Article 34 in the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) recognizes children's right to protection against sexual violence by setting forth: "States Parties undertake to protect the child from all forms of sexual exploitation and sexual abuse. For these purposes, States Parties shall in particular take all appropriate national, bilateral and multilateral measures to prevent: (a) The inducement or coercion of a child to engage in any unlawful sexual activity; (b) The exploitative use of children in prostitution or other unlawful sexual practices; (c) The exploitative use of children in pornographic performances and materials."

On the other hand, the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the sale of children, child prostitution, and child pornography adopted by the United Nations General Assembly in 2000 looked for ensuring the best achievement of CRC purposes as follows:

“a) Sale of children means any act or transaction whereby a child is transferred by any person or group of persons to another for remuneration or any other consideration;
b) Child prostitution means the use of a child in sexual activities for remuneration or any other form of consideration;
c) Child pornography means any representation, by whatever means, of a child engaged in real or simulated explicit sexual activities or any representation of the sexual parts of a child for primarily sexual purposes." (Article 2)

This Protocol also defines a series of juridical, administrative, and social policy-based measures that signatory States should adopt in order to ensure the consistency of national legislation in terms of child protection, and general public awareness; provide assistance to victims as required, and ensure international cooperation by means of multilateral, regional, and bilateral agreements.

Besides these two basic instruments, the international community has been acting against Child Commercial Sexual Exploitation for more than a decade. Mention should be made of the first two World Congresses against Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children, the first of which was held in 1996 in Stockholm, Sweden with the participation of 122 countries that adopted the Declaration and Agenda for Action against Sexual Exploitation where the following definition was provided for:
“The commercial sexual exploitation of children is a fundamental violation of children's rights. It comprises sexual abuse by the adult and remuneration in cash or kind to the child or a third person or persons. The child is treated as a sexual object and as a commercial object. The commercial sexual exploitation of children constitutes a form of coercion and violence against children, and amounts to forced labour and a contemporary form of slavery.”

The Second Congress was held in Yokohama, Japan in 2001 where the previously adopted commitment was renewed through the Yokohama Global Commitment. Six preparatory meetings took place prior to this Second Congress: Bangkok (Thailand); Dhaka (Bangladesh); Rabat (Morocco); Montevideo (Uruguay); Budapest (Hungary), and Philadelphia (U.S.). The IIN had an active participation during the Montevideo meeting.

Commercial sexual exploitation appears in various and often interrelated forms: children victims of prostitution, child pornography, or child trade for sexual purposes. ESCNNA also exists in the tourist environment.

The commercial sexual exploitation of children attempts against their human rights and should be interpreted from the perspective of a socially established power abuse. It is enough to observe the demand and the number of accessories required to commit such a crime in order to understand the prevailing socio-cultural permissiveness. Such factors as expulsion from home, family sexual violence, social exclusion and poverty, and a patriarchal and adult-centered culture turn children more vulnerable to this type of exploitation.

Other international instruments that should be considered are: