UN Accused of Calling for the Legalization of Sex with Children

The document, which also calls for drugs and prostitution to be decriminalized, states that minors can consent to sex

A United Nations report that recommends the decriminalization of an array of sex acts as well as drug use also states that laws should reflect the “rights and capacity” of minor children to consent to sex.

"Sexual conduct involving persons below the domestically prescribed minimum age of consent to sex may be consensual in fact, if not in law," the report, from the International Committee of Jurists (ICJ) along with UNAIDS and the UN’s Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights.

"The enforcement of criminal law should reflect the rights and capacity of persons under 18 years of age to make decisions about engaging in consensual sexual conduct and their right to be heard in matters concerning them," it also reads.

"Pursuant to their evolving capacities and progressive autonomy, persons under 18 years of age should participate in decisions affecting them, with due regard to their age, maturity, and best interests, and with specific attention to non-discrimination guarantees,” it continues.

This is likely due to the fact that the report calls for the mass decriminalization of various sex acts in general, including same-sex/”gender diverse” sex and extramarital sex, as The Washington Free Beacon pointed out.

The report states that "consensual sexual conduct, irrespective of the type of sexual activity, the sex/gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, or gender expression of the people involved, or their marital status, may not be criminalized in any circumstances."

"Consensual same-sex, as well as consensual different-sex sexual relations, or consensual sexual relations with or between trans, nonbinary, and other gender-diverse people, or outside marriage—whether pre-marital or extramarital—may, therefore, never be criminalized."

The report was issued in March but recently gained attention for appearing to recommend the decriminalization of sex with minors. A spokeswoman for the U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres clarified this week that the report “did not call for the decriminalization of sex with children.”

“In the application of law, it is recognized that criminal sanctions are not appropriate against adolescents of similar ages for consensual non-exploitative sexual activity,” spokeswoman Stéphane Dujarric said. “So, too, it is recognized that adolescents should not be prevented from accessing health services, which protect them.”

She added that the U.N. “is resolute in fighting the sexual exploitation of children, upholds that sexual exploitation and abuse of children is a crime, and supports countries to protect children.”

The U.N. has on more than one occasion been embroiled in controversy over allegations that its peacekeepers sexually abused women and children in destabilized areas like the Central African Republic and Haiti, while an “open secret” sex trafficking ring among U.N. contractors was exposed in war-torn Bosnia in the 90s.