Thank you, Mister President.

I have the honour to deliver this statement on behalf of the Nordic-Baltic countries.

We wish to thank the Special Rapporteur on presenting her latest report, which provides a valuable overview of some of the key steps States can take to protect children from sale, sexual exploitation and abuse.

We, the Nordic-Baltic countries, are committed to the fight against the sale and sexual exploitation of children. This does not only include establishing a comprehensive legal and policy network, but also ensuring its effective implementation.

Information and communication technologies have increasingly been used as a means of child sexual exploitation, and this has become even more prevalent during the pandemic. To facilitate prevention, it is important to increase digital literacy among children and include other relevant topics in the school curricula, such as comprehensive sexuality education.

Regarding rehabilitation measures, we stress the need to ensure a trauma-informed and child-friendly victim- and survivor-centred approach, and provide child victims and survivors with access to justice while also avoiding secondary victimisation.

Madam Special Rapporteur, can you share some of the best practices of integrating a gender perspective in addressing the sale and sexual exploitation and abuse of children?

Thank you.