European Parliament resolution on the communication from the Commission to the Council, the European Parliament, the Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions on the implementation of measures to combat child sex tourism (COM(1999) 262 — C5-0096/1999 –1999/2097(COS))
C 378/80 Official Journal of the European Communities EN 29. 12. 2000 Thursday 30 March 2000 Final recommendations 27. Points out that, during the 2000 budgetary procedure, it made a substantial change to the nomen- clature of the budget which now reflects the provisions of the Treaty of Amsterdam in respect of the process for bringing asylum and immigration policies within the Community sphere; Emphasises the fact that less than half of the proposed measures which have financial implications 28. are based on appropriations available under specific budget headings; Notes that appropriations in favour of refugees have been increased by the budgetary authority but 29. remain in the reserve until the legislative authority has adopted the appropriate legal basis; 30. Expresses concern at the fact that an appropriate budgetary allocation has not been specifically provided for under EU cooperation in the fields of justice and home affairs with the countries selected, despite the fact that implementation of the plans should already have begun by now; deplores the fact that the timetable provided for is totally unrealistic; Hopes that Parliament will be closely involved in the development of the European Union’s migra- 31. tion and asylum policy; calls on the Council and the Commission to enter into clear agreements on this subject with Parliament; considers that the forthcoming IGC must lead to the full communitarisation of policy on migration, asylum and combating the trade in human beings and illegal immigration, particularly by introducing codecision linked to majority voting in the Council; Proposes that a new heading be created in the 2001 budget, to cover ‘cooperation with third coun- 32. tries in the fields of justice and home affairs, with particular reference to immigration’; Stresses the need to involve the candidate countries fully in the process of working out and apply- 33. ing the measures needed to implement the plans and considers that this point should be considered part of a coherent pre-accession strategy; Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Council, the Commission, the governments 34. and parliaments of the Member States and candidate countries, and the Council of Europe. * * * 6. Combating child sex tourism A5-0052/2000 European Parliament resolution on the communication from the Commission to the Council, the European Parliament, the Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions on the implementation of measures to combat child sex tourism (COM(1999) 262 ( C5-0096/1999 ( 1999/2097(COS)) The European Parliament, 4 having regard to the Commission communication (COM(1999) 262 4 C5-0096/1999), 4 having regard to Title VI of the Treaty on European Union, Article 29 of which provides, inter alia, for measures to prevent and combat offences against children with a view to achieving the objective of providing citizens with a high degree of security in an area of freedom, security and justice, 4 having regard to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child of 20 November 1989 and Parliament’s resolution of 18 November 1999 on the 10th anniversary of that Convention (1), 4 having regard to the International Labour Organisation Convention of 17 June 1999 on the worst forms of child labour, (1) Texts adopted at that sitting, Item 14. 29. 12. 2000 EN Official Journal of the European Communities C 378/81 Thursday 30 March 2000 4 having regard to the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Free- doms and Article 6(2) of the Treaty on European Union, which stipulates that the rights guaranteed by that Convention must be respected, 4 having regard to the Council’s conclusions of 21 December 1999 on the implementation of measures to combat child sex tourism (1), 4 having regard to Recommendation R(9)11 adopted by the Ministerial Committee of the Council of Europe on 9 September 1991 concerning the sexual exploitation of children, child pornography and child prostitution and trafficking in children and young adults, 4 having regard to United Nations Resolution 94/210 of 23 December 1994 on the need to take effec- tive international measures to combat trafficking in children, child prostitution and child pornography and to eliminate these practices, 4 having regard to the declaration adopted by the World Tourism Organisation in October 1995 in Cairo on the prevention of organised sex tourism, 4 having regard to the declaration and the Agenda for Action adopted at the World Congress against Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children held in Stockholm from 27 to 31 August 1996, 4 having regard to the Commission commu nication on combating child sex tourism (COM(1996) 547), 4 having regard to the Commission communication entitled ‘The European Union and the external dimension of human rights policy: from