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<strong>Child</strong> PornograPhy First report oF the Dutch NatioNal rapporteur
Very little is known about the victimisation experienced by parents of victims of child pornography. In
the Amsterdam sexual abuse case, a child psychologist, paediatrician and child psychiatrist were commissioned
to produce a report on the effects upon children and their parents. 356 This report is to be
completed by the end of 2011. It emerged from interviews with two staff members from the Amsterdam
Municipal Health Service and with the lawyer of some of the parents of victims in the Amsterdam sexual
abuse case that the dilemma concerning whether or not to view the images forms a factor that can
cause stress for the parents of victims of child pornography. On the one hand, many parents want to
know everything about the abuse down to the last detail (such as whether the child was awake or was
in pain), whilst on the other hand the viewing of the images can be highly traumatic for them. 357 One
consequence could be that the parents exhibit extremely cautious or stifling behaviour where their child
is concerned, or that parents are unable to escape the image of the sexual activities that their child has
experienced and therefore could come to view their child differently. 358
A German study by Von Weiler et al. in 2010 included interviews with professionals concerning various
aspects, including the effects upon the parents of victims of child pornography. It emerged from these
interviews that in many cases the existence of images of the abuse of their child results in parents
believing their child more easily. 359 The images are regarded as proof, and consequently parents will
have less tendency to trivialise or deny the abuse that was committed. 360 Some professionals who
were interviewed in the study by Von Weiler et al. noted that parents of victims of child pornography
displayed a greater desire to have the perpetrator prosecuted. 361 The fact that images were produced
of the abuse of their child and that money may have been earned from it enrages parents, according
to the study. Many parents want to retrieve the material and some even go searching themselves for
the images of their child on the Internet. Professionals believe that this can cause significant stress
for parents. 362
1.5 The extent of child abuse material
The phenomenon of child pornography can be divided into three separate aspects of varying scale:
the perpetrators (§1.5.1), the victims (§1.5.2) and the ultimate content (§1.5.3). 363 The extent of these
356 Robert M. zeven weken in Pieter Baan Centrum [Robert M. to stay seven weeks in Pieter Baan Centrum], nu.nl,
5 August 2011.
357 Information supplied verbally by R.A. Korver, a lawyer acting for a number of parents in the Amsterdam
sexual abuse case, 9 June 2011.
358 Information supplied verbally by the team leader and psychiatrist/first-line physician of Vangnet & Advies
[Safety Net & Advice Organisation], Amsterdam Municipal Health Service, 20 June 2011. See also §3.7.
359 Von Weiler et al., 2010.
360 Von Weiler et al., 2010.
361 Von Weiler et al., 2010.
362 Von Weiler et al., 2010.
363 After all: a single perpetrator may make victims of several individuals (producers) and possess and/
or distribute multiple items of child abuse material (possessors and distributors). A single victim may
be abused by multiple perpetrators and appear in multiple examples of child abuse material. An example
of a child abuse image/film/etc. may depict multiple victims and be in the possession of many
perpetrators.