# C_2018369EN.01009601.xml

| 11.10.2018 | EN | Official Journal of the European Union | C 369/96 |
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11.10.2018

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

C 369/96

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P8_TA(2017)0501

Implementation of the directive on combating the sexual abuse and sexual exploitation of children and child pornography

European Parliament resolution of 14 December 2017 on the implementation of Directive 2011/93/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 13 December 2011 on combating the sexual abuse and sexual exploitation of children and child pornography (2015/2129(INI))

(2018/C 369/13)

The European Parliament,

| — | having regard to Articles 3 and 6 of the Treaty on European Union (TEU) and Articles 82(2) and 83(1) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU), |
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having regard to Articles 3 and 6 of the Treaty on European Union (TEU) and Articles 82(2) and 83(1) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU),

| — | having regard to Articles 7, 8, 24, 47, 48 and 52 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union, |
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having regard to Articles 7, 8, 24, 47, 48 and 52 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union,

| — | having regard to the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child of 20 November 1989, and the protocols thereto, |
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having regard to the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child of 20 November 1989, and the protocols thereto,

| — | having regard to the Council of Europe Convention on the Protection of Children against Sexual Exploitation and Sexual Abuse of 25 October 2007, |
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having regard to the Council of Europe Convention on the Protection of Children against Sexual Exploitation and Sexual Abuse of 25 October 2007,

| — | having regard to the Council of Europe Convention on Cybercrime of 23 November 2001, |
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having regard to the Council of Europe Convention on Cybercrime of 23 November 2001,

| — | having regard to the adoption by the Council of Europe of its Strategy for the Rights of the Child (2016-2021), |
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having regard to the adoption by the Council of Europe of its Strategy for the Rights of the Child (2016-2021),

| — | having regard to Directive 2011/93/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 13 December 2011 on combating the sexual abuse and sexual exploitation of children and child pornography, and replacing Council Framework Decision 2004/68/JHA (1), |
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having regard to Directive 2011/93/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 13 December 2011 on combating the sexual abuse and sexual exploitation of children and child pornography, and replacing Council Framework Decision 2004/68/JHA (1),

| — | having regard to Directive 2012/29/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 25 October 2012 establishing minimum standards on the rights, support and protection of victims of crime, and replacing Council Framework Decision 2001/220/JHA (2), |
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having regard to Directive 2012/29/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 25 October 2012 establishing minimum standards on the rights, support and protection of victims of crime, and replacing Council Framework Decision 2001/220/JHA (2),

| — | having regard to its resolution of 27 November 2014 on the 25th anniversary of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (3), |
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having regard to its resolution of 27 November 2014 on the 25th anniversary of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (3),

| — | having regard to its resolution of 11 March 2015 on child sexual abuse online (4), |
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having regard to its resolution of 11 March 2015 on child sexual abuse online (4),

| — | having regard to the Commission Communication of 2 May 2012 on a European Strategy for a Better Internet for Children (COM(2012)0196), and having regard to the report from the Commission of 6 June 2016 entitled ‘Final evaluation of the multi-annual EU programme on protecting children using the Internet and other communication technologies (Safer Internet)’ (COM(2016)0364), |
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having regard to the Commission Communication of 2 May 2012 on a European Strategy for a Better Internet for Children (COM(2012)0196), and having regard to the report from the Commission of 6 June 2016 entitled ‘Final evaluation of the multi-annual EU programme on protecting children using the Internet and other communication technologies (Safer Internet)’ (COM(2016)0364),

| — | having regard to the report from the Commission of 16 December 2016 assessing the extent to which the Member States have taken the necessary measures to comply with Directive 2011/93/EU (COM(2016)0871), and the report from the Commission of 16 December 2016 assessing the implementation of the measures referred to in Article 25 of Directive 2011/93/EU (COM(2016)0872), |
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having regard to the report from the Commission of 16 December 2016 assessing the extent to which the Member States have taken the necessary measures to comply with Directive 2011/93/EU (COM(2016)0871), and the report from the Commission of 16 December 2016 assessing the implementation of the measures referred to in Article 25 of Directive 2011/93/EU (COM(2016)0872),