Rome to Maastricht and beyond’ (COM(1995) 567), 4 having regard to the Commission communication on illegal and harmful content on the Internet (COM(1996) 487), 4 having regard to the Commission communication on trafficking in women for the purpose of sexual exploitation (COM(1996) 567), 4 having regard to the Joint Action adopted by the Council on 29 November 1996 establishing an incentive and exchange programme for persons responsible for combating trade in human beings and the sexual exploitation of children (2), 4 having regard to the Joint Action adopted by the Council on 16 December 1996 extending the man- date given to the Europol Drugs Unit to include trafficking in human beings (3) and the Council Deci- sion of 3 December 1998 supplementing the definition of the form of crime ‘traffic in human beings’ in the Annex to the Europol Convention (4), 4 having regard to the Joint Action adopted by the Council on 24 February 1997 concerning action to combat trafficking in human beings and sexual exploitation of children (5), 4 having regard to the initiative of the Republic of Austria with a view to adopting a Council decision to combat child pornography on the Internet (6) and its opinion of 13 April 1999 on the draft joint action on the same subject (7), 4 having regard to its resolution of 13 December 1991 on the problems of children in the European Community (8), 4 having regard to its resolution of 8 July 1992 on a European Charter of Rights of the Child (9), 4 having regard to its resolution of 18 January 1996 on trafficking in human beings (10), (1) OJ C 379, 31. 12. 1999, p. 1. (2) OJ L 322, 12. 12. 1996, p. 7. (3) OJ L 342, 31. 12. 1996, p. 4. (4) OJ C 26, 30. 1. 1999, p. 21. (5) OJ L 63, 4. 3. 1997, p. 2. (6) OJ C 362, 16. 12. 1999, p. 8. (7) OJ C 219, 30. 7. 1999, p. 68. (8) OJ C 13, 20. 1. 1992, p. 534. (9) OJ C 241, 21. 9. 1992, p. 67. (10) OJ C 32, 5. 2. 1996, p. 88. C 378/82 Official Journal of the European Communities EN 29. 12. 2000 Thursday 30 March 2000 4 having regard to its resolution of 12 December 1996 on measures to protect minors in the European Union (1), 4 having regard to its resolution of 8 April 1997 on respect for human rights in the European Union (1995), and in particular paragraphs 145 to 160 thereof (2), 4 having regard to its resolution of 6 November 1997 on the Commission communication on combat- ing child sex tourism and the aide-mémoire on the European Union’s contribution to reinforcing the prevention of the sexual abuse and exploitation of children (3), 4 having regard to Rule 47(1) of its Rules of Procedure, 4 having regard to the report of the Committee on Citizens’ Freedoms and Rights, Justice and Internal Affairs and the opinions of the Committee on Legal Affairs and the Internal Market, the Committee on Culture, Youth, Education and the Media and the Committee on Women’s Rights and Equal Opportu- nities (A5-0052/2000), A. whereas over the last 10 years child sex tourism has become an ever more serious problem, since, as a result of falling prices in the transport sector, holidays abroad have become affordable for everyone and interest in travel has risen; whereas travellers in an unfamiliar foreign country can act completely anonymously and, moreover, are more likely to succumb to the illusion that child abuse is less repre- hensible, in the light of the different social and cultural conditions, and that the moral principles applicable in their homeland are not valid to the same extent, B. whereas not all countries have the same capacity, or equally the same determination, to take specific action against these practices in order to provide their children with an appropriate degree of protec- tion, C. whereas the Member States have signed and ratified both the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child of 20 November 1989 and the Human Rights Convention and have signed, if not yet ratified, the International Labour Organisation Convention on the worst forms of child labour, and whereas, in addition, in Article 6(2) of the EU Treaty the European Union has given an undertaking to respect the rights guaranteed by the Human Rights Convention, D. whereas the European Treaties at present make no provision for a Community policy on children and no such policy is pursued by the Commission, so that, as a result of this lack of a coherent frame- work, the implementation of and support for individual, small-scale projects has thus far been essen- tially the only means open to the Union of countering this problem and contributing to the efforts to combat child sex tourism, E. whereas the phenomenon of child sex tourism is often bound up with travel from Europe to third countries, so that, on the demand side at least, there is a strong connection with the European Union, which must therefore also bear some degree of responsibility, particularly as this specific form of child abuse is closely linked to the tourism sector, which profits from it and thus does not necessarily have an interest in combating it, F. whereas the Union has a duty to consider the social costs generated by economic activity, the