Opinion of the Economic and Social Committee on the 'Exploitation of children and sex tourism'
Date: 1998-07-02
Institutions: European Economic and Social Committee
Subjects: child protection, children's rights, political cooperation, sexual offence, tourism

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3.2.
It therefore calls upon the Commission to adapt
its own proposals in this direction and to amend the

dates set out in Articles 1 and 2 (1 April 1998 and
31 March 1998), which have already passed.

Brussels, 2 July 1998.

The President

of the Economic and Social Committee

Tom JENKINS

Opinion of the Economic and Social Committee on the ‘Exploitation of children and sex
tourism’

(98/C 284/16)

At its plenary session meeting on 19 March 1997, the Committee decided, in accordance with
Rule 11(4) and Rule 19(1) of its Rules of Procedure, to set up a subcommittee to prepare its
work on ‘Exploitation of children and sex tourism’.

The subcommittee drew up a draft opinion on 8 June 1998 (rapporteur: Mr Sklavounos).

At its 356th Plenary Session (meeting of 2 July 1998) the Economic and Social Committee
adopted the opinion set out below by 72 votes in favour, with 3 abstentions.

SUMMARY OF THE MAIN POLICY PROPOSALS

The Economic and Social Committee considers that the
widespread and alarming problem of child mistreatment,
exploitation and abuse requires a fundamental repo-
sitioning and mobilization of society. The aim should
be to go beyond public condemnation and reaction
by ‘decree’, or piecemeal policies based on damage
limitation. Society needs to tackle the: generating factors
of child abuse rather than react to their consequences.
The Committee urges a comprehensive, preventive and
pro-active approach, putting ‘children first’
in our
every-day policy-making, social activity and cultural
development.

A. Responding at an international level to the gener-
ating factors of child mistreatment, abuse and
exploitation

A.1.
The EU can lead efforts to help the UN and
other international development bodies play an effective
role in combating poverty and the most intolerable
forms of child abuse and exploitation through a more

effective use of their funds, through EU and international
legal instruments for actions and by clearly incorporating
children’s rights in EU external relations policies.

A.2.
The ESC can take the initiative, through its own
structured dialogue and cooperation with its national
and international counterparts, and its constituent mem-
bers, to encourage and facilitate the setting-up of bodies
for pro-active and effective policies relating to children.

B. Proposals for coordinating an effective policy at

European level

B.1.
The current traditional policies for supporting
the family and children, e.g. provision of day care
leave and child benefit, must be
centres, parental
accompanied by, and coordinated with, new, child
friendly, policies on town planning and urban regener-
ation.

The ESC would also urge policies regenerating
B.2.
‘the city’ as a civic, social and participatory cultural
entity. In particular, it proposes a network of child-
friendly cities encouraging for example: opportunities
for reintegrating older people into the social mainstream
and harnessing their skills through voluntary schemes
in collaboration with day care centres, schools, public

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parks, etc.; opportunities for voluntary groups of older
and younger people to cooperate in ‘joint ventures’;
school-workshops where people can be introduced in
an enjoyable way to art and technology; a systematic
effort to revive ‘the neighbourhood’; transforming ghet-
tos into places of cultural interaction; organizational
links between town and country; alternative forms
of tourism; public transport systems which reflect
children’s needs; safe open spaces and public places,
stations, parks and squares; recreation areas for children
and neighbourhood schools to provide educational and
instructive recreation facilities.

B.3.
The EU should encourage all concerned to
consider further the issue of schools in the 21st century
and the opening of schools to society as a priority. The
school of the 21st century should be the organizational
impulse and defining force behind Europe’s cities and
social life, inclusion and reintegration in the future. The
ESC,
in cooperation with its national and regional
counterparts, can also contribute to and promote the
debate about the ‘school of the future’, involving relevant
socio-economic actors, academics, parents groups and
civic authorities.

C. Encouraging young people and citizens to become
directly involved in civic, social and cultural activi-
ties at every level.

C.1.
Europe-wide action should revive a culture of
participation among the younger generation and youth
organizations. In collaboration with the European Com-
mission, the European Parliament, UNICEF, the Com-
mittee of the Regions and European youth umbrella
organizations, the ESC can organize a pan-European
conference on the subject of participation among young
people in Europe.

A ‘Youth for Europe 2000+’ programme, pos-
C.2.
sibly under a new European Commissioner for youth,
could include various types of action and pilot projects,
for example: ‘challenging’ participatory activities for
young people; permanent transnational fora of thematic
and cultural dialogue and interdenominational dialogue;
mass media incentives; a permanent centre to disseminate
better practice, a European Cultural Policy (1) for Chil-
dren including:

— a ‘European children’s library’;

— an annual children’s entertainment festival;

— a European children’s music academy;

(1) See ESC Opinion: OJ C 153, 28.5.1996.

— a European youth theatre and cinema festival;

— a better application of existing EU directives which
protect the physical, intellectual and moral develop-
ment of young people in programmes and TV
commercials;

— EU youth sport events and concerted policies to

combat violence and racism in sport;

— positive EU programmes for children with special
needs, seeing disability as a potential source of skills
and sensitivity;

— cultural tourism for young people (transnational
family exchanges, international youth camps and
multicultural children’s holiday packages);

— the promotion of children’s needs in the programmes
of European Cultural Capitals and similar events;

— extension of the Raphael programme to conserve
and make the most of the cultural heritage, especially
in additional areas such as traditional craft work-
shops, folklore museums and schools for folk and
traditional music;

— programmes to combat political apathy, to encour-
age participation in political life and to promote
tolerance and understanding;

— more dynamic, child-oriented, partnerships between
parents, the public authorities, civic organizations,
business life, socio-professional activity and schools;

— new Treaty provisions.

D. General mobilization of society and the ESC’s role

D.1.
At European level, the Economic and Social
Committee can take on the task of setting up a standing
committee that would be responsible for analysing and
presenting models, means and methods of rallying
society and mobilizing social groups, interest groups
and voluntary organizations to combat the alienation
and exploitation of children, with the view to promoting
a ‘European New Deal for Children’.

E. Facing the problem of sexual mistreatment of

children and child sex tourism

The scale of child abuse recorded today in
E.1.
Europe is not only the result of poverty and destitution;
but a sign of social crisis, a materialistic ethos and
moral decay. The ‘erotic culture’, prevailing values and
standards and ethical conduct, in Europe are all to some
extent concerned and cannot be transformed fast or by
fiat. Difficult though it undoubtedly is, devising a policy

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at regional, national and EU level to put an end to
child prostitution and abuse is an essential long term
undertaking, clearly involving the mass media, and
presupposing a value system which puts first the integrity
and sanctity of human nature combined with solidarity
understood as a welcome expression of neighbourliness
and not as a ‘political obligation’.

international trade union movements and NGOs etc.),
society up until recently has not been sufficiently
mobilized in response to the problem at a European or
global level, and has tended to opt for damage limitation
rather than eliminating the underlying causes of child
exploitation and abuse.

E.2.
Child sex tourism is an aspect and a symptom
of the general situation but one that can be tackled more
promptly and more specifically. Codes of conduct must
be formulated without delay so that operators in Europe
are exposed and the issue included on the agenda of EU
enlargement with the Eastern and Central Europe
countries, in the Euro-Mediterranean dialogue and (as
was the case at the ASEM Conference in London) in the
dialogue with the Far East.

F. Child labour

F.1.
The Economic and Social Committee supports
the outline proposals of the ILO Amsterdam Conference
on Child Labour and the preparations for a new
Convention on the elimination of the most intolerable
forms of child labour. The Committee highlights the
particular vulnerability of girls and young women in
this context. It is imperative to promote concerted action
between governments, the social partners and NGOs.

1.

Introduction

1.1.
The rights of the child are being violated through-
out the world. Child exploitation and trafficking, abuse,
forced labour and other forms of child labour, child sex
tourism, child pornography, drug trafficking, war,
and the torture of children are phenomena that are
proliferating dramatically. These problems are not
confined to the developed or developing worlds, nor are
they associated with any particular religious or political
traditions.

1.2.
The forms of exploitation and abuse — and also
the way these are dissembled — vary in relation to
economic and organizational development of a given
society. In the developing world, for example, forced
child labour and the supply for child sex tourism are the
main problems, whereas in the developed world, child
pornography and organized demand for child sex
tourism are the main problems. In the developing world,
children are used in the production and trafficking of
traditional drugs;
in the developed world, children
are used in the trafficking of these and of synthetic
substances.