| — | having regard to the Europol report of 2016 on the Internet Organised Crime Threat Assessment (iOACTA), |
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having regard to the Europol report of 2016 on the Internet Organised Crime Threat Assessment (iOACTA),

| — | having regard to the report from the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights of 27 February 2017 entitled ‘Child-friendly justice: Perspectives and experiences of children involved in judicial proceedings as victims, witnesses or parties in nine EU Member States’, |
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having regard to the report from the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights of 27 February 2017 entitled ‘Child-friendly justice: Perspectives and experiences of children involved in judicial proceedings as victims, witnesses or parties in nine EU Member States’,

| — | having regard to the Commission Communication of 12 April 2017 entitled ‘The protection of children in migration’ (COM(2017)0211), |
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having regard to the Commission Communication of 12 April 2017 entitled ‘The protection of children in migration’ (COM(2017)0211),

| — | having regard to Rule 52 of its Rules of Procedure, as well as Article 1(1)(e) of, and Annex 3 to, the decision of the Conference of Presidents of 12 December 2002 on the procedure for granting authorisation to draw up own-initiative reports, |
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having regard to Rule 52 of its Rules of Procedure, as well as Article 1(1)(e) of, and Annex 3 to, the decision of the Conference of Presidents of 12 December 2002 on the procedure for granting authorisation to draw up own-initiative reports,

| — | having regard to the report of the Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs and the opinions of the Committee on Culture and Education and the Committee on Women’s Rights and Gender Equality (A8-0368/2017), |
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having regard to the report of the Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs and the opinions of the Committee on Culture and Education and the Committee on Women’s Rights and Gender Equality (A8-0368/2017),

| A. | whereas the sexual abuse and sexual exploitation of children constitute serious violations of fundamental rights, in particular of the right of children to the protection and care necessary for their well-being, as provided for by the 1989 UN Convention on the Rights of the Child and by the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union; |
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A.

whereas the sexual abuse and sexual exploitation of children constitute serious violations of fundamental rights, in particular of the right of children to the protection and care necessary for their well-being, as provided for by the 1989 UN Convention on the Rights of the Child and by the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union;

| B. | whereas the child’s best interests must be a primary consideration when implementing any measures to combat these offences, in accordance with the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union and the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child; |
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B.

whereas the child’s best interests must be a primary consideration when implementing any measures to combat these offences, in accordance with the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union and the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child;

| C. | whereas Directive 2011/93/EU is a comprehensive legal instrument containing provisions on substantive criminal law and on criminal procedures, measures for assistance and protection of victims and for prevention, including administrative measures, and its implementation requires the close involvement of actors from different sectors such as the law-enforcement authorities, the judiciary, parents’ and family associations playing an active role in the protection of minors, non-governmental organisations, internet service providers and others; |
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C.

whereas Directive 2011/93/EU is a comprehensive legal instrument containing provisions on substantive criminal law and on criminal procedures, measures for assistance and protection of victims and for prevention, including administrative measures, and its implementation requires the close involvement of actors from different sectors such as the law-enforcement authorities, the judiciary, parents’ and family associations playing an active role in the protection of minors, non-governmental organisations, internet service providers and others;

| D. | whereas the Commission’s implementation report does not provide any statistics on the take-down and blocking of websites containing or disseminating images of child sexual abuse, especially statistics on the speed of removal of content, the frequency with which reports are followed up by law enforcement authorities, the delays in take-downs due to the need to avoid interference with ongoing investigations, or the frequency with which any such stored data is actually used by judicial or law enforcement authorities; |
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D.

whereas the Commission’s implementation report does not provide any statistics on the take-down and blocking of websites containing or disseminating images of child sexual abuse, especially statistics on the speed of removal of content, the frequency with which reports are followed up by law enforcement authorities, the delays in take-downs due to the need to avoid interference with ongoing investigations, or the frequency with which any such stored data is actually used by judicial or law enforcement authorities;

| E. | whereas one of the main challenges in investigating child sexual abuse and prosecuting perpetrators is the lack of reporting by victims; whereas boys are less likely to report abuse; |
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E.

