Ęaramanou (PSE)
, rapporteur. – (EL) 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.