1.3.
Despite the efforts to date of international
organizations (UN, UNESCO, UNICEF, the Council of
ILO,
Europe,

the World Council of Churches,

1.4.
The problem is a serious and multifaced one
which not only discredits our present culture, but is also
an irrefutable indictment of the way in which post-war
generations have failed to manage, human and social
capital and the culture of everyday life.

1.5.
The policy of public condemnation, and the
moralistic and legalistic approach to the problem com-
bined with law enforcement, have not resulted in more
respect for law and order nor in mechanisms for effective
preventive measures and action.

1.6.
The problem is a moral one but also much more.
It affects the whole of European and human society
regardless of class, income or culture.

1.7.
The nature and extent of the problem reveal a
growing disregard for the integrity of the human
person and the sanctity of human life, through a base
commercialization of the human body and of sexual
relations.

1.8.
The effects of these phenomena, and the fact that
society is becoming accustomed to their pervasiveness, is
putting severe pressure on, and undermining, the basic
value systems and principles on which European and
human culture has developed and is based, with ensuing
consequences. The progressive erosion of these values
and codes of conduct has permeated every level of
society. Recent examples in European countries provide
firm evidence of this, and of the growing awareness of
and reaction to it.

1.9.
The almost universal and praiseworthy accep-
tance of the UN ‘Convention on the Rights of the
Child (1)’ has not, unfortunately, freed the international
community of this problem. This issue was put on the
political agenda by UNESCO at its summit in Paris in
1994, by the Council of Europe through its successive
resolutions adopted by ministers and the parliamentary
assembly, and by the European Parliament and the

(1) ‘Parties recognize the right of the child to be protected
from economic exploitation and from performing any
work that is likely to be hazardous or to interfere with the
child’s education, or to be harmful to the child’s health or
physical, spiritual, moral or social development’. UN
‘Convention on the Rights of the Child’, 1989, Art. 32.1.

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Council of Ministers of the European Union. The 1997
World Congress on Sexual Exploitation of Children for
Commercial Ends, held in Stockholm, and the summit
on measures to combat the most intolerable forms of
child labour, held in Amsterdam, have been the most
recent efforts to address the problem. The Economic
and Social Committee also drew attention to the
problem. (1) It is hoped that a new ILO Convention to
combat the most intolerable forms of child labour
will shortly be adopted and ratified. The commercial
exploitation of children ought also to be placed on the
agenda of the World Trade Organisation.

2. Nature and extent of the problem

2.1. Child labour

2.1.1.
According to ILO and Commission data, there
are some 400 million child workers worldwide between
the ages of 10 and 14 (the total estimate would be higher
still if girls doing domestic work were included). An
estimated 80 million of these children work under
dangerous and hazardous conditions, 15 million of them
in productions for export. Over 300 million children do
not attend school. Nearly one billion adults are illiterate,
nearly 600 million of them women. The percentage of
children of primary school age not attending school and
therefore a source of child labour are estimated as
follows: 47 % for Sub-Saharan Africa, 16 % for the
Middle East and North Africa, 34 % for South Asia,
6 % for East Asia and Pacific, 12 % for Latin America
and the Caribbean and 13 % for the CEEC/CES and
Baltics (2). At least 5 million underaged children currently
work in Europe.

2.1.2.
Child labour is both a product and producer
of poverty and of inadequate employment policies. It is
an example of ‘social dumping’ at its worst, leading to
international delocalization of labour to where children
are employed on the black market with little or no
protection. It is a violation of ILO Convention No 138
and undermines the GATT provisions. Both child labour
and commercial/sexual exploitation of children thrive
where poverty is prevalent.

According to UNICEF (The State of

2.1.3.
the
World’s Children, 1997), child labour was reduced in the
West by a combination of legislation, the introduction
of compulsory education, and the increase in family
incomes and technological progress, which made child
labour less attractive to employers.

2.2. Street children

According to United Nations data and using the
2.2.1.
UNICEF definition of street children, about 100 million
children in the world live on the streets. The geographical
breakdown is:

— Latin America 40 million;

— Asia 25-30 million;

— Africa 10 million.

The remaining 20-25 million are in North America and
Europe.

The vast majority of these children are also drug users
and victims of prostitution and crime rings.

2.2.2.
It should be noted in this connection that it is
virtually impossible to find statistics on the exploitation,
abuse, ill-treatment and abandonment of children in the
European Union, how many children in the EU live on
the streets or in children’s homes, or how many
are involved in prostitution. It is regrettable that the
European institutions should document the dimensions
of this problem worldwide, while saying nothing about
its prevalence in the EU. The general public (and the
world, which provides us with its own statistics) has the
right to know the extent of the problem in Europe.
Although there is no definite statistical data from a large
number of reliable sources, such as the Council of
Europe or UNICEF, what data there is confirms that
this problem is serious and worsening in Europe. Street
children and child prostitution are also a European
phenomenon.

2.3. Child prostitution, pornography, trafficking and

paedophilia

2.3.1.
become involved in prostitution (3).

Every year, at least one million more children

2.3.2.
The problem of transnational child trafficking
in Europe (as recent tragic cases throughout Europe
have demonstrated), has steadily worsened since the fall
of the Berlin Wall and the economic and social upheavals
that followed, a very large number of children from
eastern European countries are now thought to be living
illegally in the EU. They are able to stay and subsist
mainly through prostitution, or the ‘sex industry’. This
has obvious direct and indirect effects on public health,
crime and drug trafficking.

2.4. Child poverty

2.4.1.
According to the UNICEF ‘Information News-
line’ of 18 April 1997 (based on a study by the World

(1) See ESC Opinion on ‘European Cultural Policy for Chil-

dren’, op.cit.

(2) The state of the world’s children, 1997/UNICEF.

(3) COM(96) 547 final.

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Bank), over 650 million children live on less than one
dollar per day. A Commission study further informs us
that 14 million children die every year before they reach
the age of five (1).

2.4.2.
By the year 2000, contrary to developments in
Europe, some 50 % of the world’s population will be
under the age of 25, and the majority of these will be
living below the poverty line. The number of children
aged between five and 19 living in cities will be 247
million more than in 1980.

2.4.3.
According to statistics from 1993 on the then
12 Member States (Eurostat 1997-6), 13 million children
under the age of 16 live in poverty, which means one in
every five children in the EU. Particular problems are
faced by the children of single-parent families, unmarried
mothers and under-age mothers, and those from ethnic
minorities.

2.5. Other forms of abuse — social alienation, fear,

crime and violence

2.5.1. F e a r a n d d a n g e r i n t h e i n n e r c i t y

80 % of the population of Europe live in urban areas
(263,3 million). The city is, in many parts of Europe, no
longer a desirable place to bring up children. Many of
Europe’s children today live in fear of public places,
frightened and threatened by society, the city, and the
wider social environment. Their fear and the risks they
face in public places lead to an increased reliance on
television and electronic games. An increasing number
of European children in Europe now grow up without
adequate opportunities for healthy socialization. This
problem is aggravated by the lack of proper play areas
for children, especially in more deprived areas, and by
the increasing number of single-parent families and
lonely, disillusioned and poor children living in European
cities.

the neighbourhood gang or in extremist groups. The
problem is daily becoming more acute in deprived areas
inhabited by minorities, which are turning into breeding
grounds of ethnic and religious hatred and racism. The
natural sociability of mankind is finding expression in
antisocial group activity. This leads to formal links
between district gangs and organized crime, dealing in
stolen goods, trafficking, prostitution and exploitation
by fanatical fundamentalist and racist groups,
for
political ends.

2.5.3. F a m i l y a n d s c h o o l

At the same time, ‘social institutions’, which ought to
counter this sense of alienation and antisocial activities,
are themselves being undermined by the same cumulative
phenomena. The ‘family’, for example, is a major source
of child neglect, violence and sexual abuse. Likewise,
schools are increasingly degenerating into areas of social
alienation where indiscipline, lack of respect, truancy
and bullying are in some instances the norm.

3. Generating factors

Given the various forms and extent of child exploitation
and abuse, it cannot be attributed to one single factor
or underlying cause. It is the result of the cumulative
and exponential effects of all the above-mentioned
underlying causes in combination. The many underlying
causes interact with each other affecting:

— parents and the family;

— children;

— society as a whole.