whereas one of the main challenges in investigating child sexual abuse and prosecuting perpetrators is the lack of reporting by victims; whereas boys are less likely to report abuse;

| F. | whereas children, who are victims of sexual abuse or exploitation, suffer from multiple and long-lasting physical and/or psychological traumas that can follow them well into adulthood; |
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F.

whereas children, who are victims of sexual abuse or exploitation, suffer from multiple and long-lasting physical and/or psychological traumas that can follow them well into adulthood;

| G. | whereas child sexual abuse and exploitation online is an evolving phenomenon and new forms of crime, such as ‘revenge pornography’ and sex-extortion, have come into being on the Internet and need to be addressed with concrete measures by the Member States; |
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G.

whereas child sexual abuse and exploitation online is an evolving phenomenon and new forms of crime, such as ‘revenge pornography’ and sex-extortion, have come into being on the Internet and need to be addressed with concrete measures by the Member States;

| H. | whereas law enforcement authorities face challenges posed by peer-to-peer and private networks exchanging child sexual abuse material; whereas there is a need to raise awareness at an early stage among girls and boys about the risks and the importance of respecting the dignity and privacy of others in the digital era; |
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H.

whereas law enforcement authorities face challenges posed by peer-to-peer and private networks exchanging child sexual abuse material; whereas there is a need to raise awareness at an early stage among girls and boys about the risks and the importance of respecting the dignity and privacy of others in the digital era;

| I. | whereas migrant children — especially girls, but also a significant percentage of boys (5) — are particularly exposed to child sexual abuse and sexual exploitation at the hands of traffickers, smugglers, drug dealers, prostitution rings, as well as other individuals or rings, who exploit their vulnerability, along the way and once they reach Europe; |
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I.

whereas migrant children — especially girls, but also a significant percentage of boys (5) — are particularly exposed to child sexual abuse and sexual exploitation at the hands of traffickers, smugglers, drug dealers, prostitution rings, as well as other individuals or rings, who exploit their vulnerability, along the way and once they reach Europe;

| J. | whereas the sex tourism industry affects significant numbers of children, especially girls, but also a significant percentage of boys; |
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J.

whereas the sex tourism industry affects significant numbers of children, especially girls, but also a significant percentage of boys;

| K. | whereas, to comply with the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union, measures taken under recital 47 of Directive 2011/93/EU concerning the blocking and removal of websites online must respect the safeguards listed in Article 25 of the Directive; |
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K.

whereas, to comply with the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union, measures taken under recital 47 of Directive 2011/93/EU concerning the blocking and removal of websites online must respect the safeguards listed in Article 25 of the Directive;

| L. | whereas systematic review and meta-analysis has found that, compared to their non-disabled peers, children with disabilities were around three times more likely to suffer from physical or sexual violence; |
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L.

whereas systematic review and meta-analysis has found that, compared to their non-disabled peers, children with disabilities were around three times more likely to suffer from physical or sexual violence;

| M. | whereas the use of the term ‘child pornography’ is not appropriate to define the offences in Articles 5 and 2(c) of Directive 2011/93/EU and may be detrimental to the child victims; |
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M.

whereas the use of the term ‘child pornography’ is not appropriate to define the offences in Articles 5 and 2(c) of Directive 2011/93/EU and may be detrimental to the child victims;

Main conclusions and recommendations

| 1. | Condemns unequivocally all forms of sexual abuse or exploitation of children, as well as violent and abusive victimisation of children at all levels; welcomes the adoption by the Council of Europe of its Strategy for the Rights of the Child (2016-2021); calls on the all EU institutions and Member States to take appropriate measures to prevent all forms of physical and psychological violence, including physical and sexual abuse and sexual exploitation, and to protect children from them; calls on all EU institutions and Member States to take united, effective action to eradicate sexual abuse and exploitation and, more generally, all sexual crimes against children; calls for the EU institutions and Member States to explicitly consider the protection of children as a priority when programming and implementing policies, which may have a negative impact on them; |
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1.

