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<strong>Child</strong> PornograPhy First report oF the Dutch NatioNal rapporteur
the Minister for Justice sent a letter to the House of Representatives on the subject of the (commercial)
sexual exploitation of children, and in spring 1999, approval was granted to present the integral
document ‘Combating sexual abuse of and sexual violence against children’ to the House of Representatives.
33 This document was intended to provide a boost to the various initiatives and to provide
an overview of the state of affairs regarding the tackling of this issue, and also served as an initiative
for the <strong>National</strong> Plan of Action. One of the conclusions was that mutual co-operation between the
departments and between departments and non-governmental and international organisations was
necessary. 34
One of the priorities of the NAPS was to prevent sexual abuse, including child prostitution. Within the
scope of a chain-oriented approach, early identification would mean that abuse could be prevented
from taking place or continuing to take place, and that any further suffering on the part of the victims
could be prevented. Furthermore, stimulating regional co-operation was just one of the spearheads in
the implementation of the NAPS. 35
The final report of the <strong>National</strong> Action Plan for Combating Sexual Abuse of <strong>Child</strong>ren was reflected in
the results that were achieved. 36 Amongst other things, the <strong>National</strong> Police Services implemented a
digital archive of material constituting child abuse material, which included more than a million images
(§3.4.2). The Amsterdam-Amstelland regional police force had developed the KIDS system (Identification
and Tackling of <strong>Child</strong> <strong>Pornography</strong> Couriers and <strong>Child</strong> Sex Tourism, by means of multi-disciplinary
cooperation at Schiphol), which made it possible to link images of perpetrators with victims. The police
established a national co-ordinator consultation group for the exchange of operational information,
which convened a few times each year. 37 In April 2001, a brochure was published regarding the sexual
abuse of children. 38 This brochure, produced jointly by the Netherlands Institute of Social Sexuological
Research and the Ministry of Justice, was intended for parents and people who work with children. On
15 December 2001, the website www.seksueelkindermisbruik.nl became operational. 39 Amongst other
things, the website was a digital knowledge centre for organisations that were actively involved in the
efforts to tackle child pornography. In November 2002, the Minister for Justice at the time sent the final
report of the NAPS to the House of Representatives. Although this marked the end of the NAPS, the
33 Parliamentary Papers II 1996/97, 25 078, no. 8.
34 Parliamentary Papers II 1996/97, 25 078, no. 2.
35 Ministry of Justice, 2000.
36 Ministry of Justice, 2002a.
37 In addition to this, the final report contains a number of proposals for a follow-up, including the establishment
of an easily-accessible public reporting centre for child abuse material within the police;
the creation of a national digital detection functionality for child abuse material, which carries out
surveillance and investigations on the Internet on a structural basis, and which is also involved in the
preparation of projects for the purpose of detection investigations in the regions; and the establishment
of a development team for special digital methods for detection. According the final report,
research was also carried out into the way in which the mutual collaboration between the forces can
be made more intensive, so that the necessary but very costly technical resources can be optimally
employed.
38 Parliamentary Papers II 2002/03, 26 690, no. 12.
39 This website is no longer in use.