The factors involved are considered to be (2):

— break-up of the family as an institution;

2.5.2. S o c i a l

a l i e n a t i o n
e x t r e m i s t g r o u p s )

( g a n g s

a n d

— crisis facing schools;

— urban crisis and disintegration;

The district gang is a common phenomenon nowadays,
especially in deprived urban areas, and one that is
widespread throughout Europe. The types of crime
associated with criminal and antisocial group behaviour
— hooliganism, vandalism, theft, beating up and robbing
old people — are on the increase. The need for
meaningful human relations, contact and communi-
cation felt by today’s children in Europe, their isolation
and their desire to belong find an outlet either in

— cultural crisis (manifest in the prevailing climate of

individualistic consumerism);

— lack of efficiency and credibility crisis of the insti-

tutions of law and order (courts, police, ...);

— crisis of confidence in the traditional institutions
of social cohesion (church, political and social
organizations, trade unions, ...);

(1) ‘The future of North-South Relations: towards sustainable
economic and social development’, ‘Cahiers’ of the For-
wards Studies Unit, 1997 No 1.

(2) UNESCO, UNICEF, World Council of Churches, Council

of Europe, non-governmental organizations.

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— unemployment, social exclusion and poverty;

— lack of political will or capability to face the

generating factors.

Recognition of this is the key to developing effective
strategies for tackling the problem.

3.1.7.
A strategy for re-integrating older people into
society would not simply mean their living with the
active members of the family, nor of course would this
be a necessary objective. Such a strategy could provide
for co-existence without actual cohabitation in neigh-
bourhoods where there would be no exclusion on the
basis of age.

3.1. Crisis facing the family as an institution and ways

of addressing this generating factor

3.1.1.
The crisis facing the family, the oldest insti-
tution of human society, is considered to be one of the
main underlying causes of the problems facing the
children of Europe and the world.

3.1.2. What has happened to the family as an insti-
tution is the result of many — mainly socio-economic
— factors that affect the organization of production,
work, the places where workers live and the links
between where people work and where they live.

3.1.3.
The predominance of the ‘factory model’ in
the organization of production, work and housing (and
of family relationships, i.e. the type of family that this
model dictates) is coming to an end. New ways of
organizing production, work and more generally the
‘knowledge’ and ‘information’ society, are in their turn
affecting the family as an institution.

3.1.4.
The separation between people’s place of work
and their place of residence, the segregation of age
groups, the demise of the family’s role as a social and
cultural unifying force are no longer an inescapable fact
of life now that there are new ways of organizing
production and work. The new role of small and
medium-sized enterprises and of tele-working present
fresh prospects for the family.

3.1.5.
Policies that reconcile work and family life
must be approached not in a piecemeal way, but
strategically and comprehensively, in the major EU
decisions and strategies on sustainable cities, the Urban
Agenda, sustainable social development, etc.

3.1.6.
The current traditional policies for supporting
the family and children, e.g. provision of day care
centres, parental leave and child benefit, must be seen
as accompanied by and coordinated with new policies
on town planning, urban regeneration, the provision of
safe play areas for children and the creation in general
of conditions needed to revive the ‘neighbourhood’ as
both place and social system countering the often
prevalent atmosphere of fear and insecurity. This means
inter alia radically reforming the school as an institution,
in line with future needs — demographic, educational,
etc. — and setting up institutions for distance learning
and a strategy for reintegrating older people into society.

3.1.8.
Support for all families to overcome depen-
dency through reform of the nursery, pre-school and
school system to enable parents to combine work and
child-rearing could also eliminate the prospect of life on
the streets for an increasing number of children.

Policies that address the effects of the crisis
3.1.9.
facing the family and the absence of parents from the
home must also include measures to improve children’s
television programmes and provide incentives at Euro-
pean, national and local level.

3.1.10.
Policies to provide business premises and help
SMEs also must be consistent with policies to promote
viable neighbourhood systems.

3.1.11.
It is particularly significant despite — and
very probably because of — the crisis faced by the family
in Europe, that the family is the value that is of greatest
importance to young people. Young people in Europe
see the family and friendship as their two main ideals,
the third being work.

3.1.12.
Relationships in which there is real communi-
cation, real human relationships within the traditional
institution of the family and friendship, is promoted
through an urban environment characterised by stability
and continuity. The urban crisis, together with the
crisis facing the family, the move to the suburbs, the
fragmentation of cities and break-up of the neighbour-
hood have cumulative and manifold catalytic effects on
the problems of children in Europe. Isolation, despair,
excessive reliance on television, and the search for
satisfaction in human relationships that leads to the
setting up of extremist groups, neighbourhood gangs
and circles of drug users are problems that can and must
be addressed, not problems that are insuperable. What
is needed is clearly a new comprehensive, cohesive policy
that will place problems facing the family in the context
of sustainable urban development.

3.2. Crisis facing schools

3.2.1.
In conjunction with the crisis facing the family,
the crisis in schools is a basic contributory factor to
juvenile delinquency and crime, and to the abuse and
exploitation of children in Europe.

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3.2.2.
Schools in Europe are facing serious difficulties.
The problems are thought to be one of the reasons that
a large number of children in Europe are leaving school
and thus a cause of their alienation, marginalization,
exploitation and abuse.

3.2.3.
The problems facing schools in Europe ob-
viously vary according to the social environment of the
school, but it can be agreed that to a greater or lesser
extent European schools have certain problems in
common.

Lack of interest in the learning process, children
3.2.4.
bringing family problems to school,
the television
culture, violence at school, the teacher-pupil relationship
and the lack of self-discipline and mutual respect are
some of the typical basic problems faced by schools in
Europe.

3.2.5.
As a general rule, the school as a place and
system, its role in the neighbourhood, its purpose, the
means it uses and its links with society form part of the
agenda for education and school competitiveness and
effectiveness in Europe, and for ongoing education and
training.

3.2.6.
If the factory was the driving force that shaped
industrial Europe, then the processes of education,
training, lifelong learning and the school of the 21st
century all with multi-media back-up must be the
impulse and defining force behind
organizational
Europe’s cities in the future.

3.2.7.
It is clear that schools tailor-made to the needs
of mass production are not appropriate for the learning
and information society. It is also clear that the school
of the 21st century, as a medium for lifelong learning
and training, can and must be a school of social cohesion,
renewing links between the generations and using the
talents of older people, a school that provides friendship,
not imprisonment or surveillance, for the children of
Europe, a place which combines the provision of
education, learning, training, recreation and revitali-
zation of intellectual and cultural cohesion. The school
should be a place where the lost ‘participatory spirit’
and ‘civic virtue’ of the European city are revived and
restored. — Europe has a role to play here.

3.3. Urban crisis

3.3.1.
In its report entitled ‘Towards an Urban
Agenda in the European Union’ (1) the European Com-
mission considers the main issue in the general discussion
on the problem of European urban areas to be as follows:

‘The city is, in many parts of Europe, no longer a
desirable place to bring up children, to spend leisure
time, or to live. This erosion of the role of the city is
perhaps the greatest threat to the European model
of development and society and one which needs the
widest debate.’

(1) COM(97) 0197 final, Brussels 6.5.1997.

3.3.2.
The basic aspects of the crisis include: over-
concentration of the population, fragmentation of urban
areas along economic, political, religious and ethnic
lines, exclusion of certain age groups (the elderly and
young people), ghettoization, crisis of social cohesion
and cultural identity, and crisis of democratic institutions
and processes (local authorities, trades unions, political
parties).

3.3.3.
Environmental crisis: in 1995 (according to a
report by the European Environment Agency), some
70-80 % of European cities with populations of over
500 000 did not meet standards set by the World Health
Organization.

3.3.4.
Traffic congestion: the classic sign of the traffic
problem in large European cities, as evidenced in London
and Paris, is the reduction in the average speed of cars
and trucks to the speed of traffic at the beginning of the
century. Mobility and accessibility have decreased in
European cities, with unfavourable consequences for
travel between home and work, home and school, and
home and leisure facilities, in cities where such facilities
are available.

Political problems: there has been a prolifer-
3.3.5.
ation of neo-fascist, racist and xenophobic criminal
movements and a parallel growth in fanatical and
extremist organizations in ghettos, involving children in
particular, including — of course — young children.