| 2. | Takes the view that Directive 2011/93/EU constitutes a sound and comprehensive legal framework for combating sexual abuse and sexual exploitation of children; deplores the fact that the Member States have faced significant challenges in transposing and implementing the Directive, in particular as regards the provisions on prevention, investigation and prosecution as well as protection and assistance to victims and that the full potential of the Directive has not yet been exploited; urges the Member States to step up their efforts to transpose it fully and correctly; calls on the Member States to ensure that legal transposition is translated into effective implementation so as to ensure the protection and assistance of child victims and zero tolerance for child sexual abuse; |
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2.

| 3. | Deplores that the Commission was not able to present its implementation reports within the deadline set out in Article 28 of Directive 2011/93/EU and that the two evaluation reports presented by the Commission merely documented transposition into national law by Member States and did not fully assess their compliance with the Directive; requests the Member States to cooperate and forward to the Commission all of the relevant information on the implementation of the Directive, including statistics; |
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3.

| 4. | Stresses that the term ‘child sexual abuse material’ is more appropriate than ‘child pornography’ for such crimes against children; calls on the Commission and the Member States to adopt the use of the term ‘child sexual abuse material’ instead of the term ‘child pornography’; stresses, however, that the new terminology shall not in any way restrict the offences listed as ‘child pornography’ in Article 5 of Directive 2011/93/EU in relation to Article 2(c); |
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4.

| 5. | Considers it regrettable that the Commission’s implementation report fails to mention whether it assessed the efficiency of the INHOPE system when it transfers reports to counterparts in third countries; |
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5.

| 6. | Considers it regrettable that the Commission has failed to collect data on the types of blocking that have been used; considers it regrettable that data has not been published on the number of websites on blocking lists in each country; considers it regrettable that there is no assessment of the use of security methods, such as encryption, to ensure that blocking lists are not leaked and thereby become seriously counterproductive; welcomes the fact that, having promoted mandatory blocking in 2011, the Commission has explicitly abandoned this position; |
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6.

Substantive Criminal Law (Articles 3, 4 and 5 of the Directive)

| 7. | Takes note of the fact that the substantive criminal law provisions of Directive 2011/93/EU have been transposed by the Member States; is concerned nevertheless that some Member States have not fully transposed the provisions on offences concerning sexual exploitation (Article 4), offences concerning sexual abuse when abuse is made of a recognised position of trust, authority or influence (Article 3(5)(i)) or abuse is made of a particularly vulnerable situation of the child (Article 3(5)(ii)), and concerning the liability of legal persons (Article 12); |
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7.

| 8. | Considers, in particular, that the Member States should make every possible effort to combat the impunity of perpetrators of child sexual abuse, as well as of individuals or legal persons, who are involved in aiding, assisting or abetting any child sexual exploitation and sexual abuse offences; considers it to be of the utmost importance that the Member States ensure the liability of both natural and legal persons, where the lack of monitoring or supervision of a person who is a member of that legal entity, has permitted or facilitated the commission of crimes; |
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8.

| 9. | Is particularly concerned about the threats and risks which the online dimension poses to children, in particular as regards the online recruitment of children, as well as grooming and other forms of incitement; considers that ways must therefore be found to identify, report and investigate such dangerous practices; stresses the necessity of increasing the level of protection of children online, while at the same time launching awareness-raising and information programmes about the dangers that exist online; |
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9.

| 10. | Reminds the Commission that restrictions on online contents should be grounded in the law, well defined, proportionate, legitimate and pursue a clear aim; |
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10.

| 11. | Is concerned at the increase in live streaming of child sexual abuse, the perpetrators of which are highly skilled and innovative in the use of advanced technology; considers that all Member States should therefore seek to develop innovative technical applications to detect and block access to such content, while at the same time placing restrictions on payments for services of this nature; |
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11.

| 12. | Underlines the need to address new forms of crime online, such as revenge porn and sexual-extortion, that affect many youngsters, in particular teenage girls; calls on the Member States’ law enforcement authorities and the judiciary to adopt concrete measures to combat this new form of crime and on the internet industry, hotlines, NGOs and all relevant bodies, to take their shared responsibility while seeking to provide solutions to tackle these crimes, including better use of available technologies and developing new technologies to facilitate the identification of persons committing crimes online; |
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12.

