Child Pornography - Home | National Rapporteur on Trafficking in ...

36
<strong>Child</strong> PornograPhy First report oF the Dutch NatioNal rapporteur
Even at the time, the trade in child abuse material was already taking place on an international level.
During the period from 1969 to 1979, which Tate dubbed the ‘ten year madness’ 19 , the Netherlands occupied
an international position as a distributor of child abuse material. 20 In addition to material made by
professional producers in other countries, commercial distributors in the Netherlands acquired images
for their child pornography magazines via amateur producers. ‘Consumers’ were called upon in such
magazines to submit material they had produced themselves. The quality of these images was generally
very poor, and this fact – coupled with the minimal payment for these images – could indicate that the
photographs were not made for a commercial purpose but were already in the possession of the amateur
producer. 21 The consumer therefore played a vague role as a purchaser and producer of child abuse material.
Their role was a significant one, however: 70% of the material in the magazines originated from
this source. 22 Although the commercial trade flourished as a result of the introduction of cheap video
cassettes and video cassette recorders, 23 the state of technology at that time had certainly also been a
limiting factor in the production of child abuse material. In view of the costs and the physical size of
the equipment, amateur producers were not able to produce high-quality material, let alone be able to
take on the role of a large-scale printer or distributor of child pornography magazines. Such activities
formed the sole preserve of commercial producers. When producing copies of films, the quality of a copy
declined noticeably with every copy that was made 24 and people generally had to rely on professional
photograph developers in order to have photographs developed.
We can distinguish between two forms of distribution, namely the private exchange circuit and the commercial
circuit. Little context is available with regard to the private exchange circuit in the Netherlands,
except for the fact that it existed and operated internationally. 25 Individuals used secret and less secret
code words and even disclosed their intentions fully to ask for abusive images of children and opportunities
to abuse children in advertisements in child pornography magazines in the Netherlands. 26 The fact
that networks of contacts existed in this domain was also evident in the emergence of associations that
19 The British investigative journalist [Tim] Tate, who also wrote about the role of the Netherlands in the
1970s in his book that was published in 1990, claimed that Denmark was a major commercial production
and distribution house of child abuse material in Europe at that time. The Danish government
had legalised the production of all forms of pornography (therefore also child pornography) from 1969
to 1979. The legislation said to be concerned was Section 234 that formed part of the Danish Criminal
Code at the time. The Danish production houses were highly professional and worked with the latest
equipment that enabled detailed photographs, magazines and films such as “Sucking Daddy”, “Pre-
Teen Trio” and “Fucking <strong>Child</strong>ren” to be produced (Tate, 1990, pp.41 and 44-57; see also O’Donnell &
Milner, 2007, p.5; De Wit et al., 1986, pp.8 and 14-16).
20 Tate, 1990.
21 Rossen & Schuijer, 1992, p.180.
22 De Wit et al., 1986, p.6.
23 Tate, 1990, pp. 209-210.
24 O’Donnell & Milner, 2007, p.20.
25 De Wit et al. (1986) came to this conclusion after having examined a number of official reports.
26 O’Donnell & Milner, 2007, pp.10-17; Tate (1990, p.59) summarised a couple of personal adverts from the
Dutch child pornography magazine ‘Lolita’: “Englishman, 37, paedophile, wishes to meet a mother with Lolita
daughter or lady with paedophile feelings with view to marriage” and “Pretty mother with pretty young daughters invites
enquiries from gentlemen anywhere who are interested in meeting us or in photography”.