05/10/2011 Session
Strasbourg, 05.10.2011 - “Child pornography is a crime and a grave violation of the rights of the child,” the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography emphasised in her address to the Parliamentary Assembly.
To fight child pornography effectively, the Special Rapporteur stressed the importance of establishing common legal frameworks and co-ordinating actions with the private sector, justice, the police and all players active in the protection of children at the national and international levels.
She specifically appealed to the commitment of governments and to the social responsibility of the private sector so that the necessary measures are taken to compel Internet access-providers to cut off access to sites containing images with the character of child pornography and to disrupt the functioning of the financial mechanisms underpinning these sites. “Strong legislation is a tool of prevention,” she said.
In 2010 the International Association of Internet Hotlines recorded over 24 000 notifications of material relating to abuses inflicted on children. Interpol has a database of over half a million images of abuse, Ms M’jid said.
This phenomenon, whose real extent remains underestimated, must also be fought by striving for children’s greater awareness and participation in devising prevention strategies, better protection of child victims, and better identification of sexual predators, she added.
Ms M’jid called on the countries not yet having done so to sign and ratify the Council of Europe Convention on the Protection of Children against Sexual Exploitation and Sexual Abuse. She ended her address by welcoming the Campaign conducted by the Council of Europe, and in particular its Parliamentary Assembly, on this issue.