| 13. | Reiterates the right of each individual to decide on the fate of his or her personal data, in particular the exclusive right to control the use and disclosure of personal information, and the right to be forgotten, defined as the possibility to obtain a prompt removal of content that might be prejudicial to his or her own dignity; |
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13.

| 14. | Emphasises the need for Member States which have not yet done so to criminalise not only online grooming, but also cyberstalking and luring children online; recalls that the term cyberstalking refers to a situation in which adults communicate online with a minor or a person they believe to be a minor for the purpose of subsequently committing a crime against that person; |
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14.

| 15. | Considers it regrettable that no statistics have been provided on the use of criminal law procedures to seize equipment in relevant cases; |
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15.

Investigation and prosecution

| 16. | Notes that several Member States have not implemented the requirement to prosecute offences within a sufficient time after the victim has reached the age of majority; encourages, therefore, the Member States to ensure that the statutory limits within which these crimes may be reported and prosecuted are of sufficient length and that, at the very least, they start from the age of majority of the child victim, in order to ensure the possibility of prosecuting the crime; |
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16.

| 17. | Underlines the importance of implementing Article 17 in order to ensure that the Member States have jurisdiction over offences committed by means of information and communication technology (ICT) accessed from their territory whether or not it is based on their territory; emphasises the need to develop the practical foundation for a common EU approach to the issue of jurisdiction in cyberspace, as pointed out at the informal meeting of justice and home affairs ministers held on 26 January 2016; |
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17.

| 18. | Deplores that not all offences listed in Directive 2011/93/EU are included in Member States’ national legislation when it comes to extraterritorial jurisdiction; considers it regrettable that some Member States guarantee that sexual abuse offences committed abroad will be prosecuted without a complaint by the victim; calls on the Member States to tackle these shortcomings effectively; |
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18.

| 19. | Calls on all Member States to allocate adequate financial and human resources to law enforcement and judicial authorities to combat child sexual abuse and exploitation, including specific training for police and investigators; calls on the Commission and the Member States to increase the resources earmarked for the identification of victims, and urges the nine Member States which have not yet transposed Article 15(4) of Directive 2011/93/EU on the identification of victims to do so without delay and implement this provision by setting up special investigative teams equipped with appropriate tools and resources; |
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19.

| 20. | Considers it regrettable that precise statistics and data on the number of crimes committed in the area of child sexual abuse and exploitation in particular, is still lacking due to the high percentage of unreported cases, the novelty of the offences, and the differences in the definitions and methodologies used in various Member States; |
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20.

| 21. | Stresses that some of the main challenges faced by the law enforcement and judicial authorities in the investigation and prosecution of child sexual abuse offences online stem, in particular, from the cross-border nature of the investigations and from the dependence on electronic evidence; notes, in particular, the need to upgrade digital investigative techniques in order to keep up with the fast pace of technological development; |
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21.

| 22. | Calls on the Member States to strengthen cooperation between their law enforcement authorities, including through the increased use of joint investigation teams; urges authorities to recognise that over-reliance on hotlines and the industry can be counterproductive and only outsources the fight against child sexual abuse material; |
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22.

| 23. | Calls on the Member States to apply the provisions of Directive 2011/93/EU in a future-proof manner; urges the industry and internet service providers to apply up-to-date technology and to invest in innovative solutions to increase the possibilities to identify and prosecute perpetrators, to dismantle criminal networks online, as well as to protect victims; |
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23.

| 24. | Expresses concern at the use by internet service providers of carrier-grade network address translation technologies (NAT CGN) which make it possible for several users to share a single IP address at the same time, thereby jeopardising online security and the ability to establish liability; calls on the Member States to encourage internet service providers and network operators to take the steps needed to limit the number of users per IP address, to phase out the use of CGN technologies and to make the investment required to introduce, as a matter of urgency, the next generation of internet protocol addresses (version 6 — IPv6); |
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24.

