CRIMINAL LAW MEASURES TO COMBAT CHILD EXPLOITATION

Abstract

The article is devoted to the criminal law means of counteracting the exploitation of a child under the age of employment by means of using his/her labor. Establishment of criminal liability for child exploitation is an indisputable achievement of national criminal law. The title of Article 150 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine “Exploitation of Children” is formulated by the legislator unreasonably broadly, which gives rise to certain misunderstandings in the application of this provision. The socially dangerous act provided for in Art. 150 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine is defined in the criminal law through the category of “exploitation”. However, the disposition does not establish all possible forms of exploitation, but only labor exploitation of a child. The criminalization of child exploitation is linked to only one characteristic of the victim – his or her age, which must be below the lower limit for employment. Our analysis has led us to conclude that this provision is quite complex, as it is based on the provisions of another area of law. The absence of a precisely defined age limit makes it difficult to apply Article 150 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine, and this, in turn, gives grounds to assert that the imperfection of the current labor legislation directly affects the high level of latency of this criminal offense. The author substantiates that it would be appropriate to abandon the use of the term “exploitation” in the title and disposition of Article 150 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine and use commonly used words (for example, “use of labor”). In order to eliminate misunderstandings in the application of this provision, as well as to partially abandon the blanket provision in terms of reference to the age limit, it is appropriate to propose to amend Part 1 of Art. 150 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine and set it out in the following wording: “use of labor of a child under the age of 16”.