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<strong>Child</strong> PornograPhy First report oF the Dutch NatioNal rapporteur
the digital domain (light-blue area) if victimisation by sexual abuse is suspected, and are therefore able
to contribute towards locating evidence of the abuse, and putting an end to a situation in which the
abuse is taking place offline. Similarly, by working in cooperation with the police, they then would also
be able to help to identify producers of child abuse material (dark-blue area). Where perpetrators and
victims appear in the same field in the figure, this indicates cases in which there may be evidence of an
offence such as trafficking in persons, child prostitution, sexual abuse or general abuse. By reporting
such cases to the police or notifying the AMK, for example, victims and perpetrators can be identified.
The question in this regard is whether the bodies concerned also consider the eventuality that abusive
material has been or is being produced. What also becomes clear is that the route from a light-blue area
to the dark-blue area (actual production) can give rise to information concerning another light-blue
area. It may be the case, for example, that when examining a suspect’s computer hard drive in an initially
(relatively) simple ‘case of possession’, this individual is also found to be a producer or be connected with
a producer. Upon closer investigation, this conclusion may give rise to the discovery of (other) physical
abuse (overlap between perpetrators and victims) or the identification of victims on material that has
already been found (overlap between victims and technology (material)).
The sections of the circles that do not overlap with another circle represent a situation in which no
actual perpetrator or victim or recently-produced material is found, but which concerns old material
and the potential capacity of being a perpetrator or a potential victim, which includes the potential for
recidivism of perpetrators and re-victimisation of victims. The question will then be which bodies (must)
take action in this regard, and what form the intervention will take.
Figure 0.1 represents the focus and the perspective of the reporting task in relation to child abuse material.
The core focus is the protection of children from sexual violence. The employment of a child pornography
perspective may prove functional for the provision of that protection. At the end of this report,
the findings will be linked back more closely to this figure. Then we can ascertain which interventions
could together form an integrated strategy in tackling child pornography.
Creating the reporting body
In 2009, the Decree establishing the <strong>National</strong> <strong>Rapporteur</strong> on Trafficking in Human Beings (NRM) was
revised. 25 By virtue of the new arrangements, the NRM reported not only on the strategy to tackle trafficking
in human beings but also that of tackling child pornography. The explanatory notes to the Establishment
Decree noted the following with regard to the assignment of the reporting task to the NRM: “A
relationship between the investigative area of human trafficking and sexual exploitation partly ensues
from (…) the Lanzarote Convention. This Convention has in part been grafted onto existing international
agreements on trafficking in human beings. The common nature of child pornography and trafficking
in human beings as transnational offences also emerges from these documents.”
The Decree to establish a <strong>Rapporteur</strong> Kinderpornografie was no sudden action. The Member of Dutch
Parliament Kees Van der Staaij (SGP) noted in 2007: ‘<strong>Child</strong> pornography, child sex tourism, trafficking
of children and child prostitution should be viewed in conjunction, in the form of a preventative
25 Order of 28 October 2009 of the Minister for Justice concerning the regulations to establish a Dutch
<strong>National</strong> <strong>Rapporteur</strong> on Trafficking in Human Beings.