3.3.6.
De-industrialization, unemployment and pov-
erty: one-parent families, unmarried and single mothers,
teenage mothers, and of course their children, are
particularly hard hit by poverty. Children who are
‘abandoned’ because both parents have to, or choose to
work and prefer to pursue their careers, are also affected.

Absence of play areas for children: there is a
3.3.7.
lack of safe recreation areas for children. This is
particularly a problem for children of one-parent families
(whose number is rapidly increasing in Europe) and
children of families in which both parents work.

3.3.8.
In these circumstances it is clear that the specific
conditions on which urban culture was built, on the
basis of which cities were established and the citizen
evolved as the basic unifying element of Western
civilization, are in danger of disappearing from large
European cities.

The typical features of the medieval city that
3.3.9.
sustained the guilds, the city of the Renaissance and
the Enlightenment, the city that fuelled the industrial
revolution, are no longer present in large European
cities.

3.3.10.
From being a manifestation of social develop-
ment, solidarity, democratic participation and social
interaction in public places, the city has degenerated
into a place of withdrawal into the private sphere. Public
spaces are daily becoming dangerous areas.

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3.3.11.
It is clearly impossible for healthy socializa-
tion of children to be achieved in such an environment.
With 80 % of Europe’s population living in urban areas,
the urban crisis can be regarded as a European crisis.

3.4.2.
The tolerance and acceptance, the silence of
collusion and active involvement in child trafficking,
selling products of illegal child labour and child prosti-
tution and pornography enable and oblige us to agree
that the problem also has a cultural dimension.

3.3.12.
The depth or extent of the crisis, and its
implications, have led the Commission to recognize the
need for an urban perspective in Community policy:

‘Urban society will pay a heavy price in terms of
crime and anti-social behaviour if development is
accompanied by major inequalities of access to the
rewards of economic progress’. ‘Europe as a whole
will pay through disaffection of its citizens and the
loss of support for the European model of society’.
‘Finally, the European economy will suffer because
adjustment to rapid change, to maintain the competi-
tiveness of Europe’s cities, is only likely to succeed
where it commands the widest consensus.’

3.3.13.
In its working paper entitled ‘Towards the
5th Framework Programme: scientific and technological
objectives’ (1) and its proposal for a European Parliament
and Council Decision concerning the Fifth Framework
Programme of the European Community for research,
technological development and demonstration activities
(1998-2002) (2), the Commission observes:

‘The aim of this key action is the harmonious
development of the citizens’ urban environment
from a global, innovative and resource-saving view-
point, in an environmentally sound manner, using
advanced models of organization bringing together
in particular the improvement of quality of life, the
restoration of social equilibria and the protection
and enhancement of the cultural heritage.’

According to the Commission, the cost of
3.3.14.
erosion of the cultural heritage (architectural) alone is
estimated to exceed ECU 14 billion yearly.

The ESC nevertheless thinks it necessary to
3.3.15.
note that Agenda 2000 does not pay as much attention
to urban areas as it should given the size of the urban
population, the problems they face and the extent of the
urban crisis.

3.4. The cultural crisis

3.4.1.
The fact that child exploitation, trafficking,
abuse and prostitution exist despite the existence of
laws which, if they were respected, would avert or
prevent such activities, demonstrates that the problem
is not one of a legal vacuum, but of disrespect for law
and civic values in everyday life.

(1) COM(97) 47 final, 10.2.97.
(2) COM(97) 142 final, 30.4.97.

The incidents of child exploitation recorded
3.4.3.
today on a massive scale in Europe are not just the
result of poverty and unemployment, but also signs of
destitution, corruption, decay and crisis among large
groups of the population.

3.4.4.
Union should address the problem at three levels:

From a cultural point of view, the European

3.4.4.1.
As far as adults are concerned, we must
consider prevailing values and moral standards, the
sense of human and social responsibility of groups in
the interlocking official and parallel economies and
of the competent authorities in society, which are
indifferent, tolerate the problem or are ‘unable’ to take
action.

3.4.4.2. We must look at the effects on society in
general of the existence and operation of such attitudes
and the inability or indifference as to how to counter
them.

3.4.4.3.
As far as children are concerned, we must
consider prevailing values and moral standards, the
sense of social responsibility that street children acquire
and share in their milieu, the issue of children who earn
their living by selling their bodies and that of children
involved in drug-trafficking.

3.4.5.
The prevailing morals of a society, the hier-
archy of values, aesthetic preferences and the ‘erotic
culture’ in Europe will not be changed by government
publications and will not be transformed instan-
taneously, since they reflect complex processes that have
developed over many years.

3.4.6.
Devising policies for cultural development in
this sphere at regional, national and EU level is an
absolutely essential, but also difficult, undertaking.

3.4.7.
At the same time, a Europe free from the
exploitation, ill-treatment, trafficking and prostitution
of children, free from the supply of and demand
for child sex tourism, presupposes a value system
characterized by respect for the integrity of human
nature and human life and by respect for the sanctity
and inviolability of human rights.

3.4.8. We want a Europe whose citizens respect and
abide by the law, in which citizens trust and esteem police
and the courts, a cultural foundation that underpins
lawfulness, respect for the law, the political system and
fellow human beings.

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3.4.9.
The problem of indifference to, and tolerance
of, crime can be addressed only if we have a value
system and cultural foundation that promote social
responsibility, participation, political accountability in
the profoundest sense of the word and a political culture
of democracy, freedom and lawfulness.

3.5.2.
By observing how district gangs work and
recognizing the needs they meet for children in European
conurbations, we will be able to see which policies are
called for to reduce the pervasive alienation of children
in Europe and also to communicate with children who
are heading towards, or are already on, the streets.

3.4.10.
If sustainable development is to be accepted
and applied as a model and strategies to promote
sustainable cities are to succeed, then people must
have a different, more responsible and less arbitrary
relationship with nature, a different philosophy for
managing natural and human resources.

3.4.11.
poorly documented in artistic works and production.

The manifestations of crisis and decay are

3.4.12.
Cultural decay and brutality are documented
however all too regularly in everyday life: in the home,
in the sphere of mass entertainment (e.g. football), at
work, at school,
in the media and through other
channels that dictate and promote models of existence,
consumption and behaviour.

3.4.13.
Policies should be promoted for active support
to help local cultural characteristics flourish as a
safeguard against abstract ideologies and a chauvinistic
sense of identity. Europe’s commitment to maintaining
and developing national cultures, its commitment to a
multicultural model of cultural development, must
not surrender to inability to address in practice the
manifestations of the crisis. The ESC considers the
insignificance of cultural policy for Europe and inter
alia its absence from Agenda 2000 to be an unacceptable
situation.

The ESC believes it is necessary to encourage,
3.4.14.
reinforce and promote the participation of Europe’s
young people in the ‘production’ of cultural goods and
to encourage them and others to be involved in cultural
activities at local level.

3.4.15.
Apart from introducing people to art and
culture these processes accelerate the revival of the
collective spirit and participation in the democratic
system at grass-roots level. They breathe new life into
the fabric of society, with social cohesion and solidarity
being directly experienced as a welcome expression of
neighbourliness and not as a ‘political obligation’.

3.5. Why are European children attracted to district

gangs?

3.5.3.
District gangs in many instances replace the
‘missing family’. They meet a need for a sense of
belonging to a broader reality but also to a well-defined
group. They provide an opportunity for action, adven-
ture, a sense of danger, esteem, and the chance to earn
unmediated recognition within the group, as well as
real, direct, emotionally meaningful communication, a
sharing of danger, excitement and pleasure. District
gangs give their members the chance to experience and
crude participation in group experiences. Steps can and
must be taken therefore at local, national and EU level
to ensure that it is not only district gangs that offer
young people in Europe such opportunities.

3.5.4.
To this end, traditional, non-governmental
youth organizations, political youth groups, and young
people’s church organizations can be mobilized by
setting up new branches and adapting their organization
and activities. The mass media can be encouraged at
local and national level to draw attention to and promote
initiatives that offer outlets to young people, not on the
basis of the fruitless prim and proper attitudes of
the past, nor in terms of antiheroic resignation and
marginalization or ‘heroic marginalization of crimi-
nality’.

