II. Building rights-based and comprehensive national child protection systems to prevent and combat the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography

C. Rights-based child protection systems: components

5. Effective and comprehensive preventive measures

Guiding principles

49. Preventive measures must include steps to promote sustainable education and awareness-raising, including by:

(d) Making available in schools sex education programmes that provide information on healthy sexual development, safe sex and reproduction, and emphasize gender equality, self-respect, empowerment and respect for others. In the absence of such programmes, the proliferation of images and videos through information and communications technologies may shape children’s first ideas about sexuality and sexual behaviour, increasing the risk that they will reproduce while still young or become victims of abusive behaviour;

Link to full text of the report: Report-SRSaleofChildren-2011-eng