LEGAL CHALLENGES TO INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION AGAINST OFFENCES RELATED TO ONLINE CHILD SEXUAL ABUSE, CHILD SEXUAL EXPLOITATION MATERIAL DURING ARMED CONFLICTS

Abstract

Legal protection of children during armed conflicts is considered as a means to reduce suffering of this highly vulnerable group. Unfortunately, information and telecommunication technologies are intensively used to aggravate humanitarian condition of children being disproportionately affected by military conflicts. Although international humanitarian law contains a significant number of norms providing special protection of children, most issues related to child abuses on the Internet are enshrined in specific treaties that may be not applicable during international military conflicts. Since many treaties may be suspended or terminated during armed conflicts for different reasons, including practical impossibility to exercise international cooperation between law-enforcement agencies, the issue of applicability of cybercrime conventions to international cooperation in the fight against child abuses on the Internet during armed conflicts needs particular academic attention. Thus, the present article addresses the norms of the law of treaties related to the effects of armed conflicts on treaties, including cybercrime conventions; discusses applicability of the existing cybercrime treaties during armed conflicts.