| 25. | Calls on the Member States to step up their police and judicial cooperation as well as to make full use of the existing EU cooperation tools provided by Europol — in particular in the context of Analysis Project (AP) Twins and the European Cybercrime Centre — and Eurojust to ensure the successful investigation and prosecution of perpetrators and possible accomplices; stresses that Europol and Eurojust should be given the appropriate resources to fulfil their task in this respect and encourages the Member States to share best practices; |
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25.

| 26. | Calls on the Member States to step up their police and judicial cooperation to combat the trafficking and smuggling of migrant children, who are particularly vulnerable to abuse, trafficking and sexual exploitation, mainly girls, but also boys; calls for enhanced cooperation and the rapid exchange of information among authorities to trace missing children and for the interoperability of data bases; calls on the Member States to adopt a holistic approach involving all actors concerned and to increase cooperation with law enforcement authorities, social services and civil society; recognises the important role of civil society in identifying vulnerable children, given the lack of trust migrant children have shown in law enforcement authorities; |
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26.

| 27. | Encourages the Member States to intensify their efforts to combat child sex tourism and prosecute perpetrators and accomplices, taking into account the responsibility of all actors involved; |
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27.

| 28. | Considers that the Member States should be encouraged to develop a specialised international network to combat sex tourism, accompanied by government-led policies such as the introduction of funding programmes to assist families and children living in danger zones; |
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28.

Prevention (Articles 22, 23 and 24 of the Directive)

| 29. | Calls on the Member States to put in place effective preventive and intervention programmes, including regular training programmes, for all officials, educators, parents’ associations and stakeholders who are in contact with children to better assess the risk of committing crimes; |
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29.

| 30. | Urges all Member States to implement appropriate measures such as public awareness raising, prevention campaigns, training and dedicated education programmes for the authorities, parents, teachers, children and minors — also in cooperation with parents’ associations playing an active role in the protection of children and minors, as well as with relevant civil society organisations — in order to promote media literacy, online safety and the importance of family values (e.g. mutual responsibility, respect and care), human dignity, self-esteem, non-violence, and, more generally, of children’s right to be protected against all forms of sexual abuse and sexual exploitation; |
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30.

| 31. | Calls for the EU institutions and the Member States to establish a multi-stage system of child protection based on the best interests of the child and the full respect of his or her fundamental rights, in order to send a clear message that all forms of the physical, sexual and emotional abuse of children are unacceptable, and punishable by law; |
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31.

| 32. | Encourages the Member States to share best practices on educational materials and training programmes for all the actors involved, such as teachers, parents, educators and law enforcement authorities, to raise awareness of grooming and other risks to the safety of children online; encourages the Member States to set up ambitious educational programmes targeted at both parents and youngsters with a view to empowering them, by making them aware of the dangers of the internet and encouraging them to report incidents which they have witnessed or of which they have been the victims, in particular via the hotlines set up specifically for children; considers it very important to give parents guidelines to assess the risks their children might face and to detect the early signs of potential online sexual abuse; calls on the service providers to step up their efforts to raise awareness of the risks inherent in going online, in particular for children, by developing interactive tools and information materials; |
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32.

| 33. | Urges the Member States to introduce into their legislation mandatory criminal background checks for persons applying or volunteering for activities or jobs with access to, or authority over children, and to systematically exchange information on individuals posing a risk to children; |
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33.

| 34. | Calls on the Member States to exchange information about child sex offenders in order to prevent them from moving unnoticed from one Member State to another for work or for the purpose of volunteering with children or children’s institutions; encourages Member States to step up information sharing on criminal convictions and disqualifications, as well as to ensure systematic and coherent data collection in national registers of perpetrators; urges the Member States to fulfil their obligations under Article 22 of Directive 2011/93/EU and to provide effective academically reviewed intervention programmes and measures for persons who fear that they might commit child sexual abuse offences and other offences referred to in Articles 3 to 7 of the Directive; |
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34.

| 35. | Notes that some Member States have developed dedicated operational systems and forensic capabilities aimed at investigating child sexual abuse; notes, however, that most Member States neither have specialised investigative services, nor the financial means to acquire forensic materials, such as specific software for enabling online investigations to be carried out; recommends, therefore, that the EU support these services by providing the relevant funds, where needed; |
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35.

