A society or a nation cannot celebrate its achievements if its women and children are not safe, Union Law Minister Kiren Rijiju said on Thursday, dubbing the crime of child sexual abuse as one of the most grave and disconcerting challenges.

Addressing a national conference on 'Child Sexual Abuse Material', hosted by the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) at the Vigyan Bhawan here, Rijiju said "we will have to go beyond legal provisions" and the society must come together to ensure safety of women and children.

He described the conference as "timely and very relevant", and said, "We expect that concrete outcomes will come out of it." In his address, Rijiju underlined that "a society or a nation cannot celebrate its achievements if their women and children are not safe".

He particularly emphasised on the issue of violence faced by children, and urged all stakeholders and the society to do more.

"The violence against children, especially child sexual abuse... I feel, and it is for everyone, is the most grave and disconcerting challenges," he said.

"All crimes are bad, but crimes against children are difficult to digest. How can you commit crimes against children? We have to be extremely serious in our approaches. It cannot be treated just as a crime. If you look at it just as a crime, then we will deal with it just as an ordinary crime," Rijiju said.

The minister inaugurated the conference on Thursday in the presence of NHRC Chairperson Justice (retd) Arun Kumar Mishra and rights panel members, besides senior officers of the ministries concerned, legal experts, academicians, and scholars.

The aim of the two-day conference is to derive recommendations for policy makers, and content hosts, including social media platforms and law enforcement agencies among others, after deliberations to advocate safe cyberspace for children.

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