The General Assembly,
Recalling the Convention on the Rights of the Child, adopted by its resolution 44/25 of 20 November 1989,
Recalling also the World Declaration on the Survival, Protection and Development of Children and the Plan of Action for Implementing the World Declaration on the Survival, Protection and Development of Children in the 1990s, adopted by the World Summit for Children, held in New York on 29 and 30 September 1990, and recalling that in the Declaration States made a solemn commitment to give priority to the rights of the child and to his or her survival, protection and development, thus contributing to the welfare of every society,
Mindful of the Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action, adopted by the World Conference on Human Rights, held at Vienna from 14 to 25 June 1993, which requires effective measures against female infanticide, harmful child labour, sale of children and organs, child prostitution, child pornography, as well as other forms of sexual abuse,
Bearing in mind Commission on Human Rights resolution 1992/74 of 5 March 1992, by which the Commission adopted the Programme of Action for the Prevention of the Sale of Children, Child Prostitution and Child Pornography,
Recognizing the enormous efforts made in this field by the United Nations, particularly the United Nations Children's Fund, the Committee on the Rights of the Child and the Special Rapporteur of the Commission on Human Rights on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography,
Deeply concerned by the persistence of the practice of the use of children for prostitution, sexual abuse and other activities, which may also often constitute exploitation of child labour,
Deeply disturbed by the persistence of the practice of the sale of children and other practices, which may be linked to related disappearances, illegal adoptions, abandonment, kidnapping and abductions for commercial purposes,
Regretting that one of the main difficulties found by the Special Rapporteur has been the lack of information on this issue,
Bearing in mind the different causes that influence the emergence and continuation of these special circumstances, including in particular poverty, natural disasters and armed conflicts, and their harmful effects on the rights of children,
Considering that it is necessary to redouble efforts at the national and international level to promote and protect the rights of children all over the world,
Expressing its interest in benefiting from the studies, conclusions and recommendations of the Special Rapporteur,
1. Expresses great concern at the growing number of incidents worldwide related to the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography;
2. Urges Governments to continue searching for solutions as well as ways and means of enhancing international cooperation to eradicate such aberrant practices;
3. Expresses its support for the work of the Special Rapporteur appointed by the Commission on Human Rights to examine all over the world the question of the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography, and urges him to continue his efforts in the discharge of his mandate;
4. Urges all Governments to collaborate with the Special Rapporteur and to assist him by providing him with all the requested information;
5. Calls upon those States which have not done so to become parties to the Convention on the Rights of the Child, and calls upon the States parties to the Convention to implement national measures aimed at fulfilling the provisions of the Convention;
6. Requests the Commission on Human Rights to consider, during its fiftieth session, the creation of a working group to study, as a matter of priority and in close contact with the Special Rapporteur, the elaboration of guidelines for a possible draft convention on the issues related to the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography, as well as the basic measures required for preventing and eradicating these serious problems;
7. Requests the Centre for Human Rights of the Secretariat to transmit paragraph 6 above to the Committee on the Rights of the Child so that it can express its comments;
8. Invites the Special Rapporteur, within the framework of his mandate, to continue giving attention to the economic, social, legal and cultural factors affecting these phenomena;
9. Requests the Special Rapporteur to submit a provisional report to the General Assembly at its forty-ninth session;
10. Requests the Secretary-General, from within existing resources, to provide the Special Rapporteur and the working group of the Commission on Human Rights with every necessary assistance;
11. Decides to consider this question at its forty-ninth session under the item entitled "Necessity of adopting effective measures for the promotion and protection of the rights of children throughout the world who are victims of especially difficult circumstances, including armed conflicts".
85th plenary meeting
20 December 1993
