Combating the sexual abuse and sexual exploitation of children and child pornography

Background

One in five children suffer from some form of sexual violence, either offline or online. The internet has greatly worsened the spread of child sexual abuse. The European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) supports the European Commission’s strategy for a more effective fight against the sexual abuse and sexual exploitation of children. This strategy set out eight initiatives aiming to ensure full implementation and, where needed, further development of the legal framework to combat child sexual abuse and exploitation. It recognised the need to assess whether the current EU criminal law framework is fit for purpose considering the societal and technological changes over the past decade.

EU Member States have different measures to combat child abuse and different minimum penalties. It is necessary and of utmost importance for Member States to cooperate to prevent and combat the sexual abuse and exploitation of children. The EESC supports the obligation that the proposal places on Member States to set up national authorities to coordinate efforts and calls for a central authority in each Member State responsible for national and international coordination and training of police authorities.

The EESC calls for common minimum standards for the definitions of criminal offences and for the level of sanctions to be imposed. It endorses the proposed increase in minimum penalties and in the length of statutes of limitations, which must not start until the victim has reached the age of majority. The proposed minimum statutes of limitations are necessary to enable victims to seek justice as they are often unable to report these crimes for years. The EESC also supports mandatory risk assessments for sex offenders and associated interventions to prevent recidivism. Prosecution, prevention and support are all factors that must be greatly strengthened.

Key points:

In the opinion, the EESC:

• supports the proposal’s objective to ensure that all forms of sexual abuse and sexual exploitation of children, including those enabled or facilitated by technological developments, are criminalised;
• emphasises a focus on the particularly vulnerable group of children with disabilities, who can become easy victims of sexual abuse and sexual exploitation and cybercrimes;
• calls for the international exchange of data relating to child sexual abuse and exploitation to be specifically regulated and for the possibilities for data retention to be expanded in all Member States with the development of an EU Research Centre.

The text of the draft opinion can be found here.

Additional information

Section: Employment, Social Affairs and Citizenship (SOC)

Opinion number: SOC/804

Opinion type: Optional

Rapporteur: Christian Bäumler

Co-rapporteur: Diana Indjova

References: COM(2024) 60 final 2024/0035 COD, COM(2024) 60 final 2024/0035 COD

Date of adoption by section: 25/6/2024

Result of the vote: 67 in favour/1 against/0 abstentions

Date of adoption in plenary: 10/7/2024 – 11/7/2024

Result of the vote:   in favour/ against/ abstentions

Contacts:

Press officer: Simran Grewal/Laura Lui          

Tel.: 00 32 2 546 9189

Email: Simran.Grewal@eesc.europa.eu/ laurairena.lui@eesc.europa.eu

Administrator: Sabrina Borg

Tel.: +32 2 546 9727

Email: Sabrina.Borg@eesc.europa.eu