MEPs vote to remove child porn websites, and to prevent online grooming and child sex tourism

Posted by Bronwen Maher on October 27, 2011 at 02:40 PM

In Strasbourg today the European Parliament voted through a new EU directive to remove child porn websites, the new EU law was originally proposed by the Socialists and Democrats political group.  The new provisions include better protection measures such as the removal of child porn websites; more effective prosecution of criminals; and special support for victims.  The key elements in the fight against child abuse are the harmonisation of criminal offences and penalties, and better preventive measures.

Since the beginning, the European Socialists and Democrats have relentlessly opposed simply introducing firewalls to 'block' access from  Europe to child porn websites as initially proposed by some MEPS.  Blocking child porn websites would have meant hiding a criminal activity from our eyes without tackling and removing it at the source.   We wanted online child pornography to be destroyed and its owners to be identified and prosecuted.

National legislation is neither strong nor consistent enough to provide a vigorous response to child pornography. The S&D Group has therefore fought hard to establish minimum EU rules on the definition of criminal offences and sanctions when tackling this issue, as well as proper assistance to victims.

This directive also introduces important new measures against child pornography and abuse, for example to prevent online grooming and child sex tourism. It is now up to each individual  Member State, including Ireland, to transpose and implement the rules that have been adopted today as effectively and quickly as possible, and fully demonstrate their commitment to protecting children from abuse.

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