main focus of its interest; whereas it has done so as far as workers, consumers or certain other disadvan- taged groups are concerned, but has not yet paid adequate attention to the problems of children, G. whereas child sex tourism, like trafficking in persons, is a growing problem in the countries of the former Soviet Union too, since, on the one hand, social and living conditions in those countries are poor, and, on the other, the countries concerned offer potential customers the advantage that they share borders with EU Member States; whereas the Union has a moral responsibility to deal with this phenomenon, particularly as regards those countries which have applied for EU membership, and this problem must not, therefore, be neglected in the accession negotiations, (1) OJ C 20, 20. 1. 1997, p. 170. (2) OJ C 132, 28. 4. 1997, p. 31. (3) OJ C 358, 24. 11. 1997, p. 37. 29. 12. 2000 EN Official Journal of the European Communities C 378/83 H. whereas child sex tourism also exists within the European Union and Europe’s share of sex tourism is set to increase substantially when the applicant countries become EU Member States; whereas the European Union has special responsibility towards its children as its youngest citizens and thus its future, Thursday 30 March 2000 I. extremely alarmed by the fact that in the European Union and the applicant countries legal proceed- ings concerning extreme cases of paedophilia involving the death of children are moving extremely slowly and have been marked by worrying delays, inexplicable transfers of judges and police staff, slandering of witnesses, intimidation and false leads and silence or tendentious reporting by the media, J. whereas this situation is making it impossible to shed light on the scale of the problem and establish the identity and responsibility of the persons involved, and is preventing those already charged with the abuse and murder of numerous children from being brought to justice, K. whereas the abuse of children by sex tourists is only one aspect of the cross-border phenomenon of crime against children, and whereas it is closely linked to the problem of trafficking in young women and child pornography as forms of organised crime, which means joint, coordinated measures are needed to combat these problems, L. whereas the Internet, as a medium which is very difficult to monitor, makes it easier to commit these crimes, as it allows child pornography to be distributed free of charge and information on the range of sex tourism destinations can be made available to everyone, and since the uncontrolled, unscrupulous presentation of perverted practices not only makes crimes against children seem less serious, but also serves to remove taboos, thereby encouraging potential customers to commit paedophile acts, M. whereas crimes against children are particularly reprehensible because they are directed against the weakest members of society, who cannot defend themselves, and because they inflict on children not only physical violence, but also serious mental suffering, and thus in many cases give rise to psycho- logical disorders which prevent children from ever leading a normal life, N. whereas effective measures to combat these crimes must be aimed equally at the supply and demand sides, and whereas any one-sided approach is doomed to failure in the long run, O. whereas European Union measures on the supply side must not necessarily be restricted to the terri- tory of the Member States, since the Union can exert political pressure and influence on the applicant countries, in the accession negotiations, and on other third countries, in connection with aid pro- grammes, P. whereas demand can indeed be reduced by increasing awareness of the problem and raising its public profile and through the expression of society’s condemnation, since not all sex tourists are paedo- philes, but instead often commit sexual acts against children as a result of the distancing from their own moral principles made possible by being far from home amid an unfamiliar local culture, and would be deterred from abusing children, albeit not necessarily from participating in sex tourism itself, if society were to exert sufficient pressure, Q. whereas increasing awareness of the problem is a learning process which cannot be completed over- night; whereas instead only repeated confrontation with the problem can bring individuals to acknowledge, at the critical moment when the decision is taken, that their actions are criminal and reprehensible, which means that effective measures to combat child sex tourism must therefore always be implemented on a long-term basis, R. whereas hitherto action has been taken only under a three-year programme, thus allowing time only for short-term measures, which, moreover, reach only a very limited target group, and whereas there is still no legal basis for a corresponding budget heading, C 378/84 Official Journal of the European Communities EN 29. 12. 