Justice Minister Judith Collins has told a gathering of women judges from the Asia Pacific region they must do everything they can to help stamp out child pornography.
Ms Collins said the worldwide trade in child sex abuse images is estimated to be worth $20 billion and the content of those images is becoming worse and the children younger.
She told the conference of the International Association of Women Judges in Auckland on Saturday they had to bring the full force of the law down on those profiting from what she called an abhorrent crime.
The minister said New Zealand had joined a global alliance to stamp out the trade and was, among other things, doubling the maximum penalty for possessing objectionable material to 10 years jail.
