Child Pornograhy = Child Sexual Abuse Images

The federal government should wipe the words "child pornography"from the Criminal Code and replace them with a crime that more clearly describes the harm inflicted on society's most vulnerable members, said a new report from Canada's watchdog for crime victims.

The report, to be released today, proposes that the government instead make it illegal to possess or distribute "child sexual abuse images, videos or writings."

"The term ‘pornography' is commonly understood to be associated with depictions of sexual activity between consenting individuals," said the report, provided in advance to Canwest News Service.

"Children cannot consent to sexual relations. For this reason, use of the term ‘child pornography' mischaracterizes sexual representations where children are involved."

The Office of the Federal Ombudsman for Victims of Crime cited statistics indicating there are more than five-million unique sexual abuse images on the Internet and 58% of the victims are under age six. More than 80% of the images involve penetration and 20% show torture and bondage.

The report also contained Statistics Canada figures citing a 900% increase in charges laid between 1998 and 2003 for production or distribution of child pornography.

"There is still a lot of public perception that when you talk about child pornography or kiddie porn, these are children who are naked frolicking on the beach or in their bathtubs," said Steve Sullivan, the federal victims' ombudsman. "I don't think the public has a sense of what law enforcement is seeing on a daily basis."