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<strong>Child</strong> PornograPhy First report oF the Dutch NatioNal rapporteur
The State Secretary explicitly referred to problems surrounding sexual coercion: eighteen percent of the
girls and four percent of the boys had encountered some form of sexual abuse before their sixteenth
birthday. 111 There were still many young people who lacked sufficient knowledge about sexuality, which
signified to the Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sport that these young people needed to be informed.
<strong>Child</strong>ren who are provided with information in a positive atmosphere are more able to defend themselves
against sexual abuse. As is also laid out in the letter from the Ministry of Health, Welfare and
Sport, schools also have a role to play in as far as sexual education is concerned. Although schools do
have some leeway within core objectives in order to devote attention to sexual education, sexual and
relationship education as such is not compulsory. The government is able to provide sufficient teaching
packs and educational campaigns for young people. 112 This letter does refer to the Internet as a source
of information for young people about sex and sexual behaviour, but it does not refer to online sexual
violence and possible measures to tackle this offense.
As of 2010, the State Secretary extended the Safe Sex campaign 113 to include a campaign that was called
‘Sexual Resiliency’. The intention of this supplementary campaign was to ensure that young people were
ready and competent in the matter of relationships and sexuality (the promotion of sexual interaction
competences), in order to prevent problems such as sexual coercion and unwanted pregnancies, with
an additional focus upon the sexual education of boys. 114
Together with the Minister for Justice and the Minister for Youth and Families 115, the Ministry of Health,
Welfare and Sport formulated a coherent plan to combat sexual violence, which was to prevent young
people within voluntary organisations from becoming victims of sexual abuse or undesired behaviours.
116 The Ministry subsidised the project ‘Combating sexual intimidation 2009-2010’ of the NOC*NSF
(Netherlands Olympic Committee Netherlands Sports Federation) specifically in so far as application of
the project to sport was concerned. This project envisaged a comprehensive system for the prevention
and tackling of sexual intimidation in the field of sport.
111 Rutgers Nisso Group & STI AIDS Netherlands, 2005. See also §1.5.2.
112 Parliamentary Papers II 2009/10, 32 239, no.1.
113 The Safe Sex campaign has been underway since 1987. In 1987, a little flower and bee were chosen,
because at that time, sex was still more of a taboo topic. In 1993, the slogan ‘Ik vrij veilig of ik vrij niet’ [Safe
sex or no sex] was launched. The knowledge centre SOA AIDS NL (SOA = Seksueel overdraagbare aandoening,
or Sexually transmitted infection [STI]) named that as the first campaign in the mass media. Campagne
veilig vrijen viert vierde lustrum [Safe sex campaign celebrates its fourth anniversary], Trouw, 10 August
2007.
114 Parliamentary Papers II 2009/10, 32 239, no.1.
115 The public campaign ‘Kindermishandeling, wat kan ik doen?’ [<strong>Child</strong> abuse, what can I do?], which was initiated
in 2009 by the Ministry of Youth and Families and is currently being implemented by the Ministry
of Health, Welfare and Sport, also exists. The campaign is directed towards recognising signs of
child abuse (including the sexual abuse of children), for example by using the indication test that was
launched on 20 June 2011 (Site wijst op kindermishandeling [Site indicates child abuse], Spits, 21 June 2011).
In addition to this, the campaign is directed towards undertaking action following identification, in
which regard contacting a <strong>Child</strong> Abuse Counselling and Reporting Centre forms the most obvious step.
See also §3.3.2.
116 Parliamentary Papers II 2007/08, 31 200 VI, no.43. See also §3.2.