2000 Thursday 30 March 2000 S. T. U. V. W. X. Y. Z. whereas, therefore, each project has essentially been planned and adopted in isolation, with a con- sequent lack of synergy and coordination, whereas the Commission communication does not reveal whether ex post facto checks have been carried out to determine whether the measures in connection with tourism fairs, which were designed to raise the awareness of travel agencies and operators in the tourism sector, and the projects, which were geared directly to raising the awareness of tourists, have in fact borne fruit and to what extent awareness of the problem has been increased, whereas, as made clear in the Commission communication, in addition to campaigns to raise public awareness and measures demonstrating solidarity with abused children, the condemnation of society must also be reflected in criminal law penalties, particularly as the criminal law is recognised as having not only a punitive but also a specific and general deterrent role, whereas the criminal law and criminal prosecutions still fall largely within the sphere of responsi- bility of the Member States, but whereas, in the framework of judicial cooperation in criminal mat- ters, Article 31(e) of the EU Treaty makes provision for the adoption of measures establishing mini- mum rules relating to the constituent elements of criminal acts and to penalties in the field of organised crime, whereas the Council’s Joint Action of 24 February 1997 concerning action to combat trafficking in human beings and sexual exploitation of children is inadequate in that it merely represents a declaration of intent with regard to territoriality and leaves the Member States free to retain the criterion of punishability under the law of the country in which the offence was committed, even though children must be protected regardless of their nationality and place of residence and, in the eyes of the European Union, are no less worthy of protection because their own country fails in this respect, whereas at the hearing held on 3 September 1999 Commissioner Vitorino explicitly gave priority to the harmonisation of criminal law penalties with regard to the trafficking in and exploitation of women and crimes against children, whereas, following the Council Decision of 3 December 1998, the concept of ‘traffic in human beings’ in the Annex to the Europol Convention has been defined in such a way as to include child sex tourism and child pornography; whereas the extension of the Europol mandate to cover trafficking in human beings is therefore also welcome from this point of view, even though the requisite operational powers do not yet exist and the proposed scope for effective action will be barely adequate, whereas, however, measures to combat child sex tourism must go beyond the EU Member States and the applicant countries to cover the ‘traditional’ sex tourism countries in Asia, South America and Africa; whereas in those parts of the world in particular specific knowledge of the countries, their cultures and languages is required and therefore NGOs are often better suited than other orga- nisations when it comes to cooperating with local authorities and the local people, such cooperation being vital to combating existing problems effectively, AA. whereas child prostitution is particularly widespread in countries where poverty is especially severe, Reiterates that child sex tourism and all forms of trafficking in human beings are incompatible with 1. human dignity and worth and are criminal acts which constitute a serious violation of human rights; 2. Calls on the Member States and the applicant countries to check that their laws are consistent with the Convention on the Rights of the Child and to take account of this aspect when enacting new laws and to ratify the International Labour Organisation Convention on the worst forms of child labour; 29. 12. 2000 EN Official Journal of the European Communities C 378/85 Thursday 30 March 2000 3. Calls on the Member States and the representatives of Parliament who are involved to incorporate into the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union which is to be drawn up provisions on respect for children’s rights as guaranteed in the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child of 20 November 1989; 4. Calls on the Member States and the applicant countries to urge other states to secure approval by the United Nations General Assembly of the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography with a view to its immediate ratification and entry into force; 5. Welcomes the Commission communication on the implementation of measures to combat child sex tourism; Stresses that the European Union and its Member States must step up their efforts to combat the 6. exploitation of children and sexual tourism involving children; Hopes that the Member States will take action to encourage or, possibly, to oblige people to forward 7. to the police and judicial authorities any information they may have on such activities; 8. Notes that, in compliance with Chapter 1, Article 1(1) of the European Convention on the Exercise of Children’s Rights (Council of Europe, ETS No 160), when used in connection with child sex tourism the term ‘child’ must be taken to mean anyone who has not reached the age of 18 years; 9. Takes the view that, given children’s particular need for protection, measures to combat this type of sex tourism must not be geared solely to the perpetrators of the crimes, but must instead focus on the victims from the point of view of the protection of children, something which is most likely to be achieved in the context of a long-term, coherent policy on children; Calls on the Member States, therefore, when the next revision of the EC Treaty is carried out, to 10. create a comprehensive new legal basis for a Community policy on children so that the existing piecemeal child protection measures can be replaced by a coherent policy; Urges the Commission to propose in the year 2000 the establishment of a legal basis for a budget 11. heading on measures to combat child sex tourism, since, otherwise, from 2001 no further resources will be available; 12. Welcomes in particular the measures intended to develop a better understanding of the nature and scale of the phenomenon and to combat it; 13. Regards the awareness-raising campaigns carried out by the Commission as commendable, provided that steps are taken to ensure that such campaigns do not trivialise the existence and extent of the phe- nomenon or lead to an indifferent or tolerant attitude towards it among the public, and that they always point out that participation in child sex tourism is a criminal act; Endorses the Commission’s intention of continuing information campaigns and maintaining support 14. for practical projects, provided that its next communication on the measures taken incorporates cost-ben- efit considerations, information on alternative uses of the limited resources and the project selection cri- teria and details of the effectiveness and efficiency of the individual measures; 15. Calls on the Commission to investigate more closely the extent of child sex tourism in Europe, both within the European Union and in the applicant countries, including the practices employed and, in addi- tion, the flow of ‘consumers’ of child sex tourism; Calls on the Commission to assess fully the link between child pornography on the Internet and the 16. increase, despite awareness and repudiation amongst the general public, of child sex tourism; 17. Welcomes the new Daphne initiative and urges that it be extended to provide protection and sup- port for the victims of the sexual abuse of children; C 378/86 Official Journal of the European Communities EN 29. 12. 2000 Thursday 30 March 2000 18. Welcomes the Commission’s cooperation with the tourism industry on the introduction of codes of conduct and regards it as right that the Commission should continue to encourage the drafting of new codes of conduct and the extension of existing ones and to review the effectiveness of existing self-regula- tory mechanisms; 19. Calls on the Commission to draw up, next year and every two years thereafter, a report on the application of these codes of conduct, to ensure that there is no discrepancy between the written rules and their practical application, and to forward that report to Parliament; 20. Regrets that the Council’s views on the principle of extraterritoriality have developed hardly at all, particularly with regard to the fact that only nationals of the Member States or persons habitually residing within the territory of the Union can be prosecuted for sexual crimes against children; 21. Reiterates that the Member States must adopt universal extraterritorial provisions enabling them to investigate, prosecute and punish persons who have committed crimes involving sexual exploitation of children abroad; 22. Calls on the Commission to draw up a survey of Member States’ laws on child sex tourism, child pornography and trafficking in human beings and, if necessary, to put forward proposals for definitions of offences within the meaning of Article 31(e) of the EU Treaty which comply with the principle of extra- territoriality and abandon the criterion of dual criminality; 23. Calls on the Council to establish to what extent the Member States have fulfilled their obligations under the Council’s Joint Action of 24 February 1997 concerning action to combat trafficking in human beings and sexual exploitation of children and to inform Parliament of the results; 24. Welcomes the decisions of the Tampere European Council of October 1999 on closer cooperation between European law enforcement authorities; points, however, to the need to extend such cooperation to the applicant countries as soon as possible in the field of trafficking in human beings and child sexual abuse, the one often being associated with the other; 25. Will deliver an opinion shortly on Austria’s initiative with a view to the adoption of a Council decision on measures to combat child pornography on the Internet, since it takes over word for word a draft joint action on which Parliament has already delivered a favourable opinion; Considers it essential to adopt common legislation explicitly prohibiting the use of the Internet for 26. the purpose of circulating messages