The convention was first held in 1989 and has been ratified by 193 countries. In 1990, the United Nations appointed a Special Rapporteur on the sale of children, child prostitution, and child pornography. Over at least the last decade, the international community has increasingly acknowledged the importance of addressing problems posed by the trafficking of children, child prostitution, and child pornography; activities that undermine the rights of children and are frequently linked to organized crime. While the legality of adult prostitution varies between different parts of the world, the prostitution of minors is illegal in most countries, and all countries have some form of restrictions against it. There is a dispute surrounding what constitutes a prostituted child. International law defines a child as any individual below the age of 18, but a number of countries legally recognize lower ages of consent and adulthood, usually ranging from 13 to 17 years of age. In the Czech Republic, for example, prostitution is legal for children older than 14. Thus, law enforcement officers are sometimes hesitant to investigate cases because of the differences in age of consent. The laws of some countries do, however, distinguish between prostituted teenagers and prostituted children. For example, the Japanese government defines the category as referring to minors between 13 and 18. However, it is currently defined as being under the age of 18. Consequences for offenders vary from country to country. In the People's Republic of China, all forms of prostitution are illegal, but having sexual contact with anyone under the age of 14, regardless of consent, will result in a more serious punishment than raping an adult. By contrast, Argentina's Criminal Code criminalizes the prostitution of minors, but only sanctions those who "promote or facilitate" prostitution, not the client who exploits the minor. In the United States, the legal penalty for participating in the prostitution of children includes five to twenty years in prison. The FBI established "Innocence Lost", a new department working to free children from prostitution, in response to the strong public reaction across the country to the news of Operation Stormy Nights, in which 23 minors were released from forced prostitution. Prevalence Statistical summary Prostitution of children exists in every country, though the problem is most severe in South America and Asia. The number of prostituted children is rising in other parts of the world, including North America, Africa, and Europe. Exact statistics