| 36. | Notes that most cases involving the sexual abuse and sexual exploitation of children are not reported to the authorities responsible for law enforcement; calls on the Commission and the Member States to take appropriate steps to improve and enhance children’s reporting of abuse and to consider setting up systematic direct reporting mechanisms; |
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36.

| 37. | Calls on the Member States to develop or reinforce child helplines that provide help and support for children who are victims of sexual abuse or exploitation and that deliver on children’s fundamental right to be heard; asks the Member States to ensure the round the clock availability of these helplines, their accessibility via different means of communication, their confidentiality, that they are free of charge for the children, but also for the helplines, their clear position within national child protection systems and for guarantees of structural and long-term funding for these helplines; |
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37.

Assistance and protection to victims (Articles 18, 19 and 20 of the Directive)

| 38. | Calls on the Member States to fully implement Directive 2012/29/EU on the rights of the victims of crime, to adopt specific measures to protect child victims and to share best practices to ensure that children receive proper assistance and support throughout the entirety of criminal proceedings and thereafter; |
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38.

| 39. | Welcomes the best practices adopted in some Member States for the protection of children, such as the Barnhuset in Sweden, among others; calls on the Member States to focus on ensuring the provision of legal aid, psychological support and assistance and to avoid the secondary victimisation of children; encourages Member States to launch awareness campaigns both at regional and national level to promote support for child victims and to foster a cultural change in public opinion to avoid any victim-blaming attitudes, which may result in additional trauma for child victims of abuse; |
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39.

Removal and blocking (Article 25)

| 40. | Welcomes the fact that the Member States have put in place legislation and administrative measures to remove webpages containing child sexual abuse material hosted on their territory; calls on the Member States to fully implement Article 25 of Directive 2011/93/EU and give priority to the swift removal-at-source of child sexual abuse material, and with the relevant safeguards in place; regrets the fact that only half of the Member States have incorporated provisions into their legislation making it possible to block access to such webpages for users within their territory; recalls that in the fight against the dissemination of child sexual abuse material, removal measures are more effective than blocking, since the latter does not delete the content; |
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40.

| 41. | Regrets and expresses concern that, although the Commission has mentioned that some Member States do not have functional ‘notice and take-down’ procedures, 16 years after the entry into force of Directive 2000/31/EC (the E-Commerce Directive), it has not indicated that any action will be taken to require those Member States to comply with EU law; |
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41.

| 42. | Calls on the Commission to take further efforts to gather the information necessary to ascertain what procedures are used in Member States where no functional notice and take-down procedures and no criminal penalties are in place and to launch infringement proceedings against Member States should they be found not to comply with the obligations laid down in Directive 2000/31/EC on this matter; |
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42.

| 43. | Regrets the fact that the Commission has neither assessed the security of blocking lists, the technologies used for blocking in those countries that have implemented the measures, the implementation of security measures, such as encryption, for the storage and communication of blocking lists, nor carried out any meaningful analysis of the effectiveness of this measure; |
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43.

| 44. | Notes that Directive 2011/93/EU does not require mandatory blocking; recognises that blocking is neither a single technology nor a reliable one; recommends the removal of child abuse, child exploitation and child sexual abuse material at source in the context of efficient judicial and law enforcement actions; |
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44.

| 45. | Urges the Member States to speed up, in cooperation with the Internet industry, the notice and take-down procedures, which are still too long, and to establish partnerships with the online industry, Europol and Eurojust to prevent networks and systems from being hacked and misused to distribute child sexual abuse material; |
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45.

| 46. | Calls on the Member States, in cases where the content is made available from third countries, to step up their cooperation with the third countries concerned and with Interpol in order to secure the prompt removal of the content in question; |
| --- | --- |

46.

| 47. | Recommends that blacklists of websites containing child sexual abuse material be updated regularly by the relevant authorities and communicated to internet service providers to avoid, for instance, over-blocking and to ensure proportionality; recommends the sharing of such blacklists of websites among the Member States, with Europol and its European Cybercrime Centre, and with Interpol; considers, in this regard, that newly developed hashing technology involving automatic image detection and recognition, could be applied; stresses that any technology implemented should be rigorously tested to eliminate, or at least minimise the possibility of hacking, abuse or counterproductive effects; |
| --- | --- |

