Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2001-06-11-Speech-1-058"
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"en.20010611.4.1-058"2
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".
Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, may I start by offering my personal congratulations to Commissioner Vitorino on taking such an important legislative initiative and thank the Swedish Presidency for its support, which will ensure that the Council takes a decision as quickly as possible.
The sexual exploitation of children and child pornography are, of course, a scandal in a modern civilisation and it is unthinkable that criminal networks and customers should go unpunished and avoid criminal prosecution by taking advantage of the lack of cooperation between countries and shortcomings in our criminal legislation. It is high time we addressed appalling cases such as the Dutroux case in Belgium, where the inadequate legal framework means that it is still impossible to prove the constituent elements of the crime and hold the trial which has been pending for the last four years, which is why the Union initiative to stamp out this vile crime and create a common reference framework to strengthen judicial and police cooperation between the Member States and bring these criminal syndicates to justice is all the more important.
The Committee on Citizens' Freedoms and Rights, Justice and Home Affairs has worked through the Commission framework proposal line by line and has adopted a series of proposals and amendments which enhance and strengthen the initial legislative text, such as the definition of child pornography, which has been expanded considerably so as to include the various permutations of this crime and ensure there are none which escape prosecution, taking account of course of new technological developments. As far as the sexual exploitation of children is concerned, given the composite nature of the crime and the international networks involved, we have included types of criminal conduct over and above those proposed by the Commission, such as facilitating, buying, selling or transporting a child within or outside national borders. Another important point which we have added apportions responsibility both to the natural persons who care for the child, such as parents, teachers etc. and to legal persons, including distribution companies and Internet service providers, which are now required to design protective mechanisms to prevent new technologies from being used to facilitate the exploitation of children. As far as crimes relating to child pornography are concerned, we have proposed that importing, exporting, purchasing, selling and advertising, and not just producing, distributing and disseminating child pornography should be criminal offences. What is also extremely important is that we have made the possession of pornographic material a criminal offence, subject of course to safety valves which ensure that people who receive material unwittingly, for example by electronic or conventional mail, need not fear prosecution.
As far as punishment is concerned, the Committee on Citizens' Freedoms accepted the proposal by the Committee on Women's Rights and Equal Opportunities for a stricter criminal framework for crimes inflicted on children under the age of 16, rather than the age of 10 proposed by the Commission, with stricter punishment of at least 10 years rather than the 8 years proposed by the Commission. We have also proposed that, in addition to condemnation, any movable or immovable assets which are proceeds from these offences be traced, seized and confiscated and that punishment be accompanied by psychiatric treatment. This is another innovation which we have proposed.
As the Committee on Citizens’ Freedoms, we have also made an important contribution on the procedural side by making provision for criminals to be extradited, so that the phenomenon of sexual tourism can be stamped out, and amending legislation on double criminality, so that offenders cannot escape to countries in which crimes against children are punished more leniently. We also propose compensation for victims and a host of measures to protect victims during investigations and hearings and of course afterwards, especially for disabled children. Finally, we propose setting up registers of persons who have committed the offence, in collaboration with Europol, Interpol and national police forces, and involving candidate countries in action to combat the sexual exploitation of children and child pornography.
I am well aware that promoting legislative arrangements is not the only solution. We need to focus on the causes of the mental and physical abuse and exploitation of children, such as poverty, the lack of fundamental structures to protect children, the lack of control and prevention mechanisms, the breakdown of the family and, of course, the fact that such a market – a market of huge supply and demand – exists and, unfortunately, operates within the European Union, discrediting our European civilisation."@en1
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