16/09/2011 Social Affairs, Health and Sustainable Development
Strasbourg, 16.09.2011 - "Any kind of ‘sexualisation’ of children in the media and elsewhere is to be avoided and combated, for it constitutes a first step towards representing as sexual objects our children, who then find themselves exposed to abuse and exploitation by sex offenders and criminal groups", according to Augustin Conde Bajén (Spain EPP/CD), speaking today when he presented to the Social Affairs Committee, meeting in Paris, his report on child abuse images.
He pointed out that such images were not just images, for behind every image lie a number of offences, ranging from the solicitation, corruption or trafficking of children for sexual purposes to the distribution, collection and consultation of images of the abuse, and also including various forms of sexual abuse perpetrated against children.
In a draft recommendation which was unanimously adopted, the committee says that it is important to make it a criminal offence intentionally to view child pornography, and to make it mandatory to block websites with illegal content if these cannot be speedily deleted. The committee calls for committed, transversal and internationally co-ordinated action against all types of offences related to child abuse images.