Council of theEuropean Union
Brussels, 8 October 2019
(OR. en)
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ENFOPOL 434
JAI 1037
COSI 207
CATS 117JAIEX 148
OUTCOME OF PROCEEDINGS
From:

General Secretariat of the Council

On:
To:

8 October 2019
Delegations

No. prev. doc.:

12326/19 + COR 1

Subject:

Council conclusions on combating the sexual abuse of children‒

Council conclusions (8 October 2019)

Delegations will find in the annex the Council conclusions on combating the sexual abuse ofchildren, adopted by the Council at its 3717th meeting held on 8 October 2019.

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ANNEXCOUNCIL CONCLUSIONS
of 8/10/2019
on combating the sexual abuse of children
1.

Sexual abuse and sexual exploitation violate the most intimate self of the child, causing great
physical and psychological harm, which can traumatise victims for life. The internet hascreated unprecedented opportunities for abusers and criminals for the distribution, trade,possession, and viewing of child sexual abuse material. This has significantly increased thedemand for new material and therefore the risk for children worldwide of becoming victims.

2.

Offenders typically operate across borders, making use of social media platforms andelectronic communication services, as well as of peer-to-peer networks, bulletproof hosting,cyber lockers, dedicated forums in the dark web, and other digital ‘safe havens’ where theoffline abuse of children is actively encouraged for the purpose of producing new ‘high-value’material and where the crime is normalised. It is important to highlight as an international
priority the pursuit of the producers of the materials, due to the severity of their crimes andthe serious harm they can cause.

3.

Offenders make use of encryption and other anonymisation techniques to hide their identity
and location. They use communication platforms hosted and administered in different
countries to groom children into abuse and to extort them to obtain abusive material, as law
enforcement, hampered by obfuscation techniques and different legislative regimes acrossdifferent jurisdictions, especially in third countries, struggles to take forward investigations.

4.

The fight against sexual abuse and the sexual exploitation children is often also a fight againstorganised crime and trafficking in human beings.

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5.

Against this background, and in line with the EU acquis1, the Council reaffirms the EU’s andMember States’ commitment to protect the fundamental rights of children, and the rights ofvictims of crime, and to combat the sexual abuse and sexual exploitation of children, bothoffline and online, irrespective of the physical location or nationality of the child. Reducing
the number of children who fall victim to sexual abuse and increasing the proportion of
successful investigations remains a key political and operational priority.

6.

In this framework, the Council welcomes the announcement of the WeProtect Global Alliance
Summit to End Child Sexual Exploitation in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia on 11-12 December 2019and recognises its importance as a means of engagement with key stakeholders on thischallenging topic. The Council encourages Member States to participate, at the appropriate
level, in the Summit in order to share good practices, learn from others and encourage othercountries to subscribe to and to implement the shared goals of the WeProtect Global Alliance.

7.

To this end, the Council recalls,a.

the adoption of Directive 2011/93/EU on combating the sexual abuse and sexual
exploitation of children, and the commitment made by the EU and its Member States tofully transpose its provisions into national regimes. The 2016 Commission reports to theCouncil and the European Parliament2 showed that, whereas considerable effort had
been made to transpose the Directive, further transposition work was required to ensurethat children could benefit from the full added value of the Directive. In particular,
according to the reports, additional efforts are still required on prevention andsubstantive criminal law provisions, and assistance, support and protection measures forchild victims;

12

Article 82 and 83 in the Treaty of the Functioning of the European Union (consolidatedversion).
COM/2016/0871 and COM/2016/0872.

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b.

the adoption and, where applicable, the practical application of the provisions ofDirective 2012/29/EU establishing minimum standards on the rights, support andprotection of victims of crime, which is applicable to all victims of all crimes and insists
on a child-sensitive approach, whereby the best interests of a child victim must be theprimary consideration throughout the criminal proceedings;c.

the adoption of Directive 2011/36/EU on preventing and combating trafficking inhuman beings and protecting its victims, and the complementing policy framework,
under the horizontal mandate of the EU Anti-trafficking Coordinatord.

the EU Agenda on Security3 which lists cybercrime and all its ramifications, including
the sexual abuse and sexual exploitation of children, as one of the three main priorities
to be addressed in order to safeguard the security of citizens and the Union’s values;e.

the EU Strategic Framework and Action Plan on Human Rights andDemocracy4, in which the EU reaffirms its commitment to the promotion and protectionof all human rights and in this regard advocates for the rights of children with a specificfocus on protecting children against violence.

f.

the commitment of the EU and its Member States to achieve the goal of eradicating
child sexual exploitation as set out in the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable
Development5 and the Council of Europe Convention on protection of children against
sexual abuse and exploitation6;

3456COM(2015) 185 final and the Draft Council conclusions on the Renewed European Union
Internal Security Strategy 2015-2020 ST 9798/15.
11855/12.
UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
Council of Europe Convention on protection of children against sexual abuse andexploitation, 2007.