3.5.5. Our young people can be given an outlet
through a new culture of political activism, of account-
ability and ‘challenging participation’ in a climate of
democratic involvement. Such an outlet can be provided
by developing the specific features of local and national
cultures and traditions, both in terms of the form of
organizations and of the methods and purpose of action
taken and through such EU programmes as Eur. Youth
Voluntary Service scheme.

3.6. Poverty and unemployment

3.6.1.
It is generally acknowledged that poverty alone
is not (and was not in the past) in itself a cause of moral
collapse. It is the combination of poverty with a lack of
hope for a better future and an inability to participate
in processes that change the circumstances of the
individual and society. It is poverty associated with
exclusion and marginalization.

3.5.1.
So many problems are faced by Europe and the
world, by European cities and the countryside, that the
children of Europe can be given the chance to help solve
problems and meet needs that are currently satisfied
antisocially by neighbourhood gangs.

3.6.2.
Likewise, the traditional view that unemploy-
ment attracts people who are naturally predisposed to
be out of work or social groups whose ‘culture’ is a
factor that makes them prone to be idle and inactive

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and to demand payment for being unemployed, is no
longer taken seriously. Indeed, the lack of an employed
‘role model’ can (unfairly) be felt as a source of
embarrassment and even shame among families and
children of the long-term unemployed.

3.6.3.
The Amsterdam Summit at last laid the foun-
dation for concrete measures to elaborate a common
European employment strategy. The Treaty explicitly
made employment a matter of common concern. The
new chapter on employment reinforces the co-ordination
of employment policies within common guidelines.
The chapter clearly states that the Community shall
contribute to a high level of employment by encouraging
cooperation between Member States and by supporting
and, if necessary complementing their action. Member
States also committed themselves to consider the objec-
tive of a high level of ‘employment’ in the formulation
and implementation of all Community policies.

The Extraordinary European Employment
3.6.4.
Council Meeting on Employment
in Luxembourg
last November rightly decided to put the new Treaty
provisions on employment immediately into effect and
to implement the provisions on coordination of Member
States’ employment policies in advance, as from 1998,
the idea being to create for employment, as for economic
policy, the same resolve to converge towards jointly set,
verifiable, regularly updated targets.

3.6.5.
In all this — as the Economic and Social
Committee has itself often made clear — there is no
illusion that jobs can simply be created ‘by decree’. The
springboard for jobs is the continued development of a
sound, coordinated macro-economic policy, under-
pinned by an efficient internal market, which will lay
the foundations for sustainable growth, new dynamism
and a climate of confidence conducive to boosting
employment. As the Luxembourg ‘Jobs Summit’ con-
cluded, the aim is to help unleash the potential for
dynamism and enterprise to be found in Europe’s
economy.

a favourable

economic
3.6.6. However, while
environment, based on sound finance, geared to market
needs and structural reform and capable of withstanding
predatory currency speculation, should be conducive to
stable growth and employment, it will not by itself
actively promote and sustain jobs and the necessary
skills to go with them. Just as jobs cannot simply
be ‘decreed’
they simply,
from on high, nor will
‘miraculously emerge’ by putting all our faith in the
‘market’. Neither ‘dirigisme’ nor ‘laissez-faire’ offer the
‘miracle cure’. A complex policy mix is needed for

promoting sustainable growth and jobs, involving pub-
lic-private partnership , flexibility and security, mobili-
zation of socio-economic actors at all levels and a sense
of solidarity best expressed by the term: the European
social model. It is recognized that the coherence and
practical projects necessary to activate such a sustainable
employment-growth scenario should be underpinned
and bound together by the core values which characterise
and unite Europe’s democracies. This is the challenge
facing us: how to harness all resources available to
combat unemployment and achieve tangible, practical
progress in terms of real jobs and employability.

4. Evaluation of existing policies

4.1.
The ESC notes that, so far, political efforts to
deal with this immense problem have been inadequate
and ineffective, with the result that the situation has
deteriorated and reached ominous proportions at a
global level.

4.2.
Successive declarations, conferences, campaigns
and movements at European and international level
have demonstrated the gravity and tragic dimensions of
the problem, but have not been accompanied by concrete
measures and effective prevention and control, thereby
having a negative impact on public opinion.

4.3.
There is a danger that public opinion will either
become inured to the existence of the problem and will
resign itself to living with it, or that it will conclude that
society is incapable of addressing the issue.

4.3.1. What concerns the average European in connec-
tion with issues such as child trafficking, large-scale
child pornography and drug trafficking is whether our
society is really capable of providing the necessary
safeguards and protective mechanisms or whether lead-
ers have been so ineffective that any real attempt at
prevention or control is futile.

Doubt

4.4.
is being cast on the credibility of
authorities and institutions; withdrawal into the private
sphere, from active involvement in public affairs, is
becoming more prevalent throughout Europe.

4.5.
Policies and measures to date have focused
mainly on controlling the symptoms of the problem by
containing its negative effects (damage limitation).
Efforts to change policy approaches to relief for victims
and punishment of perpetrators have also been inad-
equate.

4.6.
The main methodological approach has been
broadly based on the logic of policing and of responding
by the provision of, health, welfare and charitable
services. The operational framework is one of ‘victims’

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and ‘culprits’. When somebody breaks the law, efforts
are made to find the guilty party and if possible to
compensate the victim. Within a healthy society there
are unhealthy people and groups. Although the health
of an individual is his or her own personal responsibility,
society endeavours to provide support. Politically, the
issue and arguments have traditionally been formulated
in terms of a tension between:

— more or less intervention;

— more or less tolerance;

— more or less protection for victims.

4.7.
There is no doubt that these three approaches,
or the best possible combination of them in any given
case, do not amount to a preventive policy. They do not
form part of a strategy to address the underlying causes
and generating factors of the problem, but remain
focused on limiting its negative effects (damage limi-
tation).

4.8.
Although there is agreement among the inter-
national community as to the underlying causes of the
problem, it is clear both from the policies pursued and
their results that these causes are not being addressed.

The direct, indirect and overall costs (economic
4.9.
and social) of dealing with the problem are steadily
rising.

Society and government are tending to cede
4.10.
responsibility by asking non-governmental orga-
nizations to find solutions to this primarily social
problem.

4.11.
Further social marginalization and inertia and
the development of new state-financed bureaucratic
— and,
in most cases, unregulated — bodies with
international links would not seem to offer the best
approach to dealing with this or related problems.

4.12.
The fact that whole sectors of the economy are
sustained by the existence of crime or fear of crime
— e.g. private police forces, electronic recording and
monitoring of private and public spaces, shops, etc. —
constitutes a significant non-productive cost-factor and
a cause as well as a consequence of a divided society.

5. Towards a ‘New Deal’ for children

5.1. Basic principles

5.1.1.
The nature, manifestations and extent of the
problem, and its consequences, naturally influence what
policies are chosen to tackle it.

5.1.2.
tent with the more general political goals of the EU.

The policy choices and strategy must be consis-

EU policies on sustainable development, urban
5.1.3.
strategy,
lifelong learning, and the performance of
schools in Europe are all relevant and must reflect each
other and be consistent, furthering the sustainable
development of human and social capital.

5.1.3.1. Without sustainable development of human
and social capital, Europe’s society and economy will
be unable to hold on to its present share in world wealth
and knowledge and influence with the up and coming
Asian powers.

5.1.4.
It is of great direct and indirect importance for
Europe to address this problem decisively and effectively
within its own frontiers, and to be the driving moral,
political and organizational force behind tackling the
problem at international level.

The demographic problem in Europe,

5.1.5.
i.e.
the ageing of Europe’s population together with the
immediate risk of 30 % of young people (i.e. the number
involved in child crime and drugs) being marginalized,
is a very serious ongoing threat to social cohesion, and
to Europe’s economic and social competitiveness.

5.1.6.
The financial burden on European society and
pressure on the resources available in each country for
containing antisocial and criminal activities among
abandoned children, and the social burden of children
employed in organized crime, cause enormous economic
damage.

5.1.6.1. On the other hand, investing in prevention
and in developing human resources, human and social
capital, and social cohesion is quite clearly a more
effective and, in the medium term, a more economical
solution.

5.1.7.
If the problem is to be addressed at regional,
national and international level, then the necessary legal
and institutional frameworks must be put in place that
will enable a policy to be formulated and pursued, and
measures to be implemented, on the basis of accepted
international rules and with internationally accepted
penalties:

— With regard to combating the now intolerable forms
of child labour, for example, who should decide
and what objective criteria should be used when
determining the priority of intervention in one
country over another?

