Hungary The European Union's fight against the sexual exploitation of children

January 31, 2012

Comment: The Hungarian article in the monthly newsletter of ‘Family, Child, Youth Association’ reports on the recently approved European Union directive aimed at combating sexual abuse and exploitation of children as well as child pornography. It points to the worrying extent of sexual exploitation against children: the wide-spread availability of the internet gives space to the distribution of videos and pictures of such content.

The article points out that children’s sexual exploitation is one of today’s most urging matters, which has to be tackled immediately. The EU directive of November 2011, aims at, among others, fighting the distribution of sexual abuse images of children, online pornography and sex tourism. The drafted principles concern all Member States and sets tasks of prevention and victim protection, while highlighting the importance of international cooperation.

The directive repeals a 2004 one, and orders stricter punishment for these types of crimes. Sexual abuse of children, forced participation in videos with pornographic content and forced prostitution will entail a maximum sentence of at least 10 years of imprisonment in the future. The resolution urges international cooperation as well, so that not only EU member states participate in the fight against the sexual abuse of children.

Please find the full text of the Directive here.

Comment: Rita Savai, Regional Office for Central and South Eastern Europe, Terre des hommes- Child Relief