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g.

the UN Resolution of 24 May 2019 on countering child sexual abuse and exploitation
online7, the Convention on the Rights of the Child and the Optional Protocol to theConvention on the Rights of the Child on the sale of children, child prostitution andchild pornography8;h.

the Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons Especially Womenand Children, supplementing the United Nations Convention against Transnational
Organized Crimei.

the 2012 Council conclusions on a Global Alliance against Child Sexual Abuse Online9j.

and the call made to Member States under the Council conclusions on theimplementation of the EU Gender Action Plan II in 201710 to remain committed topreventing, combatting and prosecuting all forms of sexual and gender-based violence.

8.

The Council invites the EU and its Member States to assess periodically the effectiveness oflegislation on combatting the sexual abuse and sexual exploitation of children to ensure that itis fit for purpose. Gender-sensitive assessments should address in particular the prevention,investigation and prosecution of crimes, including those committed in abuse of online
platforms, as well as the provision of assistance and support to child victims during and after
the investigation, and protection measures during criminal proceedings. Measures should
however not be limited to the area of criminal law.

9.

The Council acknowledges the importance of gender mainstreaming and taking anintersectorial, comprehensive and inclusive approach when designing and implementing
future policies and legislation in all areas relevant to combat the sexual abuse of children.

78910

UN Economic and Social Council, Commission on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice,
Countering child sexual exploitation and sexual abuse online, 24 May 2019.
Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the sale of children,
child prostitution and child pornography, 25 May 2000.
10607/12.
14027/18.

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10.

The Council reiterates the importance of timely action to investigate and prosecute offendersand rescue child victims of sexual abuse and exploitation from situations of ongoing harm,and invites competent authorities to make the widest possible use of the existing tools andmechanisms available at national and EU level, in particular at Europol and Eurojust. The
Council highlights the necessity of having appropriate and specific tools in order to fightagainst online child abuse, including the possibility for the competent authorities to exploit
the data collected during investigations. To this end, the Council recalls its conclusions of theJHA Council of 6 and 7 June 2019, underlining that data retention is essential for effective
investigation and prosecution of serious crimes. Furthermore, legislative reforms should
maintain the legal possibility for schemes for retention of data, in accordance with theprinciples laid down in the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights.

11.

In this regard, the Council encourages Member States to develop and apply innovative
investigation methods as well as consider allocating specialised law enforcement resources tocombat child abuse and sexual exploitation. The exchange of good practices among Member
States adds value to these initiatives.

12.

The Council considers industry, and in particular online platforms, to be a key contributor topreventing and eradicating child sexual abuse and exploitation, including the swift removal ofchild sexual abuse material online. Notwithstanding current efforts, the Council notes that
more must be done to counter technical, legal and human challenges that hamper the effective
work of competent authorities.

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13.

The Council urges the industry to ensure lawful access for law enforcement and othercompetent authorities to digital evidence, including when encrypted or hosted on IT servers
located abroad, without prohibiting or weakening encryption and in full respect of privacy andfair trial guarantees consistent with applicable law. Furthermore, cooperation between
national law enforcement authorities, Internet providers, Europol and Interpol should be
intensified in accordance with the applicable legal framework, for instance by devisingmechanisms for the encrypted exchange of information. This could allow for continuous
monitoring of the network for identifying and blocking sites containing the sexual
exploitation of children and placing them on the lists of forbidden sites. In particular, theCouncil emphasises the importance of ensuring that new technological developments do not
adversely impact on the ability to block child sexual abuse material online. In this regard, theCouncil urges industry to engage with relevant stakeholders as appropriate.

14.

The Council notes with concern the exponential increase in child sexual abuse material online
in the last years. Better solutions are needed to manage and prioritise the reports of instancesof child sexual abuse and exploitation online, in order to ensure swift action to rescue victims
from ongoing abuse. The Council invites online service providers to remove or disable accessto contents identified as child sexual abuse material online as soon as possible after becoming
aware of such content. It calls on the Commission to propose measures to address thisgrowing challenge. The Council also highlights the important role of civil society, inparticular the INHOPE hotlines, in supporting the removal of child sexual abuse materialonline and encourages Member States to consider further options for their authorities tosupport the civil hotlines, especially in cases where cooperation from companies is lacking.

