Legal Protection Against Online Child Sexual Exploitation: A Comparative Study of Indonesia and the Philippines
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.15575/adliya.v20i1.41129Keywords:
child pornography, cybercrime, child protection, digital era, IndonesiaAbstract
Online Child Sexual Exploitation (OCSE) has evolved into a form of cybercrime in the digital era that produces, disseminates, and commercialises child sexual abuse material across jurisdictions. Indonesia and the Philippines are two countries highly vulnerable to this crime, but with different legal systems. Therefore, this study aims to analyse and compare the legal protection frameworks for OCSE victims in Indonesia and the Philippines using Lawrence M. Friedman's Legal System Theory. The study used a normative legal design with statutory, comparative, and conceptual approaches. Data sources included laws, institutional reports, and scientific literature. The results showed that the Philippines had a more comprehensive legal framework through the Cybercrime Prevention Act of 2012, the Anti-Online Child Sexual Abuse or Exploitation Act (OSAEC), and the Anti-Child Sexual Abuse or Exploitation Act (CSAEM) of 2022, supported by mandatory reporting and integrated coordination through the Philippine Centre for Internet Crimes Against Children (PICACC). Meanwhile, Indonesia did not yet have regulations that specifically and comprehensively regulated OCSE. Existing regulations were scattered across various laws, and institutional coordination remained ineffective and unintegrated. This study concluded that the effectiveness of legal protection against child sexual exploitation was determined not only by the comprehensiveness of regulations but also by institutional integration and a supportive legal culture. Therefore, harmonisation of regulations, strengthening inter-institutional coordination, and increasing awareness of digital law were strategic steps to strengthen child protection.
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