Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children

Special Rapporteur on the sale, sexual exploitation and sexual abuse of children

Purpose of the mandate

As the sale, sexual abuse and exploitation continues to impact the lives of millions of children everywhere, both in scale and methods, the establishment of the mandate of the Special Rapporteur on the sale, sexual exploitation and sexual abuse of children, was created to intensify efforts to prevent and eradicate this phenomenon.

The Special Rapporteur is mandated to:

• Identify new patterns of the phenomena and analyse the root causes of sale, sexual abuse and sexual exploitation of children;
• Address concerns of alleged human rights violations of child sexual abuse and exploitation, and report on the human rights situations around the world;
• Promote promising practices and measures, including laws, regulations, government programmes and policies, towards combatting this phenomenon and implementing international standards concerning the rights of children;
• Make recommendations on strengthening measures and strategies for the prevention, protection, rehabilitation, reintegration and reparation of child victims and survivors of sale, sexual exploitation and sexual abuse.

About the mandate

The mandate of the Special Rapporteur on the sale, sexual exploitation and sexual abuse of children was created in 1990 by the Commission on Human Rights, pursuant to resolution 1990/68.

In 2026, in its resolution 61/8, the Human Rights Council renewed the mandate of the Special Rapporteur for a further period of three years, in accordance with Human Rights Council resolutions 7/13, 34/16, 43/22 and 52/26. In 2023, through resolution 52/26, the mandate was renamed to: Special Rapporteur on the sale, sexual exploitation and sexual abuse of children.

The mandate is also guided by the Convention on the Rights of the Child, which was adopted on 20 November 1989, and the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography, which was adopted on 25 May 2000. The Convention has been ratified by 196 States and the Optional Protocol by 176 states.

Learn more about the mandate and its purpose

Current mandate holder

Ms. Ai Kihara-Hunt (Japan) was appointed as the UN Special Rapporteur on the sale, sexual exploitation and sexual abuse of children by the UN Human Rights Council in March 2026. She assumed her mandate on 1 May 2026.

Ms. Kihara-Hunt is an international lawyer with over 25 years of professional experience, specializing in international human rights law, international humanitarian law, and the law of peace operations. She holds a PhD in Law from the University of Essex. Her background in human rights protection and promotion, transitional justice and accountability includes service with the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) and UN peacekeeping operations.

Read Ms. Kihara-Hunt’s full biography