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Moreover, the Council recognises the necessity of setting out a multi-stakeholder approach,bringing together industry, civil society, law enforcement and governments (including
through public-private partnerships) to coordinate prevention efforts and thus maximise theireffectiveness. The Council invites the Commission to consider further action to support
prevention-related initiatives.

16.

In particular, the Council welcomes the implementation of preventive approaches by Member
States, such as the comprehensive vetting of all professionals and volunteers coming into
regular and direct contact with children, the creation of prevention programmes for offenders
and the launch of educational campaigns in schools and for the public in order to strengthen
virtual resilience and the digital citizenship of young people. The Council invites Member
States to continue expanding and exchanging good practice in these areas and calls upon theCommission to continue promoting and coordinating such preventive approaches among allservices dealing with children.

17.

The Council welcomes the participation of EU Member States’ competent authorities incollaborative efforts aimed at fighting child sexual abuse and sexual exploitation. The Councilurges them to continue deepening their involvement, including in the EMPACT priority on
child sexual exploitation within the EU Policy Cycle for Serious and Organised crime, and theEuropol Victim Identification Taskforce.

18.

The Council welcomes the good work of Europol’s European Cybercrime Centre (EC3) insupporting competent authorities in Member States and highlights the importance of theavailability of state-of-the-art technology for investigations. It invites EC3 to continue
assisting Member States in preventing and detecting all forms of criminality associated withthe sexual abuse and sexual exploitation of children, and in combatting the distribution ofchild abuse material online, including live distant child abuse.

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The Council also stresses the role of Eurojust in supporting national investigating andprosecuting authorities with a view to avoiding the impunity of sexual abuse and the sexual
exploitation of children. It underlines the importance of cooperation between Eurojust andEuropol as well as the improvements and initiatives in the field of digital criminal justice.

20.

The Council underlines the importance of providing law enforcement agencies and otherauthorities with appropriate training to effectively combat child sexual abuse and exploitation,with special emphasis on the protection of the victims. The Council welcomes CEPOL’s
available training portfolio in this respect.

21.

Furthermore, the Council recognises the importance of a global, coordinated approach to fightchild sexual abuse and exploitation and calls for strong engagement in existing channels ofcooperation with third countries and other key stakeholders in curbing these horrific crimes.

22.

The Council recalls the pledge taken by EU Member States’ Ministers of Justice and Interior
to participate in the shared policy targets and operational goals set out in the launch of theGlobal Alliance11 and the work that countries have already undertaken12. The Council urges
Member States’ competent authorities to increase their participation and use of technicalsolutions such as the International Child Sexual Exploitation database (ICSE) at Interpol tofacilitate international investigations, in line with their commitment under the GlobalAlliance. The connection to ICSE is vital for the exchange of information on global cases, butparticipation is still low in some parts of the world. A broad participation in the databasebrings valuable expertise regarding different languages used in videos submitted by otheragencies, and thus fosters a better protection of children across the world.

1112

Declaration on the launch of the Global Alliance against child sexual abuse online. The
Global Alliance merged with WeProtect (a UK-led multi-stakeholder initiative to combat
online child sexual exploitation globally) in 2014, to combine the strengths of both initiatives
and avoid duplication of effort.
This work is reflected in the Global Alliance reports of 2013 and 2015.

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The Council welcomes the WeProtect Global Alliance to End Child Sexual Exploitation
Online as a global, multi-stakeholder organisation bringing together governments, lawenforcement, juridical authorities, industry and civil society to improve the effectiveness ofthe fight against these crimes worldwide. The WeProtect Global Alliance’s Model National
Response13 and its Global Threat Assessment14 play a key role in identifying gaps andprioritising actions.

24.

The Council encourages Member States to deepen their cooperation with third countries in thefight against child abuse and exploitation and to provide an overview of existing measures tosupport third countries in the fight against child sexual abuse and exploitation, including thephenomenon of travelling child sex offenders and live-streamed child sexual abuse, and calls
upon the Commission to obtain an overview of ongoing support with a view to facilitating
future work in this area.

25.

The EU encourages third countries to consider accession to the Council of Europe Convention
on protection of children against sexual exploitation and sexual abuse15, as the key legislative
framework at international level to combat the crime of child sexual abuse and exploitation
and a model for national legislation.

131415Model National Response, 2018, We Protect Global Alliance.
Global Threat Assessment, 2018, We Protect Global Alliance.
Council of Europe Convention on protection of children against sexual abuse andexploitation, 2007.

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