of this kind; 27. Calls on the Member States to provide special care and shelter for young victims of sexual abuse, especially for young non-accompanied asylum seekers and for young immigrants, both legal and illegal, taking full account of their different cultural and religious backgrounds; 28. Calls on the Member States to encourage travel agencies, tour operators, hotels, haulage undertak- ings and advertisers to set up sectoral self-regulation systems to combat child sex tourism and exploitation involving all forms of prostitution; Is in favour of the Commission’s setting up a separate department to deal with all matters concern- 29. ing children and with the impact of new legislative proposals on the situation of children; 30. Regrets that the Commission has not yet taken any action in response to Parliament’s request, in paragraph 11 of its above-mentioned resolution of 6 November 1997, to promote the setting up of a European centre for missing children; therefore urges the Commission to create the conditions for the development of a European network for missing and abused children, with the task of coordinating the activities of organisations in the Member States, such as Child Focus in Belgium; Calls on the Member States to ensure that limitation periods for crimes involving the abuse of 31. children run only from the time when the children involved attain majority; 29. 12. 2000 EN Official Journal of the European Communities C 378/87 Thursday 30 March 2000 32. Urges the Member States to review their criminal proceedings in such a way that victims can give evidence by means of video recordings, thereby reducing the risk of their suffering further traumatic effects; Calls for persons found guilty of paedophile acts should be prevented from exercising occupations 33. in which contact with minors might allow them to repeat the act in a professional context; Resolves to set up a committee of inquiry to monitor the progress of criminal proceedings invol- 34. ving cases of active and violent paedophilia; 35. Calls on the Member States and the Commission to ascertain whether offences relating to paedo- philia in the EU and the applicant countries and the action taken by the courts do not represent a serious and persistent violation of basic rights as defined in Articles 6 and 7 of the Treaty and if necessary to initiate the procedures provided for by these articles; 36. With regard to the conduct of the EU’s external relations, insists on observance of human rights, in particular in respect of children and young people, and regards it as right that the Community should make use of ‘human rights’ clauses, which cover violation of the rights of the child and human dignity, when concluding international agreements; 37. Requests the Member States, in the context of development aid and other aid programmes, to pay particular attention to the situation and needs of children and to take measures to protect and reintegrate into society the victims of prostitution; 38. Calls on the Council to take account of the issue of guarantees of the protection of children in the accession negotiations with the applicant countries and calls on the applicant countries to pay more atten- tion to sex tourism, child pornography and trafficking in human beings and to take resolute measures to combat these phenomena; 39. Welcomes the Council’s 1998 decision to extend Europol’s mandate to include the fight against the ‘sexual exploitation of and sexual violence against minors’, but takes the view that Europol’s mandate should include sexual abuse of minors in the context of sex tourism near EU borders; 40. Takes the view that the work of NGOs in this sphere is invaluable and therefore urges them to brief the Commission and Parliament on a regular basis so that their experience and knowledge can also be used in connection with EU projects as well; 41. Calls on those Member States which have not already done so to promote and provide funding for the setting up of free telephone help lines (similar to the Italian ‘telefono azzurro’ and the ‘Kindertelefoon’ in the Netherlands) which will enable children anywhere in the European Union to obtain immediate help and information, and to assist in publicising these telephone numbers; encourages third countries where child sex tourism is rife to adopt such measures; 42. Points out that particular attention should be paid to the situation of street children both in the third world and in the EU and advocates close cooperation with the authorities responsible for social welfare in these countries and with NGOs; points to the particularly serious threat to girls because of relationships of dependence within the family and society; 43. Calls, with regard to the problem of street children in the context of relations with developing countries, for a comprehensive strategy to be devised and implemented to improve children’s entire social environment; Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Council, the Commission, the governments 44. and parliaments of the Member States and the applicant countries and to the Council of Europe