BEYOND BORDERS: THE CASE FOR HYBRID TRIBUNALS IN TACKLING ONLINE CHILD SEXUAL EXPLOITATION IN INDIA AND PAKISTAN

Abstract

This article addresses the growing threat of Online Child Sexual Exploitation (OCSE) and its 
complex transnational nature. It proceeds with the introduction to OCSE and a discussion of 
new developments in the area to stress the necessity for elaborate legislation. This article 
raises questions with respect to the strength of the principal global legal documents such as 
the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), Optional Protocol on the Sale of Children, 
Child Prostitution, and Child Pornography (OPSC), and the Lanzarote Convention in fight 
against OCSE. Jurisdictional challenges like complementarity, universality and territoriality 
are analysed especially with regard to transnational cases that are prevented by jurisdictional 
conflicts and sovereign issues from prosecution. focusing the analysis between India and 
Pakistan, the article outlines major deficits of modern legislation and the opportunities of 
conflicting jurisdictions. For that reason, the scholarly work in question suggests that hybrid 
tribunals should be employed as the solution that can complement national and international 
components for strengthening legal accountability. The article uses the analysis of best-case 
scenarios to suggest the kind of a model for the hybrid tribunals with jurisdictional as well as 
the protection of the victims together with fair trial. Finally, the article offers some policy 
implications for international legal developments, foreign and common law enforcement 
cooperation, judicial cooperation, and building institutional capacity. This is why there is a 
desperate need to have an international approach to OCSE and that is why hybrid tribunals 
serve as the solution for children’s protection in the era of online sexual exploitation.