Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2002-10-22-Speech-2-184"
| Predicate | Value (sorted: default) |
|---|---|
| rdf:type | |
| dcterms:Date | |
| dcterms:Is Part Of | |
| dcterms:Language | |
| lpv:document identification number |
"en.20021022.7.2-184"2
|
| lpv:hasSubsequent | |
| lpv:speaker | |
| lpv:spoken text |
". – As Parliament knows, in December 2000 the Commission proposed the framework decision on combating the sexual exploitation of children and child pornography. I am very happy to tell you that, on 14 October, the Justice and Home Affairs Council reached political agreement on the Commission's proposal. This framework decision is one of the most far-reaching instruments so far when it comes to the approximation of criminal law. It addresses various forms of sexual exploitation of children, such as coercing a child into prostitution, pornographic performances and abuse of a recognised position of trust. Child pornography, both on- and offline, is also covered.
As regards penalties, the Council has taken steps to establish a general approach to the approximation of penalties. This is also the main reason why the Council took so long to adopt this framework decision. Now, the framework decision stipulates levels of penalties ranging from between one and three years for basic offences to between five and ten years in circumstances that aggravate the offence.
The framework decision does not approximate the age of sexual consent. The Commission believes that this is an issue for the Member States, in accordance with the principle of subsidiarity. The age of sexual consent, as defined by national law, is, however, used as a dividing line for different levels of penalties. The idea is to reflect the principle that the younger the victim the worse the offence.
In terms of final assistance, the STOP programme is a very valuable tool in combating paedophilia. The DAPHNE programme also specifically refers to paedophilia. The Commission will continue to support projects in this field through the new AGIS programme for law enforcement and judicial cooperation.
Turning to the final part of the question, the Commission can confirm that it has comparative information on the legislative and judicial means to combat this tragic phenomenon. Europol has produced a report on this subject, demonstrating that it is very active in combating child pornography. Europol has recently been involved in several successful large-scale operations. The Commission is convinced that once Eurojust is fully operational, it will encourage and improve cooperation between the Member States in the fight against the sexual exploitation of children, by facilitating mutual legal assistance and the implementation of extradition requests."@en1
|
| lpv:unclassifiedMetadata |
Named graphs describing this resource:
The resource appears as object in 2 triples