EESC wil actie tegen seksueel misbruik van kinderen (en)

Met dank overgenomen van Europees Economisch en Sociaal Comité (EESC) i, gepubliceerd op dinsdag 5 oktober 2010.

The EESC called for rapid action to finalise new legislation against children's sexual exploitation and abuse. At a public hearing, EESC rapporteur Ms. Madi Sharma deplored that several member states have yet failed to ratify the relevant Council of Europe document.

The purpose of the hearing, held in connection to a proposed new legislation on 28-29 September, was to provide other EU institutions, international organisations, NGOs and experts to publicly comment on the new directive and to give information on the current issues surrounding child sexual abuse.

Ms. Madi Sharma presented recommendations from civil society which included:

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    A repeated call for the EU to sign and ratify the Council of Europe Convention on the Protection of Children against Sexual Exploitation and Abuse and the Optional Protocol of the UN CRC on the sale of Children , Child Prostitution and Child Pornography.
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    Greater emphasis given to prevention measures considered in parallel to legislation.
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    The establishment of a platform to exchange best practices for a greater co-operation with civil society organisations, social partners and NGOs.

    Ms. Sharma said, “this is an issue which Europe still needs to urgently address and whilst the proposed Directive goes a long way to bringing in new legal measures it does little towards prevention which requires adequate resources and real commitment from member states. The protection of children must be a European priority and with 80% of abuse taking place from a trusted source more must be done at local and national level towards prevention. ”

The EESC also called for the removal or blocking of child abuse internet websites. The European Commission, Parliament and Council are in powerful and privileged positions to put joint pressure on third countries to demand the removal of such websites.

Whilst the debate on the proposed directive is open, the Committee recommends a uniform minimum age of sexual consent across Europe.

The relevant EESC opinion can be accessed here:

http://www.eesc.europa.eu/sections/soc/immigration_asylum.htm#377