Council of Europe prepares new treaty against sexual exploitation and abuse of children

[STRASBOURG, 13 September 2006] - The second meeting of the Committee of Experts on the protection of children against sexual exploitation and abuse (PC-ES) took place at the Council of Europe in Strasbourg from September 11 – 13. After talks with Minister Bindi, Deputy Secretary General and the Italian Minister for Family Affairs, who is attending the meeting of the Council of Europe Committee of Experts against sexual exploitation and abuse of children, Maud de Boer-Buquicchio made the following statement:

“The key to effective protection of children from sexual exploitation and abuse is to reinforce national measures and cross-border cooperation. The Council of Europe has begun to prepare a new treaty to do exactly that. The presence of the Italian Minister for Family Affairs, Ms Rosy Bindi at the first round of negotiations for the new treaty shows the importance the Italian government attaches to this issue as also evidenced by national measures. Other Governments also strongly argue that the time has come to move from concern to action and that common standards should be established to protect children’s physical and psychological integrity.

If the momentum of negotiations between governments is maintained, we should soon have an effective new legal instrument offering a ground-breaking approach to protect our children. Minister Bindi and myself agree that the new treaty should provide for child friendly judicial procedures, effective jurisdiction of the courts in Council of Europe member states regardless of the offenders’ nationality or whereabouts, measures to render difficult or even impossible the expiration of limitation periods for these crimes, effective, proportionate and dissuasive sanctions, and substantially improved international cooperation.”

Further information

pdf: https://wcd.coe.int/ViewDoc.jsp?id=1036769&BackColorInternet=F5CA75&Back...

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