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Resolution 1733 (2010) Final version
Reinforcing measures against sex offenders
1. The Parliamentary Assembly recognises
the gravity of the harm caused to victims of sexual offences. Sexual
abuse is unquestionably an abhorrent type of wrongdoing with debilitating
effects on its victims. Children and other vulnerable individuals
are entitled to special protection in this respect.
2. Sex offenders are thought to be amongst the most frequent
recidivists. The Assembly considers that the supervision of sex
offenders should be seriously addressed within the member states.
3. Current systems dealing with sex offenders vary greatly across
member states. Whilst some states already have comprehensive management
systems to deal with such offenders, including a functioning “sex offenders
register”, other states have no such arrangements and do not have
a register in place.
4. A sex offenders register is an instrument used in a procedure
whereby convicted sex offenders are required to notify the relevant
authority of personal information, such as their name, address and
date of birth, and to immediately inform this authority if their
personal circumstances change. The record of these notifications
is commonly referred to as a sex offenders register. For such registers
to be effective, all information stored must be accurate and regularly
updated.
5. The Assembly recognises the key role that a register can play
in the supervision of offenders, especially when employed as part
of a comprehensive sex offenders management programme. The information
in the register may be used to assess the risk that the offender
poses to the community and therefore to manage that risk. If a large
amount of relevant and up-to-date information is stored on the register,
it can play a key role in rapidly detecting perpetrators of offences.
Registers can also function as administrative tools, since they remind
relevant authorities of the whereabouts of offenders.
6. The Assembly is particularly concerned by the fact that convicted
sex offenders are able to continue working with children and vulnerable
persons because of a loophole in the national system or a system
abroad. Under certain circumstances, sex offenders thus manage to
find employment in fields such as education, the prison service,
health services and childcare. The Assembly is concerned that some
member states do not have an effective “vetting and barring” system
in place whereby those who have been convicted of certain sexual
offences are prohibited from working with children and other vulnerable
persons.
7. The Assembly recalls that the 2007 Council of Europe Convention
on the Protection of Children against Sexual Exploitation and Sexual
Abuse (CETS No. 201) obliges states to introduce measures, in conformity
with their internal law, to ensure that candidates for professions
necessitating regular contact with children have not been convicted
of acts of sexual exploitation or sexual abuse of children.
8. The Assembly welcomes the forthcoming entry into force of
the convention on 1 July 2010 and calls upon those states that have
not yet done so to sign and ratify the convention.
9. The Assembly emphasises that measures to prevent sexual offences
must be based on laws that fully respect human rights and fundamental
freedoms, in particular Article 8 of the European Convention on
Human Rights (“the Convention”, ETS No. 5), which guarantees the
right to respect for private life. In this regard, the Assembly
recalls that some of those systems which include a sex offenders
register (such as in France and the United Kingdom) have been deemed
to be compliant with Convention rights by the European Court of Human
Rights.
10. Sex offenders travel from country to country – including between
European countries – to perpetrate offences and to escape conviction
and supervision in their home country. The Assembly considers that
the management of sex offenders therefore requires international
co-operation.
11. The Assembly regrets the inadequacy of information and exchange
of intelligence on sex offenders between member states. The Assembly
therefore urges states to increase the quality, quantity and regularity of
information and intelligence sharing on this subject. Such information
should be shared in compliance with the provisions of the Council
of Europe Convention for the Protection of Individuals with regard
to Automatic Processing of Personal Data (ETS No. 108) which secures
for every individual respect for his/her rights and fundamental
freedoms, and in particular his/her right to privacy, with regard
to automatic processing of personal data relating to him/her.
12. In view of the high degree of freedom of movement and establishment
among European states, the Assembly considers it particularly important
for states to exchange information on those offenders who are deemed
unsuitable for work with children or vulnerable persons. Information
contained in national vetting systems should therefore be made available
abroad, including in the Schengen information system, to ensure the
safety of society’s most vulnerable people.
13. Interpol has the capacity to store in its database information
on sex offenders provided by member states. This information is
available to law enforcement officials in all member states to facilitate
criminal investigations.
14. The Assembly also recognises the need for awareness-raising
campaigns in member states to educate people about the risks posed
by sex offenders and to help them recognise signs of abuse.
15. The Assembly favours an integrated approach at international
level in order to achieve greater effectiveness and coherence in
the protection of all individuals against sexual offences.
16. Consequently, the Assembly does not support the introduction
of a Europe-wide sex offenders register but calls on member states
to take effective national measures to prevent sexual offences and,
in particular, to:
16.1. evaluate
their respective legal frameworks to assess whether they provide
appropriate safeguards against sexual offences and, if necessary,
amend their legislation in order to create a comprehensive system
to manage sex offenders;
16.2. introduce, as part of their national system, in accordance
with the provisions of the European Convention on Human Rights and,
in particular, in compliance with the principle of proportionality,
a sex offenders register which contains accurate and regularly updated
information on persons convicted of such offences in order to produce
a central file allowing an exchange of information between entitled authorities,
as strictly defined by law;
16.3. form a comprehensive package of legal measures aimed at
controlling and monitoring movement of sex offenders, particularly
travel abroad;
16.4. introduce a system of vetting and barring for employment
purposes to ensure that those who pose a risk cannot work with children
or vulnerable persons;
16.5. ensure that any legislation introduced fully respects
individual rights, in particular the right to private life, and
therefore restricts access to the sex offenders register only to
duly entitled officials and excludes access by the general public
to the register;
16.6. strictly regulate any disclosure of information to any
member of the public where it is considered necessary to protect
one child in particular or several children, and ensure adequate
technical or other safeguards to protect against unauthorised access
or misuse of this information;
16.7. introduce a co-ordinated and efficient child abduction
alert system;
16.8. sign and ratify the Convention on the Protection of Children
against Sexual Exploitation and Sexual Abuse without delay, and
implement it fully;
16.9. establish awareness-raising campaigns concerning detection
of sexual abuse and ways to address this problem.
17. In order to be effective, the monitoring of sex offenders
must include increased co-operation between states. The Assembly
therefore urges member states to:
17.1. increase
the quality, quantity and regularity of the information they share
with other member states on sex offenders in order to effectively
oversee the movements of offenders;
17.2. improve the information exchange with other member states
on persons convicted of sex offences so that individuals who are
not suitable for work with children or other vulnerable people are
not able to gain employment abroad;
17.3. increase the quantity and regularity of the information
on sex offenders which they feed into the Interpol database.