Commentary
The report (pdf), from a consortium of U.N.-backed agencies, is shocking: There’s nothing necessarily wrong with adults having sex with children. That is, as long as the sex is “consensual” and the young person involved possesses sufficient “maturity” to “make decisions about engaging in consensual sexual conduct.”
The document, issued in March by the Geneva-based International Commission of Jurists and supported by UNAIDS and the U.N. Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, doesn’t go quite so far as to recommend that countries completely decriminalize sexual acts with minors. But it comes close.
“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,” the report 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 ….”…