Strasbourg, 08/11/2001 (Agence Europe) - The Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe has just adopted a recommendation aimed at strengthening the protection of children against sexual exploitation. The recommendation calls on the 43 member States of the pan-European organisation to co-ordinate and step up their actions to combat more effectively all forms of pornography, prostitution, slavery and trafficking of which children may be the victims. The text is available on the Internet: http://www.cm.coe.int .
In addition, at UNICEF's request, the Council of Europe has been instructed to prepare Europe's and Central Asia's contribution to the 2nd World Congress against the sexual exploitation of children for commercial purposes, to be held in Yokohama from 17 to 20 December. In that context, it is organising a conference, in Budapest on 20 and 21 November, in co-operation with the Hungarian Institute of Criminology. 200 representatives of national authorities and institutions, NGOs and the private sector (notably providers of Internet services and the tourism sector) will take part in the conference.