The Council of Europe (CoE) Lanzarote Committee published a report on Tuesday 13 February on “Protection of children against sexual abuse in the circle of trust”.
This report supplements a 2015 report in which the issue of sexual abuse against minors, which is covered by the Lanzarote Convention of 2010, was addressed holistically. This latest report assesses the structures, measures and processes in place to prevent and protect children from sexual abuse within the “circle of trust”, which includes members of the extended family and persons having care-taking functions or exercising control over the child.
According to the report, the 26 states are undertaking “effective steps”, highlighting the very promising practice which allows minors to become involved in the development and application of specific policies. Further cause for satisfaction is the cooperation of national authorities with civil society organisations and the private sector in awareness-raising, education and training of people working with children to prevent child sexual abuse that is apparent in almost all of the states. Awareness-raising campaigns should, however, be broadened so as to inform a wider public of the risks to children and how they can be protected.
Information delivered to children at school could also be improved, according to the Lanzarote Committee. It regrets that the issue is not addressed specifically and recommends that it should, from primary school, be covered as part of a “sexual education” course, rather than in subjects such as biology and life skills.
The committee also recommends allocating adequate financial resources to regular training on child sexual abuse in the circle of trust for all professionals in regular contact with children, measures to encourage the reporting of “reasonable suspicions” and a ban on all persons convicted of sexual abuse exercising any professional or voluntary activity in the sector in which the offence was committed. No such ban is yet in place in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Lithuania, Republic of Moldova, Montenegro and San Marino.
The states party to the Lanzarote Convention should assist persons who fear they might commit sexual offences against children and develop specific programmes for this purpose. They should also consider alternative measures to imprisonment for sex offenders, the report argues, highlighting that, thus far, only Belgium, Spain and Lithuania have special programmes for such persons.
Only eleven states offer treatment in prison. The committee urges all others to put in place such programmes and states that special measures are required after the release from prison to reintegrate the persons into society and to avoid new victims.
Like the 2015 report, this text covers the 26 states party which had ratified the Lanzarote Convention when the monitoring cycle began: Albania, Austria, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Denmark, Finland, France, Greece, Iceland, Italy, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Republic of Moldova, Montenegro, Netherlands, Portugal, Romania, San Marino, Serbia, Spain, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Turkey, Ukraine. (Original version in French by Véronique Leblanc)