— In the case of action against child sex tourism, should
priority be given to ‘demand’ countries or ‘supply’
countries; who will take the decisions, on what
authority, and with what international approval and
support?

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The problem must be addressed on the basis of specific
coordinated programmes and organized cooperation
with clear priorities in terms of countries and targets.

— ‘to promote the social dimension in international

trade agreements’.

5.1.8.
required if action taken is to be effective.

Integrated,

coordinated programmes

are

5.1.8.1.
Appointing impartial monitors to keep a
check on illegal child labour, for example, will not be
effective unless there are fair and objective mechanisms
for imposing penalties at national level, as well as an
independent legal system and an impartial police force.

5.2. New Framework at an international level

5.2.1. On the basis of the new EU objectives set out
in the Agenda 2000 (1), the ESC can take specific
initiatives to coordinate the efforts of actors and action
to tackle the underlying causes and generating factors
of child exploitation (of any kind):

— at European Union level;

— at pan-European level;

— at global level.

The EU can lead the efforts of the world
5.2.2.
community to evolve specific and adequate programmes
that will continue to promote the economic development
of the less-developed regions of the world — in Latin
America, Africa and Asia.

5.2.3.
that the EU can and must take measures:

The Economic and Social Committee believes

— to modernize the UN and its bodies so that they play
an effective role in combating poverty during the
first half of the 21st century;

— to ensure adequate resources to this end to the UN
and its specialized agencies (UNDP, ILO, UNICEF,
UNESCO, WHO, FAO);

— to modernize international financial institutions (e.g.
World Bank, International Monetary Fund) in order
that they take into account employment and social
needs as well as educational and health needs in
their policies and programmes;

— to consolidate new development processes in North-

South relations;

5.2.4.
The EU Member States should continue to
intensify their contributions to IPEC programmes and,
together with the social partners, should participate
actively in the drafting and adoption of a comprehensive
new ILO Convention against the most intolerable forms
of child exploitation, and should contribute further
in promoting its universal ratification and effective
implementation, including appropriate forms of support
to the developing countries willing to enforce ILO
conventions related to the protection of children against
exploitation.

5.2.5.
The EU should seek, without delay, to secure
the essential legal instruments for action, either within
the context of the EU or as a group of national
delegations working together within the UN.

A European initiative is called for both to
5.2.6.
ensure transparent and effective use of the resources
provided by UN and international bodies, but also to
ensure the provision of adequate resources and effective
cooperation between the member states and UN bodies.

5.2.7.
In an international and coordinating context,
the Economic and Social Committee and its constituent
members can take the initiative to encourage and
facilitate:

— setting up a coordinating body for policies relating
to children in eastern and western Europe,
in
cooperation with its partner organizations and with
in
due regard to the EU enlargement process,
collaboration, where appropriate, with the Council
of Europe the ILO, the World Trade Organization,
UNICEF, the World Council of Churches and similar
organizations;

— setting up regional coordinating bodies for Africa,
America and Asia in the context of dialogue with
social and economic interest groups;

— assuming responsibility for cataloguing the work of
the international development organizations and
evaluating the effectiveness of measures to combat
poverty every two years.

5.2.7.1.
rights in the context of EU foreign policy to be timely.

The ESC also believes its proposals on human

5.2.7.2.
The ESC considers that cooperation between
Interpol, Europol and the national police forces of the
Member States should be strengthened.

— to support decisions of the World Summit for Social
Development and to contribute actively to their
universal implementation;

5.3. European level

(1) Making the European Union a global actor, ensuring
complementarity between internal and external policies,
developing a strategy for human resources.

5.3.1.
policy at European level means:

Formulating and implementing an effective

— coordinating the work of politicians and other

competent groups in the Member States;

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— coordinating efforts within the European Union and

with the rest of Europe.

5.3.2.
At European level, the Economic and Social
Committee can take on the task of setting up a standing
committee that would be responsible for analysing and
presenting models, means and methods of rallying
society in general and mobilizing social groups and
interest groups to combat the exploitation of children.

5.3.3. Once the problem is seen no longer as purely
economic or legal, or a problem of welfare, than the
need for coordination takes on a different dimension.

5.3.4.
If the problem is considered to be one of social
development, a matter of rescuing human and social
capital at risk, and if policies are adapted to address the
underlying causes and not just to limit the effects of the
problem, then there must be active and determined
level between authorities,
co-ordination at national
institutions,
and non-governmental
organizations concerned with:

governmental

— pre-school and school education, and long-term

planning thereof;

— lifelong learning and training;

— careers advice and employment;

— culture, sports and leisure;

— town planning, urban renewal, provision of safe
areas where children can play in their own inner-city
neighbourhoods, children’s games;

— reconciling family and working life;

— reorienting the relationship between home and work;

— collaboration between the public and private sectors

in the spheres of:

• children’s recreational activities (individual and

group activities);

• children’s entertainment;

• children’s television;

• children’s books;

• traditional

forms of social project, charities,

churches, professional organizations, societies;

• judiciary, police, social services;

• local self-government.

6. Policy proposals

6.1. Urban policies

The ESC considers that the development of
6.1.1.
child-friendly urban policies is not an increase in

social policy expenditure so much as an investment in
improving human resources, in the sustainable develop-
ment of human and social capital and in ongoing
improvement of the competitiveness of Europe’s cities.

6.1.2.
A large number of Community documents
recognize the need for an urban policy that addresses
the enormous problems faced by European cities. A
further effort to develop integrated approaches and
cohesive and complementary policies that also meet the
needs of Europe’s children must be regarded as a small
investment which will bring enormous returns and
results.

6.2. Network of child-friendly cities

6.2.1.
The setting up of a network of child-friendly
cities could be the catalyst for a long-term policy in
which effective, tried-and-tested methods could benefit
the wider public (town planning, urban regeneration,
restoration of historical city centres).

6.2.2.
The planning of public transport systems, and
planning and redesign of train and bus stations, can and
must reflect children’s needs.

6.2.3. Open spaces and public places, stations, parks
and squares must fulfil a number of functions in such a
way as to be inherently safer.

6.2.4.
Providing enough recreation areas for children
and encouraging after-school clubs and neighbourhood
schools to provide educational, instructive recreation
facilities are measures that serve the interests of children,
parents in general, and one-parent families in particular.

6.2.5. Opportunities can be provided for reintegrating
older people into the social mainstream and harnessing
their skills through voluntary schemes in collaboration
with day care centres, schools, public parks, etc.

6.2.6.
Schools that are no longer in use in Europe
owing to the decrease in the child population can be
used for various activities, as workshops where people
can be introduced in an enjoyable way to art and
technology.

6.2.7. Other measures could include systematically
transforming ghettos into places of cultural interaction,
involving, for example, tourist offices, embassies, exhi-
bition centres and centres for education and training in
professions.

6.2.8.
There should be a systematic effort to revive
‘the neighbourhood’, with the help of local churches,
schools, businesses and their agents, associations, trades
unions and political parties.

6.2.9.
Steps can be taken to establish organizational
links between town and country (e.g. through producers’
and consumers’ associations, environmental protection
organizations).

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Policies could be developed to provide (low-
6.2.10.
cost) educational
trips to areas of natural beauty
in Europe, combined with environmental education
programmes and the provision of opportunities to
develop alternative forms of tourism, e.g. historical and
cultural, based on networks of cities, such as cities of
the Industrial Revolution, cities of the Reformation, and
European cities of historical and cultural importance.

6.3.5.
The targets of general social mobilization must
not be limited to so-called high-risk groups, or the
people most closely affected by the problem.

6.3.5.1.
The target of general social mobilization can
and must be the wider ‘grey area’ of social strata and
young people suffering the pressures of the crisis within
the family, in the city, among the out-of-work, etc.

6.3. General mobilization of society

6.3.1.
The ESC and its constituent members, includ-
ing employers, trade union and diverse socio-economic
interests can take some initiatives to help promote a
general mobilization of society to tackle the exploitation,
abuse and destruction of the EU’s enormous human and
social capital in all its forms.

6.3.2.
The ESC considers that establishing a climate
of general social mobilization which would reverse the
process of withdrawal into the private sphere and the
sense of resignation and inertia prevalent in broad
sections of society calls for new approaches and forms
of action that are much more integrated and cohesive
than traditional awareness-raising campaigns.

