Author
Asst Prof ARJITA MUKHERJEE
Organisation/Institution
The West Bengal National University of Juridical Sciences, Kolkata
Country
INDIA
Panel
Children and Law
Title
The Transnational Challenge of Child Sexual Exploitation and Abuse Material (CSEAM): Building Asia's Regional Response Through Global Models
Abstract
The 2025 global dismantling of 'Kidflix', a massive dark web platform for child sexual exploitation and abuse material (CSEAM) with 1.8 million users and 91,000 videos, demonstrates the critical importance of cross-border law enforcement cooperation. This Europol-supported operation, involving 35 countries, led to dozens of arrests and the protection of children by leveraging shared intelligence and joint investigative efforts. This successful model, which utilizes coordinated mechanisms like the European Union Centre on Child Sexual Abuse, stands in stark contrast to the fragmented approach seen across Asia, where differing national laws and capacities hamper an adequate response. While initiatives like the Asia-Pacific Financial Coalition show promising multi-stakeholder collaboration and INTERPOL's 'Disrupting Harm' project works to build regional law enforcement capacity, a cohesive legal and operational framework is still lacking. While India's Supreme Court, in Just Rights for Children Alliance v. S. Harish (2024), strengthened domestic law by confirming that mere possession of CSEAM constitutes an offense under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, read in conjunction with the Information Technology Act, this national legal strength cannot overcome transnational jurisdictional barriers. The core challenge remains: when offenders, victims, and digital evidence span multiple countries, even robust domestic rulings, such as Just Rights, face enforcement limitations. This paper argues that Asia needs to develop a regional framework to complement its strong national laws. It proposes a three-pillar approach: harmonized legal definitions of CSEAM across Asian jurisdictions, the establishment of joint investigation teams for real-time evidence sharing, and a unified protocol for offender and victim identification. This cooperative model is crucial for closing the enforcement gap and creating a more effective transnational response to protect children across the region.
Biography
Arjita Mukherjee is an Assistant Professor of Criminal Law at the West Bengal National University of Juridical Sciences (NUJS), Kolkata. She is also the Assistant Director at the Centre for Access to Justice at NUJS. She graduated with gold medals in her B.A. LL.B. (Hons) program and completed her LL.M. at NUJS with the highest marks in multiple criminal law subjects. She is regularly invited as a resource person to train police officers, prosecutors, law officers, and NGO workers on criminal laws and child rights. Ms. Mukherjee has co-authored a foundational Primer on New Criminal Laws for the West Bengal Judicial Academy, launched in the presence of the Chief Justice of India. She has been consulted on curriculum reforms for judicial training by the West Bengal Judicial Academy (WBJA). Ms. Mukherjee has also contributed to a Sub Committee of the National Court Excellence Framework for the Supreme Court of India's National Court Management Systems (NCMS). She presented her research at numerous international and national conferences and published papers and book chapters in reputed journals and books.
