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

92
<strong>Child</strong> PornograPhy First report oF the Dutch NatioNal rapporteur
2.2 Policy developments since the early 1980s
This section will describe developments to policy instigated by various (government) bodies, which
have been directed towards combating child pornography and sexual violence against children. Other
committees and working groups, often appointed by a ministry, as well as international conferences
and agreements, have also played a role in the development of policy. A government-wide initiative (the
NAPS) was intended to expand the existing measures directed towards tackling sexual violence against
children, but ended prematurely after a lengthy introductory period. 1
This section starts with the situation in the mid-1980s, a period in which debate about child pornography
first arose. 2 In July 1984, the Amsterdam police force raided sex shops and seized any child abuse material
that was present. In November 1984, hearings related to child pornography were held in the United States
by the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, chaired by Senator Roth. In these hearings, the
Netherlands was accused of contributing to the production of child abuse material, and for that reason,
the topic became a cause of discussion. 3 In the early 1980s, the development of child pornography legislation
was also beginning to take shape. 4 The commotion surrounding child pornography was not the only
relevant aspect. In 1982, the so-called Kijkduin Conference on sexual violence against women and girls took
place, and this marked the start of government interventions in the area of sexual violence against children. 5
The government began to take responsibility. The first policy document on ‘sexual violence against women
and girls’ was published in 1984. 6 From that time onwards, the issue of ‘sexual violence’ began to
be incorporated, one step at a time, into government policy, and it was not only the Directorate for the
Co-ordination of Emancipation Policy of the Ministry of Social Affairs and Employment that was involved
with this matter; the Ministry of Justice and the Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sport (the Ministry of
Health, Welfare and Culture at the time) also became involved 7 . Since then, the topic has remained part
of the government’s agenda, although this has, of course, been accompanied with ups and downs and
a variety of viewpoints in terms of vision and approach that existed between the various ministries. 8
As will become apparent, the approach employed for tackling child pornography was predominantly
repressive, and predominantly a matter for the co-operating organisations within the judicial domain.
<strong>Child</strong> <strong>Pornography</strong> Working Group
In June 1985, partly as a result of the comments from the United States, the Minister of Justice at the
time appointed a <strong>Child</strong> <strong>Pornography</strong> Working Group, under the leadership of the public prosecutor De
Wit. The working group was assigned the task of cataloguing information about child pornography in
1 The <strong>National</strong> Action Plan for Combating Sexual Abuse of <strong>Child</strong>ren (NAPS) ended in 2002, see further
on in this section.
2 Prior to 1986, separate legislation on child pornography did not exist, and this is partly the reason why
action was hardly ever taken to combat it.
3 Van Koppen, 2009.
4 See Parliamentary Papers II1981/82, 17100, no. 21 and Parliamentary Papers II1983/84, 18 542 no. 1-2, amongst
others; see also §1.2.2, first box text, ‘Developments in legislative history.’
5 Stichting Ambulante Fiom, Rutgers Nisso Groep, TransAct, 2006.
6 Parliamentary Papers II1983/84, 18 542 no. 1-2.
7 Stichting Ambulante Fiom, Rutgers Nisso Groep, TransAct, 2006.
8 Römkens, 2010.