47.

| 48. | Encourages the INHOPE Network to work with its members to create a secure anonymous reporting mechanism on Deep Web networks, such as the Dark Net networks found on the TOR network, which provides the same high standard of anonymity as that given by press organisations to whistleblowers in order to create the opportunity for those using such networks to come forward with information or reports about child sexual abuse material; |
| --- | --- |

48.

| 49. | Urges the Member States to make it mandatory for internet service providers (ISP) to report child sexual abuse material detected in their infrastructure proactively to law enforcement authorities, as well as to national hotlines; calls on the Commission to continue its funding under the Connecting Europe Facility (CEF) in order to provide the hotlines with adequate resources to fulfil their mandate to tackle illegal content online; |
| --- | --- |

49.

| 50. | Recognises the active and supportive role in combating child sexual abuse material on the Internet played by civil society organisations, such as the INHOPE Network of Hotlines, including the Internet Watch Foundation in the UK; urges the Commission, in cooperation with INHOPE to identify and implement best practices, particularly with regard to statistical reporting and efficient interaction with law enforcement; urges the Member States which have not yet done so to set up such hotlines and takes the view that they should be allowed to search for child sexual abuse material online proactively; |
| --- | --- |

50.

| 51. | Urges the Member States which have not yet done so to put in place, without delay, safe and child-sensitive reporting and counselling mechanisms, such as telephone or computer hotlines with email addresses, or tablet or smartphone applications to which Internet users can report — even anonymously — child sexual abuse material they find online and that are capable of assessing this reported content rapidly with a view to implementing prompt notice and take-down procedures and removing content hosted outside their territory; asks for the clear recognition and strengthening of the hotlines and encourages Member States to equip them properly with resources, including appropriate budgets and trained professionals with expertise; takes the view that these hotlines should be allowed to search proactively for child sexual abuse material online alongside receiving reports from the public; |
| --- | --- |

51.

| 52. | Stresses the need to promote and support EU information programmes enabling members of the public to bring to the attention of the authorities online content that is illegal or harmful to children; |
| --- | --- |

52.

| 53. | Calls on the Commission to continue keeping Parliament regularly informed on the state of play in relation to compliance with the Directive by the Member States, by providing disaggregated and comparable data on the Member States’ performance in preventing and combating child sexual abuse and exploitation offline and online; calls on the Commission to present a more comprehensive report on the implementation of the Directive, which should include additional information and statistics on take-down and blocking of websites containing child sexual abuse material, statistics on the speed of removal of illegal content beyond a period of 72 hours and on the follow-up by the law enforcement authorities to the reported offences, delays in take-downs as a result of the need to avoid interference with ongoing investigations, information on the use of the stored data by judicial and law enforcement authorities and on the actions undertaken by hotlines after informing the law enforcement authorities to contact the hosting providers; instructs its relevant committee to hold a hearing on the state of play in relation to implementation and possibly consider adopting an additional report on the follow up given to the implementation of the Directive; |
| --- | --- |

53.

o

o o

| 54. | Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Council and the Commission as well as to the parliaments and the governments of the Member States. |
| --- | --- |

54.

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(1)  OJ L 335, 17.12.2011, p. 1.

(2)  OJ L 315, 14.11.2012, p. 57.

(3)  OJ C 289, 9.8.2016, p. 57.

(4)  OJ C 316, 30.8.2016, p. 109.

(5)  Studies demonstrate that boys may feel especially inhibited when it comes to disclosing sexual abuse, including for reasons related to societal assumptions towards males. See, for example, the study by the Ex-Post Impact Assessment Unit of the European Parliamentary Research Service, PE 598.614, p. 16, and Schaefer, G.A., Mundt, I.A, Ahlers, C.J., and Bahls, C, ‘Child sexual abuse and psychological impairment in victims: results of an online study initiated by victims’, Journal of Child Sex Abuse, Vol. 21, No 3, 2012, pp. 343-360.

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