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<strong>Child</strong> PornograPhy First report oF the Dutch NatioNal rapporteur
duced and distributed. The large number of pending cases of child pornography being dealt with by the
police has also ensured the attention of politicians. The interim report from the Deetman Committee of
February 2011 and the fourth public notice from the Samson Committee confirm that the sexual abuse
of children is a perennial problem. 5 The recent sexual abuse cases reinforce this picture. The visibility of
sexual violence against children, and therefore the social and political attention that this phenomenon
attracts, are also increasing. 6
Sexual violence against children also forms an important item on various policy agendas on the international
level. Concerns at UN level with regard to the sexual safety of children formed an important
reason for the creation of new regulations. 7 In 2007, the Council of Europe reached an agreement on a
convention to protect children against sexual exploitation and sexual abuse (Lanzarote Convention). 8
The aim of this Convention is to protect children in a broad sense from sexual violence, including child
pornography, in which aspects of the digital domain such as the increased use of the Internet by both
perpetrators and victims play an important role. This is the first convention in which technological developments
were expressly taken into account in regulations, against the background of general protection
of children from sexual violence. The Convention therefore forms a significant starting point with
regard to the protection of children from sexual violence, and in turn also in the strategy to tackle child
pornography. 9 Work is currently underway in an EU context to draw up a new directive to tackle sexual
abuse, sexual exploitation of children and child pornography.
In recent times, the Ministry of Security and Justice (formerly: Ministry of Justice) has taken a number
of initiatives specifically designed to tackle child pornography, including the creation of a Task Force
Aanpak Kinderporno en Kindersekstoerisme 10 and the creation of the Programma Verbeteren Aanpak Kinderporno
(PVAKP) [Programme of Improvements in Tackling <strong>Child</strong> <strong>Pornography</strong>]. 11 In addition, the decision was
taken to double the police capacity earmarked for tackling child pornography. 12 In October 2009, a spe-
5 In Germany, an independent committee has also conducted a study of sexual abuse of children (Unabhängigen
Beauftragten zur Aufarbeitung des sexuellen Kindermissbrauchs [Independent Commissioner for
the Rehabilitation of Victims of <strong>Child</strong> Sexual Abuse], 2011). This involved a wide-ranging investigation
in which sexual abuse in churches, official bodies and families was examined and the emphasis was
placed upon coping with the abuse. Amongst other aspects, it emerged from the final report that child
pornography as a form of sexual violence against children is one of the phenomena of which further
and more detailed investigation is deemed necessary.
6 Investigation committees concerning sexual abuse are partly the result of the increased visibility but
they also contribute towards achieving this visibility.
7 Optional Protocol on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography to the Convention on
the Rights of the <strong>Child</strong> (new York, 25 May 2000), Treaty Series 2001, 63 and 130. See §1.3 for further details.
8 Convention on the Protection of <strong>Child</strong>ren Against Sexual Exploitation and Sexual Abuse (Lanzarote
Convention), Lanzarote, 25 October 2007, Treaty Series 2008, 58. See also §1.3 for further details.
9 See also §2.3.
10 Decision of the Minister for Justice of 6 November 2009, no. 5627198/09, concerning the creation of
the Task Force Aanpak Kinderporno en Kindersekstoerisme [Task Force on <strong>Child</strong> <strong>Pornography</strong> and <strong>Child</strong> Sex
Tourism].
11 See §2.4.1.
12 Parliamentary Papers II 2010/11, 32 500 VI, no. 106.