Brussels, 28/05/2008 (Agence Europe) - On Monday 26 May, Justice, Security and Freedom Commissioner Jacques Barrot said that he intended to review the 2003 framework decision on combating the sexual exploitation of children and chid pornography to make a directive in 2009.
All member states should have been applying the above-mentioned framework decision since 20 January 2006, but only a few done so. “A directive would have given us the means to pursue those who are not applying the sanctions,” Barrot said, indicating that this would become a possibility, if the Lisbon Treaty were to be adopted. The framework decision provides for a prison sentence of at least one year for those found guilty of acts of paedophilia and child pornography. Speaking the day after the international day of missing children, the Commission also announced that he would bring greater pressure to bear on member states to put in place the single number for reporting missing children (116 000), set up in January 2007. For the moment, only two countries, Greece and Hungary, use this number. Barrot promised to raise the matter at the next Justice Ministers Council. He also said that he would stress to ministers the need for greater progress to be made in setting up a European alert system in the event of the child being abducted, a system only used in France and Greece. Alongside of the Commissioner, Francis Herbert, General Secretary of Missing Children Europe, a European federation of 21 NGOs working in 15 member states, stressed the need for European countries to sign and ratify the Council of Europe convention on protecting children against sexual exploitation and abuse. This convention, which provides for the exchange of data on sex offenders, has not yet been ratified by any member states, although only five are needed fort in to come into force. (B.C.)