6.3.3.
In this effort, the social partners and the
European social dialogue in its broader sense can play a
very constructive role.

6.3.4. New forms of action are also called for, both
from the traditional agents of social cohesion and from
the new agents and institutions
such as non-
local government, etc.
governmental organizations,
Non-governmental organizations must adapt
their
activities or a new generation of non-governmental
organizations will come into being. Most action taken
by non-governmental organizations to date has been by
and for society. The new types of non-governmental
organization proposed will not take on the task of
tackling social problems and will not stand in for society
or the State. On the contrary, their aim will be to
improve society’s ability to organize a response to the
problems. Their aim will be to help local communities,
to bring about change and to use problems as a
basis for acquiring the organizational capabilities and
knowledge of resources needed to solve them. They will
not replace traditional social institutions, but rather will
help them to modernize their means and methods of
action and social intervention. By the nature of their
objectives, such NGOs will be small, flexible and
low-spending; they will develop sequentially, in the form
of a network, so that they can become firmly established
and respond readily to local particularities, thus steering
clear of the hierarchical and bureaucratic multinational
model. These efforts can be encouraged more at Euro-
pean and Member State level.

6.3.5.2.
Action in this sphere may be indirect, but at
the same time complementary and cohesive, e.g. a
radical, ongoing, Europe-wide effort to reinforce, pro-
mote and enhance the status of non-political youth
organizations (e.g. Scouts and Guides) and to develop
political youth organizations of all persuasions in a
Europe-wide campaign to revive a culture of clear
participation among the younger generation, in contrast
to the resignation, withdrawal and extremism of today.

Efforts must be made to ensure that youth
6.3.5.3.
organizations, both political and non-political, do not
become overprofessionalized and overbureaucratized,
and their openness to society must be encouraged.

6.3.5.4.
can and must be involved in this effort.

All persuasions of the European Parliament

6.3.5.5.
The World Council of Churches can mount
a campaign of its own to revive and restore the role of
church youth organizations, thus enhancing its own
position. The recent rally of young Catholics in Paris
also showed that young people respond when called on
to participate.

6.3.5.6.
Steps should be taken to introduce Europe-
wide awards and prizes for programmes and action by
youth organizations that seek to address social problems.

6.3.5.7.
These can be institutionalized by the Euro-
pean Parliament, Council and Commission in the frame-
work of youth policies, and promoted by national
parliaments and churches (the World Council of
Churches and local churches).

6.3.5.8.
In collaboration with the competent services
of the Commission, UNICEF, the Committee of the
Regions and European youth umbrella organizations,
the ESC can organize a pan-European conference on the
subject of participation among young people in Europe.

A ‘Youth for Europe 2000+’ programme,
6.3.5.9.
possibly under a new European Commissioner for youth,
could include various types of pilot projects, dynamic
benchmarking and demonstrative actions on youth
issues for the proper physical, psychological and cultural
development of the younger generation in Europe, for
example:

— ‘challenging’ tourism for young people and cross-
cultural ecological education and communication

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programmes could be organized around major rivers
or rivers of historical interest in Europe. For example,
there could be a series of camps on the Danube and
a multilateral programme between countries through
which the Danube flows entitled ‘Travelling through
the cultures of the Danube’;

numbers of young people to set up permanent institutions
for interaction and communication, as well as procedures
for tackling common problems and mobilizing broad
sections of Europe’s youth. This will result in the
establishment of permanent ties and the creation of a
commonality of interest among Europe’s young people.

— similar programmes could be organized in the Alps
or between the countries around the Adriatic and
Ionian seas;

— for instance, university-level schools of Fine Arts in
Europe could set up a permanent forum for cultural
dialogue that could be located in a European city
and run by two or three universities under a
multilateral programme;

— a permanent forum for interdenominational dialogue
could be organized as part of a multinational
programme involving theology schools and various
church representatives, with the aim of fostering a
culture of solidarity, tolerance, and why not even
cooperation between young people of different
Churches and beliefs, in an effort to address the
problems they face.

Steps should be taken to persuade local and
6.3.5.10.
Member State governments to provide the mass media
with incentives to make programmes that promote a
responsible culture of participation and democracy in
which there is equality between different peoples and
cultures, programmes that promote models of youth
action, ways for young people to organize, healthy
lifestyles and democratic forms of social interaction,
mobilization and effective employment
for young
people.

6.3.5.11.
A permanent centre should be set up to
disseminate better practice in programmes relating to
actions by youth organizations at local and European
level.

6.3.5.12.
The ESC considers the following to be the
necessary prerequisites for mobilizing society, increasing
its involvement in tackling problems and combating
illegal activities detrimental to children:

— a Europe-wide campaign to restore the authority

and efficacy of the Courts of Law;

— a Europe-wide campaign conducted by the Member

States to end corruption in police forces;

— a Europe-wide campaign conducted by the Member
States to make and keep prison systems free from
criminal activities;

— an issue of particular concern, where action is
required at European and national level, in both
western and eastern Europe, is that of orphanages.
The ESC considers that this subject requires a
specific, additional opinion.

It is absolutely essential that Europe should
6.3.5.13.
progress beyond cultural exchanges involving small

6.3.5.14.
The increased cost of combating manifes-
tations of racism, xenophobia, racist violence and
juvenile crime can be converted into investment in social
cohesion by means of a new policy for young people in
Europe, a policy that will reflect the heritage and
aspirations of European peoples.

6.4. Unemployment and poverty

industry.

6.4.1.
The Economic and Social Committee has
rigorously focused on the priority issue of employment
as part of a sustainable economic and social development
model. It has attached great importance to the achieve-
ment of economic and monetary union on schedule in
order to stimulate confidence and employment. It has
backed the idea of comparative employment perfor-
mance criteria and a multi-annual plan with specific
measures and a binding timetable, as well as instruments
and monitoring mechanisms to which Member States
commit themselves. It has encouraged dynamic ‘bench-
marking’ procedures, including a European ‘employ-
ment impact check’. It has constantly urged the Com-
mission to stimulate the development of focused, specific
sector and branch framework strategies for growth
and employment, entailing dedicated cooperation and
commitment from the actors involved from both sides
of
It has called for a ‘root-and-branch
revamping’ of the Structural Funds in favour of lasting,
‘additional’, jobs. It has especially backed the objective
of a European-wide guarantee for all young people,
within one year of finishing school, to have access to a
job, work experience or further training, and has called
for sharper quantitative and qualitative educational and
training targets. The Committee has also argued that
European taxation policy should be re-assessed from
the perspective of employment impact, and that a
coordinated European fiscal strategy would be conducive
to generalised negotiated reductions of non-wage labour
costs. It has called for lower VAT rates for products
and services that are labour intensive and offer major
opportunities for job creation. It has expressed strong
support for entrepreneurship and investment in job-
creative SMEs and micro-businesses. The Committee has
welcomed the European Investment Bank’s ‘Amsterdam
Special Action Programme’ and has urged the EIB to
adopt a more risk-taking attitude and a more focused
approach to projects which can enhance employment-
intensiveness and the quality of jobs, with due regard to
their commercial viability. The Economic and Social
Committee has also called for negotiated reorganization

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linked to
and reductions of working time which,
functional
flexibility, attractive part-time working
options and longer business and operating hours, may
have a positive effect on employment, within the
framework of collective agreements.

centres appropriately staffed by qualified personnel
from the countries sending and receiving such tourists
with the task of recording, uncovering and publicizing
cases of child sex abuse.

6.4.2. P o v e r t y a n d s o c i a l e x c l u s i o n

6.4.3.
The Committee has regularly proposed income
support and poverty prevention policies in keeping with
the European social model.

7. Addressing the problem of child sex tourism

Commission communication (1).

7.1. General comments

7.1.1.
The Commission communication is seen as a
contribution to the broader effort of the European
Union to combat the sexual abuse and exploitation of
children.

7.1.2.
The communication brings to bear the con-
clusions of the Stockholm World Congress against
Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children (held
in August 1996), in particular the action programme
produced as a result of the Congress.

7.1.3.
The Commission communication can be con-
sidered as basically a balanced approach that addresses
the problems posed both by the demand for child sex
tourism and by the corresponding supply.

7.1.4.
a three-pronged approach:

The basic proposals of the Commission rest on

— deterring and punishing child sex abusers;

— specific action to curb both the supply and the

demand mechanisms of child sex tourism;

— encouraging the Member States to take a common

stand against the problem.

