On the occasion of the 6th “European Day for the Protection of Children against Sexual Exploitation and Sexual Abuse”, the Council of Europe (COE) has issued a Joint Declaration signed by Marija Pejčinović Burić, Secretary-General, Rik Daems, President of the Parliamentary Assembly (PACE), and the representatives of the Greek Presidency as well as the German Presidency that succeeded it today at the head of the Committee of Ministers. Promoted by PACE and inaugurated under the Greek Presidency, this formula of “trilogue” conveys a willingness for institutional synergy on themes that the Strasbourg-based organization considers essential.
“The pandemic and resulting lockdown periods have increased the risk of children being sexually abused”, says the Joint Declaration, which calls for a “long-term, multi-stakeholder strategy” to address the problem, as promoted by the Council of Europe's ‘Convention on the Protection of Children’ (Lanzarote Convention). There is a call for ratification by all COE Member States (to date, only Ireland is missing, but the Lanzarote Committee indicates that ratification is expected within the next few months) as well as by observer and non-Member States. Of these, only Tunisia did so in 2019.
In addition to its participation in the Joint Declaration, PACE underlines a specific phenomenon: the influx of sexual images produced by children themselves. More than a third of online content that is “self-produced” for private use is then used for cyber-harassment, sextortion and pornographic revenge before ending up on websites such as Pornhub, warns a statement issued by two Assembly rapporteurs. A phenomenon accentuated by the lockdowns, which increase the amount of time children spend online, according to a Europol report to which the text refers.
“The Lanzarote Committee is currently working on recommendations to address the complex challenges posed by these images and/or videos, based on Europe-wide monitoring and input from NGOs and children themselves”, announced the Secretary-General of the Council of Europe, while, in its Declaration, PACE lists the tools already available to deal with the explosion of this phenomenon, which is all the more worrying as the average age of first exposure to pornography has fallen to 9-11 years in recent decades.
Among these tools is a list of helplines for all Member States (https://bit.ly/2KlEGG7 ). (Original version in French by Véronique Leblanc)