New campaign against child sex tourism: Don’t look away
Minister of Security and Justice, Van der Steur, presented a new campaign against child sex tourism at Schiphol airport today. The new campaign ties in with the European campaign, Don’t look away, so that action can be taken internationally and without constraints. At the airport, the minister emphasized that travellers and workers abroad are indispensable extra ‘eyes and ears’ for the police and the Public Prosecution Service in the fight against child sex tourism. "Don’t look away! Or put another way: Do not turn a blind eye to the sexual exploitation of children,’’ said Van der Steur.
The new campaign was realised in cooperation with the Royal Netherlands Military Constabulary (Koninklijke Marechaussee, KMar), the police, the Hotline against Child Pornography (Meldpunt Kinderporno), the Dutch Federation of Travel Organizations (ANVR), TUI Benelux, ECPAT, Terre des Hommes, Plan Nederland and Free a Girl. Together with major general Van den Brink, deputy Commander of the Royal Netherlands Military Constabulary, the minister revealed the new campaign poster with the appeal not to turn a blind eye to the sexual exploitation of children, but to report signs of it. For the Dutch government, the fight against the sexual abuse of children has top priority. Also if (Dutch) offenders commit this kind of serious assault abroad.
Involving society in fighting child sex tourism has formed a part of the strategy against child sex tourism since 2010. In that framework, diverse campaigns have already been waged, including two campaigns in cooperation with Meld Misdaad Anoniem (Crimestoppers NL). In the long-term plan of approach against child sex tourism, it was announced, one and a half years ago, that the government wants to move towards greater international cooperation in the campaign, so that one can take recognisable action in as many countries as possible. This will now be realised with the campaign ‘Don’t look away’.
The primary objective of the new campaign is to generate reports internationally with sufficient leads to investigative. The appeal ‘Don’t look away’ is not only aimed at travellers, but also at workers in the travel industry, in international help and development organisations and in companies that are active abroad. In addition, the appeal is aimed at Dutch who live here and who are cognizant of suspected child sex tourism practices. Increasing general awareness is very important, in order to increase social control. This contributes to increasing the number of reports of abuse and to further combating the crime.
The European Campaign ‘"Don’t look away! was developed by ECPAT with German-speaking countries (Germany, Austria and Switzerland) in 2010. Not only have more European countries joined up, but a number of countries where many victims of child sex tourism live have also joined up. In 2014, ECPAT, Terre des Hommes, Plan Nederland and Free a Girl asked football fans in the Netherlands who were setting off to the World Cup in Brazil to look out for signs of child prostitution, as part of the European Campaign "Don’t look away! In the coming years, the Netherlands will also set up joint campaign activities together with other participating countries.
To improve the quality of the reports, the website Meld Kindersekstoerisme has been overhauled. For example, the report form on the website has been updated with more targeted questions. Although it is emphasized that one can report anonymously, it is also important that the reporter can be contacted later. This with the drive that more reporters leave an email address. There is also an upload function in the report form, so that reporters can send photos or other files.