The Convention on the Rights of the Child, adopted in 1989, and the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography, adopted in 2000, are the most comprehensive international legal instruments that promote and safeguard the rights of the child and protect children from sale, sexual exploitation and sexual abuse.

However, these treaties were adopted at a time when information and communications technology (ICT) and social media were much less developed and less widespread, and when sexual offences against children did not have the close linkage to the digital environment that is often present today. While the Convention and the Optional Protocol are fully relevant and applicable also in the digital environment, their provisions require an interpretation adapted to today’s realities.

Therefore the Guidelines regarding the implementation of the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography were developed.

In order to prevent the stigmatisation of affected children and the trivialisation of sexualised violence, the document relates to the ECPAT's Terminology Guidelines.