UNICEF Permanently Removes Pro-Porn Report

By Alexis I. Fragosa, Esq. | October 7, 2021

WASHINGTON, D.C. October 8 (C-Fam) It appears UNICEF has permanently removed a controversial report on the consumption of pornography by children.

The report “Digital Age Assurance Tools and Children’s Rights Online” published by the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) concluded pornography may not always be harmful.

Relying on a European study of 19 EU countries that found in most countries, most children who saw pornographic images were “neither upset nor happy,” the UNICEF report concluded that because pornography does not always harm children, efforts to block children from accessing porn online might infringe on their human rights.

UNICEF removed the report from its website shortly after the Friday Fax reported its contents in May. Days later UNICEF published a revised version, which left the report’s analysis intact but removed the assertion that “there is currently no universal agreement on the nature and extent of the harm caused to children by viewing content classified as pornography.” The lack of “agreement,” according to UNICEF, weighed against the use of “age restrictions” to prevent access to pornography online.

UNICEF spokesperson Najwa Mekki told the Friday Fax, “UNICEF’s position is unequivocal: No child should be exposed to harmful content online.” When pressed, Mekki would not comment on whether UNICEF believes pornography is harmful to children.

After the Friday Fax highlighted these strategic revisions, UNICEF pulled down the report again. Now, 17 weeks later, the report is still off the UNICEF website and its removal seems permanent.

More than 400 child safety experts from 26 counties strongly condemned the report in a letter to UNICEF’s Executive Director Henrietta Fore, asserting that UNICEF’s report undermines the psychological and social development of children worldwide by ignoring “the vast body of research demonstrating the harms of pornography to children.”

Research strongly suggests that pornography can be psychologically addictive, and can negatively affect the quality of interpersonal relationships, sexual health and performance, and social expectations about sexual behavior.

Among adults, pornography has been connected with “decrease brain gray matter volume in the areas of the brain associated with motivation and decision-making.” There is no scientifically proven evidence demonstrating that teens, whose brains are less developed, are more resilient and immune from the negative effects associated with viewing pornography.

A decade ago, the Witherspoon Institute located at Princeton University, hosted a multi-disciplinary conference exploring the harms of pornography. Among many findings was that pornography refigures the neural pathways of the brain. This is especially troubling in the unformed brains of the young. The Witherspoon consultation also found that more than half of divorce filings cite porn addiction as a reason for separation.

The trend in pornography is toward violence. In 2019, the BBC reported how violent porn is now a common part of sexual relations among the young, including slapping, hair pulling and even choking. Young men have come to think that this is what young women want.

In recent years, a handful of U.S. state legislatures have declared pornography to be a public health crisis. Even the Canadian Parliament has expressed a concern.

C-Fam requested a meeting with UNICEF’s executive director to discuss the issue. C-Fam, publisher of the Friday Fax, has circulated a petition demanding the permanent removal of the report from UNICEF’s website. The petition has garnered nearly 25,000 signatories. The request for a meeting was ignored.

Share on Facebook
Share on Twitter