D e t e r r i n g
a b u s e r s

a n d

p u n i s h i n g

c h i l d

s e x

7.1.5. With regard to achieving the first goal, the
Commission recognizes that there is a need for judicial
cooperation and harmonization of legislation. There is
no doubt that the process of harmonizing legislation,
from definitions right through to penalties, needs to be
speeded up.

7.1.6.
In as much as both the countries and regions
receiving child sex tourists are known, deterrence of
abusers could be stepped up by establishing monitoring

(1) COM(96) 547 final, 27.11.1996.

7.1.7.
may be one of the most effective deterrents.

The threat of exposure in one’s home country

7.1.8.
Firm action should ensure there are no
organized agents providing such services in the demand
countries. Imposing penalties on businesses that adver-
tise, organize or promote child sex tourism and pub-
lishing the names of the directors and employees of such
businesses would act as a powerful deterrent.

7.2. Stemming the flow of paedophile tourists from the

Member States

Under this heading, the Commission underlines
7.2.1.
the importance of policies to raise awareness and
establish codes of conduct.

The awareness-raising proposals are impor-
7.2.2.
tant, as long as care is taken that such campaigns do not
also inure public opinion to the existence and extent of
the problem and lead to indifference, or tolerance of it.

7.2.3. With regard to promoting codes of conduct
and self-regulatory mechanisms in the tourist industry,
the ESC believes that codes of conduct must be formu-
lated without delay, and people must be encouraged to
respect and observe them by introducing merit awards
at local, national and European level which the tourist
industry can use to good effect in advertising.

7.2.4.
The ESC believes that the problem is so
widespread and serious that it warrants a comprehensive
deterrent policy comprising penalties for marketing in
the demand countries across the board to penalties for
trafficking and supplying child sex tourism services.

7.2.5.
to a policy of deterrence.

The approval of declarations does not amount

7.2.6.
German tour operators provide a good example
of self-regulation, demonstrating the key role that tour
operators play throughout the tourist industry and thus
the need to formulate an unambiguous policy to regulate
their activities at every level, from codes of conduct to
punitive measures.

A bold step in the right direction would be to
7.2.7.
examine the possibility or usefulness of setting up
specialized tourist police units in Member States that do
not have them, coordinating the activities of these forces
through Europol and Interpol and making appropriate
arrangements for them to be strengthened and ‘equipped’
with the essential infrastructure.

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7.3. Helping to combat child sex tourism in third

countries

7.3.1.
important contribution towards tackling the problem.

The Commission’s proposals represent an

7.3.1.1.
The ESC considers that third countries do
not constitute a single, homogeneous area. Political,
economic, religious and cultural differences necessitate
and allow the development of different policies, measures
and collaborative efforts.

7.3.2.
The ESC proposes that this issue be included
on the agenda for dialogue with the countries of central
and eastern Europe, the Euro-Mediterranean dialogue
and dialogue with the ASEAN countries.

7.3.3.
Particular care must be taken in the context of
the dialogue on EU enlargement to make it quite clear
in every regard that respect for human rights, and in
particular the rights of the child, and the harmonization
— as well as observance — of laws on child-trafficking
for purposes of sex tourism are matters of the utmost
importance for the EU.

Brussels, 2 July 1998.

7.4. Role of the ESC
7.4.1.
The Economic and Social Committee can take
the initiative and responsibility to make use of the
dialogue it maintains with its counterparts in each group
of countries falling into a particular category in the
regions concerned, in order to raise and deal with the
issue.

7.5. More general policies
7.5.1.
The ESC considers that as part of its inter-
national role the EU can highlight the issue as a priority
for the international community.
7.5.2.
In the dialogue of international organizations
such as the UN, UNESCO and UNICEF, in the North-
South dialogue, within the World Trade Organization,
etc., the EU must promote policies with definite deadlines
and geographical targets which are clearly directed at
combating the specific underlying causes of the problem.
7.5.3.
The ESC’s proposals on how to deal with
child exploitation at international and European level
obviously also apply to dealing with the underlying
causes of child sex tourism.
7.5.4.
The proposal to set up regional coordinating
bodies to address the problem of child exploitation (on
the initiative of the ESC) obviously also applies to
addressing the problem of child sex tourism.

The President

of the Economic and Social Committee

Tom JENKINS

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APPENDIX I

to the opinion of the Economic and Social Committee

The need for a common terminology

Clarifying the meaning of terms is a useful tool for effective communication, policy drafting, guideline
implementation and harmonization of policy.

The large number of international NGOs dealing with this issue means that a common terminology
must be defined and used.

Basic terms and definitions

What is meant by ‘child’?

According to the UN Declaration of the Rights of the Child, the term ‘child’ refers to any person up to
the age of 18.

ILO Convention No 138 states that the minimum age for legal employment is 15. This is calculated on
the basis of the minimum age for completion of compulsory education (6 + 9 = 15).

Different legal systems define permissible work for children between the ages of 15 and 18 in different
ways. German law on the protection of children at work and on the provision of assistance to children
and young people defines a child as young person of under 14 years of age, or any young person covered
by legislation on compulsory education, i.e. young people of up to 15. Young people aged between 14
and 18 who have been exempted from compulsory education are deemed to be adolescents.

Compulsory education lasts until the age of 15 in Germany and Austria, 16 in France, the UK and The
Netherlands.

The age of legal employment generally coincides with the end of compulsory education.

Legal age of consent

The Committee considers that possible EU harmonization of the age of consent is an issue which should
be examined by the appropriate, competent authorities.

Exploitation of children

Exploitation of children is understood to mean:

a)

the use of children by any third party for his/her own interests in any way or for any purpose which
is harmful to their physical, psychological or mental well-being;

b) anything contrary to the rights of the child as expressed in the UN Declaration;

c) anything violating the moral standards of the society of either the perpetrator or the victim of

exploitation.

Child abuse

The ESC considers the infliction of any kind of physical, psychological or mental violence on a child for
any purpose as coming under this heading.

The infliction of violence on children for self-interest or satisfaction is defined as abuse. Forcing children,
directly or indirectly, to act for the benefit or satisfaction of third parties constitutes abuse and
ill-treatment. The infliction of psychological, mental or physical violence on children in the ‘social’,
‘family’ or ‘national’ interest is also defined as abuse. The use of children for the erotic/sexual satisfaction
and pleasure of adults also constitutes child abuse (physical, psychological, mental) and exploitation.

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Neglect and ill-treatment

Neglect of the physical, psychological and mental needs of children and ill-treatment of children are
phenomena for which the definition may vary in accordance with the dominant morality of different
social groups or societies. Even so, limits to what is tolerable, beyond which the state intervenes, exist
virtually everywhere.

Since this category includes a large number of children who are nearing, or have reached, the critical
point of either finding themselves on the streets, or remaining at home under difficult circumstances, it
requires special attention. This is the category potentially swelling the numbers of street children. Social
or official intervention is, to some extent, impossible. It is, however, also the category where prevention
can have a real impact.

Abandonment

Abandonment of children

The ESC defines abandonment of children as the discontinuation of any interest, care or contact by
parents or relatives towards the children.

Abandonment of home and family by children

The abandonment of home and family by children — temporary, repeated or permanent — is the term
used to define the estrangement of the child from home and family.

It is clear from the above definitions that the exploitation and ill-treatment of children is a dynamic,
multi-layered, complex and evolving process. Approaching the problem as a collection of individual
offences fails to identify and tackle the root causes.

Child exploitation, in whatever form and to whatever degree, is primarily a social problem, a symptom
of an unhealthy society. It is also a crime which, when practised, embodies the social problem in the
shape of perpetrator and victim. Reducing a social problem to a criminal act predetermines the policies
chosen to tackle the problem and the crime.

Child sex tourism

We define child sex tourism as organized tourism, of which the principal aim is to provide child sex
‘services’ to customers, or trips that include organized provision of such services or links with ‘networks’
that cater to this type of demand.

The ESC agrees with the profile and definition of the particular types of tourists involved in child sex
tourism set out in the Commission communication (1).

APPENDIX II

to the opinion of the Economic and Social Committee

Commission measures addressing the problem of child exploitation (2).

(1) COM(96) 547 final.
(2) SEC(97) 1265, 24.6.1997.