolidate and harmonise current laws and to ensure streamlining and consistency in a range of digital offences. We are especially pleased to see plans for an expansion of protection against cyberbullying, cyber abuse, image-based abuse and seriously harmful content. As the digital landscape is in a constant state of flux, new opportunities arise – and with them new dangers. This necessitates updated legislation to ensure a safer online environment prioritising human rights and community welfare.
Read moreSubmission to Inquiry into Age Verification for Online Wagering and Online Pornography
Recommendation 1: In light of data verifying the real-life harms of childhood exposure to pornography the Commonwealth government should recognise the potential benefits of an Age Verification system along with other measures to limit porn exposure to children, including education programs and improved ISP filters.
Recommendation 2: An age verification scheme for access to online pornography, drawing from work done to develop the original United Kingdom model and with added measures that address perceived shortcomings in that model, for example, additions that extend application to social media platforms, should be implemented by the Commonwealth Government.
Recommendation 3: Introduce an age verification system that will restrict children’s access to online pornography (and the global porn industry’s unfettered access to children), acknowledging that our obligation to protect children, and the ensuing protections afforded to children by such a system far outweigh the concerns of those with vested interests in the global porn industry.
Recommendation 4: Introduce an Age Verification system that will restrict children’s access to online pornography (and the global porn industry’s unfettered access to children) and so uphold Australia’s international obligations to protect children from abuse, exploitation and developmental harm, acknowledging that exposure to online pornography amounts to abuse, exploitation and harm.
Click here to read the full submission.
See also:
UK age-verification has kids – and parents - at heart
We have been heard: Parliamentary inquiry into age verification for online pornography
*Update:
We've been heard!
The House of Reps Standing Committee on Social Policy and Legal Affairs has released its report - 'Protecting the age of innocence' - following its Inquiry into Age Verification for online porn. We welcome the Committee's recommendation of a 'roadmap for the implementation of a regime of mandatory Age Verification for online pornographic material'.
Read the full report - which references Collective Shout's and Movement Director Melinda Tankard Reist's submissions and evidence - here.
Submission to AANA Code of Ethics Review
Collective Shout calls for stronger ad code of ethics to rein in harmful sexist advertising
Collective Shout has made a submission to the Australian Association of National Advertisers (AANA) Code of Ethics Review. In this long-needed review, we highlighted the failings of the advertising self-regulatory system and the weaknesses of the existing Code. We also documented the growing body of evidence demonstrating the real-life harms of sexually objectifying portrayals of women.
Read moreSubmission on National Inquiry into Workplace Sexual Harassment
Collective Shout: for a world free of sexploitation appreciates the opportunity to contribute a submission to the very important National Inquiry into Sexual Harassment in Australian Workplaces.
We commend the Australian Human Rights Commission for investigating this unfortunately widespread problem. We do not use this submission to comment on individual sexual harassment cases we have experienced or witnessed. Rather, writing as a movement against sexploitative practices in all their many manifestations, we wish to draw your attention to broader issues in Australian society which influence, drive and reinforce sexual harassment. In our extensive experience of grassroots campaigning, we believe that the interrelated issues of pornography, objectification of women and sexualised imagery in advertising are all pertinent to the issue of workplace sexual harassment. These are areas that need serious regulatory overhaul and a human rights-based approach to prevent the harms they cause.
