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Implementation
3.2.5 Public prevention measures 87
Awareness-raising campaigns and education are the most important forms of primary public prevention. 88
Evaluations of public awareness-raising campaigns have shown that the target groups in question were already
aware of the fact that sexual abuse poses a serious problem in society, but that little was known about
how to define and recognise the sexual abuse of children, and what steps to take in order to reduce the risks
of abuse. 89 Public campaigns that only serve to increase awareness of sexual abuse of children and child pornography
are therefore insufficient; Smallbone et al. argue that the emphasis must be placed upon specifying
the nature of the problem and upon opportunities for parents to protect their child. 90 If no attention is
paid to these aspects in public campaigns, there is the risk that the campaign may only increase the fear of
abuse instead of achieving a preventative effect. A further area for attention is the fact that awareness-raising
campaigns are sometimes overshadowed by the public’s exposure to media reports of severe cases of sexual
abuse, which focus upon the grave details of such abuse and result in the stereotyping of perpetrators. 91
Such reports can give rise to anxiety, whilst the public is not given the means to protect itself from abuse. 92
Public health model
In the literature, the so-called public health model is described as a framework for public prevention.
93 The basic principle is that sexual abuse of children is not the exclusive domain of the judicial
authorities, but it must be viewed within the broader context of public health. The emphasis in
this approach is placed upon primary prevention, whereby situational and behavioural risks are
identified, and whereby this information is used to inform the public and draw attention to these
risks. 94 Such an approach, from the context of public health, is not (yet) used in the Netherlands.
For example, the website of the Ministry of Public Health, Welfare & Sport contains information on
social issues such as abortion, domestic violence and drugs, and the Ministry of Education, Culture &
Science features a web-dossier on the emancipation of homosexuals on its website, but there is no
information concerning paedophilia on either of the websites. Many misconceptions exist in relation
to phenomena connected with sexual abuse, such as child pornography and paedophilia. As a result
of the public reactions to major abuse cases, such as those surrounding the cases of ‘Robert M.’ and
‘Benno L.’, paedophiles can end up being forced into even greater isolation 95 . The absence of useful
87 Article 8 of the Lanzarote Convention obliges Parties to the Convention to run public campaigns in
which information and advice is provided in relation to sexual exploitation and sexual abuse of children
(Lanzarote Convention), Lanzarote, 25 October 2007, Treaty Series 2008, 58. The government
implements this in the periodic public campaign within the scope of the Action Plan to tackle child
abuse, which targets the general public and is geared towards both children and people who live and
work around children (see §2.5.2). The information campaign Digivaardig & Digibewust is also mentioned,
which specifically draws attention to the dangers that exist to children on the Internet and in using
other modern means of communication, Parliamentary Papers II 2008/09, 31 808, no.3, p.6; see also §2.8.
88 Smallbone et al., 2008, p.202. For an overview of policy programmes, see Chapter 2.
89 Smallbone et al., 2008, p.203.
90 Smallbone et al., 2008, p.193.
91 Smallbone et al., 2008, p.203. See also 1.4.2 for further information regarding perpetrators.
92 Smallbone et al., 2008, p.203.
93 Center for Sex Offender Management, 2007, pp.21.22.
94 Kaufman et al., 2006, p.104.
95 Broadcast by RTL Nieuws, 1 January 2011.
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