Suppression of crimes against children

Suppression of crimes against children

Doc. 7650

23 September 1996

MOTION FOR A RECOMMENDATION

presented by MM. ABOUT and LEGENDRE and others

This motion has not been discussed in the Assembly and commits only the members who have signed it

            The Assembly,

1.         Deeply moved by the crimes committed against children and adolescents in several European states;

2.         Bearing in mind the work of the World Congress Against Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children, held in Stockholm from 27 to 31 August 1996;

3.         Considering that the subjection of children or adolescents under the age of 15 to sexual relations with adults, including instances where the perpetrators are from the child's family or acquaintances, must always be deemed to be abuse of a criminal nature;

4.         Stressing that the specific nature of crimes against minors must be taken into consideration by granting child protection associations and NGOs the right to sue for damages in criminal proceedings; and by so specifying the time-limit for prosecution of crimes and offences against minors to enable young victims to file a complaint personally once they have come of age, even in cases where the facts go back many years;

5.         Considering that these crimes, even though occasionally committed by perverted individuals acting alone are also organised by transnational criminal networks;

6.         Noting that an individual is guilty of a repeated offence only in cases where such offences are committed within the same country. Accordingly, if an individual who has been convicted in one country, upon release commits the same offence in another country, he or she cannot be deemed to be a repeated offender in that country and consequently is not liable to the heavier penalties provided for in the case of repeated offenders;

7.         Considering that European union should not mean the free movement of criminals;

8.         Recommends that the Committee of Ministers:

i.          in conjunction with the Parliamentary Assembly, draw up an additional protocol to the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, supplementing Article 8, relating to respect for private life, with an explicit reference to the right of all, and in particular children and adolescents, to be protected by law against forced sexual acts;

ii.          in conjunction with the Parliamentary Assembly, draw up a Council of Europe convention aimed at the suppression of incitement to crimes against children, including the circulation of paedophile pictures, articles and offers of introductions, in the form of publications, guides, sound or audio-visual recordings, dissemination on Internet or pseudo-tourism services involving the subjection of children and adolescents to sexual relations;

iii.         stipulate a time-limit no lower than twenty years for the prosecution of crimes against children and allow under-age victims of sexual abuse to bring proceedings within a time-frame of at least five years following their coming of age;

iv.         arrange, through this Convention, for the courts of the member states of the Council of Europe to take account of convictions for offences and crimes against children, regardless of where the act was committed and the sentence handed down, in order to assess whether the individual concerned is guilty of a repeated offence;

v.          invite the states enjoying special guest status with the Assembly, such as those with observer status with the Council of Europe, and in particular the United States and Japan, to subscribe to this Convention;

vi.         invite the governments of the European Union countries, in the framework of judicial and police co-operation against organised crime, to include in the next Europol programme joint action to uncover, prosecute and suppress the activities of child and adolescent sexual exploitation networks and the circulation of any form of paedophile pictures, articles or offers of services;

vii.        include in this joint action the European states which are not members of the Union;

viii.       invite the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe to include in the agenda of its Council of Ministers and its Parliamentary Assembly the question of transposing in the form of the most appropriate instruments, the provisions of this Convention, once they have been agreed, for all OSCE members states and send the same invitation to other regional organisations concerned, without prejudice to the necessary reinforcement of the Convention on the Rights of the Child adopted by the United Nations General Assembly on 20 November 1989.

Signed[1]:

About, France, LDR

Legendre, France, EDG

Briane, France, EPP

Clerfayt, Belgium, LDR

De Decker, Belgium, LDR

Diaz de Mera, Spain, EPP

Hoeffel, France, EPP

Jeambrun, France, LDR

Kaspereit, France, EDG

Le Grand, France, EDG

Ojuland, Estonia, LDR

Roseta, Portugal, LDR

Schreiner, France, EDG

Seitlinger, France, EPP

Valleix, France, EDG

Maximus, Belgium, SOC

de Cossé-Brissac, France, LDR

Le Jeune, France, EPP

Alloncle, France, EDG

Durrieu, France, SOC

[1]        SOC : Socialist Group

            EPP : Group of the European People's Party

            EDG : European Democratic Group

            LDR : Liberal, Democratic and Reformers Group

            UEL : Group of the Unified European Left