restitution for child sexual exploitation and other abuse offenses.”282 The United States explained
in its 2010 report that restitution is mandatory and must include the “full amount of the victim’s
losses . . . .”283 The United States cited no other statutory remedy supporting full restoration of
child pornography victims.284
In 2012, the U.N. Committee again identified victim restoration (including compensation
to victims) as an issue in response to the United States’ 2010 periodic report, and requested
additional information.285 Specifically, the U.N. Committee asked the United States for an
indication of the measures enacted to ensure that victims “are provided with appropriate
assistance for their full social reintegration: physical, psychological, and psychosocial recovery,
as well as compensation.”286 In its response, the United States again failed to identify even one
specific measure that it is taking to ensure compensation to child pornography victims.287 Thus, in
its Concluding Observations, the U.N. Committee expressed concern “about the growing
availability of child pornography online, the use of ever younger children and the increase in the
violence of images recorded” as well as the fact that sexually exploited children in the United
States “still lack adequate . . . compensation.”288 The U.N. Committee also addressed the United
States’ treaty obligations under Articles 8 and 9 of the Optional Protocol and claimed that the
United States should seek “adequate remed[ies] and reparation[s]” through legal channels and
other means.289
Other international treaties also evidence the rise of an international norm in the twentieth
century recognizing that children have a right to special protections.290 Nations have gone further
in developing international instruments that require States Parties to provide assistance for
victims’ physical and psychological restoration.291 The International Labour Organization
(“ILO”) Convention Concerning the Prohibition and Immediate Action for the Elimination of the
Worst Forms of Child Labour, Convention No. 182, requires parties to “provide the necessary
and appropriate direct assistance for . . . their rehabilitation and social integration.”292 In ratifying
ILO Convention No. 182, the Senate did not specifically reference the Mandatory Restitution
Statute, but recognized that the United States already criminalized child pornography and that
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282 U.S. DEP’T OF STATE, PERIODIC REPORT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA AND U.S. RESPONSE TO RECOMMENDATIONS IN
COMMITTEE CONCLUDING OBSERVATIONS OF JUNE 25, 2008, para. 421 (Jan. 22, 2010), available at
http://www.state.gov/documents/organization/136023.pdf.
283 Id. (quoting 18 U.S.C. § 2259(b)(3) (2012)).
284 Id.
285 U.N. Committee on the Rights of the Child, List of Issues Concerning Additional and Updated Information Related to the Second
Periodic Report of the United States of America, para. 12, U.N. Doc. CRC/C/OPSC/USA/Q/2 (July 25, 2012), available at
http://www.state.gov/j/drl/rls/201651.htm.
286 Id.
287 While the United States provides a list of services available to victims in its response, the list does not contain any method for
victims to receive compensation, such as restitution, from those legally responsible. U.N. Committee on the Rights of the Child, List of
Issues Concerning Additional and Updated Information Related to the Consideration of the Second Report of the United States of
America: Addendum Written Replies of the United States of America, paras. 52–57 U.N. Doc. CRC/C/OPSC/USA/Q/2/Add.1 (Dec.
12, 2012), available at http://www.un.org/en/ga/search/view_doc.asp?symbol=CRC/C/OPSC/USA/Q/2/Add.1.
288 U.N. Committee on the Rights of the Child, Concluding Observations on the Second Periodic Report of the United States of
America, paras. 27, 44, U.N. Doc. CRC/C/OPSC/USA/CO/2 (July 2, 2013), available at
http://www2.ohchr.org/English/bodies/crc/docs/co/CRC_C_OPSC_USA_CO_2.doc.
289 Id. at para. 45.
290 International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights art. 24, Dec. 16, 1996, 999 U.N. T.S. 171 (United States ratified June 8, 1992)
(noting a child’s right to “measures of protection” from state, society, and the child’s family).
291 Declaration on the Elimination of Violence Against Women, G.A. Res. 48/104, art. 2, 3, 4(d), 4(g), U.N. Doc. A/RES/48/104 (Dec.
20, 1993), available at http://www.un.org/documents/ga/res/48/a48r104.htm; International Labour Organization Convention No. 182
on the Prohibition and Immediate Action for the Elimination of the Worst Forms of Child Labour art. 7(2)(b), June 17, 1999, 2133
U.N.T.S. 161 [hereinafter ILO Convention No. 182], available at
http://www.ilo.org/dyn/normlex/en/f?p=NORMLEXPUB:12100:0::NO::P12100_ILO_CODE:C182.
