UNICEF has withdrawn its policy brief on the age of consent in adolescents, in response to objections raised by the National Commission on Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR). The NCPCR contended that UNICEF’s interpretation of the implementation of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act (POCSO) was “misleading.”
The policy brief, titled ‘Implication of the POCSO Act in India on Adolescent Sexuality,’ was jointly published by Enfold Proactive Health Trust, UNFPA, and UNICEF in 2022. It advocated for the decriminalization of consensual sexual acts involving adolescents above the age of 16.
After the NCPCR raised concerns about the policy brief, UNICEF responded by stating that the report would no longer be publicly available and emphasized that it did not endorse the brief’s conclusions as the official UNICEF position.
The NCPCR argued, in a letter dated September 19, that no international law has definitively defined the age of sexual consent. While international legal frameworks do establish thresholds for issues like recruitment, trafficking, sale, prostitution, and pornography, the age of sexual consent remains undefined in international human rights laws.
The NCPCR further noted that setting the age of sexual consent too low could fail to protect children from exploitation. They referred to the age of consent in trafficking, which is established as 18 according to the United Nations Convention RC.
The NCPCR also pointed out the World Health Organization’s concerns regarding the risks of unwanted pregnancy, unsafe abortion, and sexually transmitted diseases associated with early initiation of sexual activities.
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