Legal Protection of Children as Victims of Commercial Sexual Exploitation

Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children is a crime committed against children which is currently happening a lot and is reported in print and electronic media, besides that this crime often occurs within the domestic sphere between villages and cities and even across national borders. Children are the nation's next generation and development successors who should be prepared as subjects for implementing sustainable development and controlling the future of a country. So to find out and examine more deeply about the legal protection of children as victims of sexual exploitation, researchers wish to conduct research on how is the legal protection for child victims of sexual exploitation? This research is a legal research using statutory approach (statute approach) and concept approach (conceptual approach). The results of this study are that the protection of children as victims of commercial sexual exploitation is carried out on the legal basis of Law Number 35 of 2014 concerning Amendments to Law Number 23 of 2002 concerning Child Protection according to the principle of lex specialis derogat legi generali. The protection of children as victims of commercial sexual exploitation is carried out in three stages of legal protection, namely the legal protection stage before the criminal justice process, during the criminal justice process, and after the criminal justice process. accompanied by a Legal Counselor from the Social Service for Women and Children. Legal protection for children as victims of commercial sexual exploitation is carried out by referring to the accusator principle, namely by means of persuasion, not by means of violence and prioritizing the rights of the examinee.