Resolution on the contribution of civil society in finding missing or sexually exploited children
Date: 2001-10-09
Institutions: Council of the European Union
Subjects: child protection, company constituted under civil law, forced disappearance, illegal restraint, sexual offence

9.10.2001

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

C 283/1

I

(Information)

COUNCIL

Resolution on the contribution of civil society in finding missing or sexually exploited children

(2001/C 283/01)

THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION,

Bearing in mind:

(cid:151) the conclusions of

the European Council meeting in

Tampere, and in particular point 23 thereof,

exploited children as well as in preventing and combating
this phenomenon;

(cid:151) cooperation between civil society organisations and the
sexually

in finding missing or

competent authorities
exploited children must be encouraged;

(cid:151) the conclusions of the European Council meeting in Santa

Maria da Feira,

(cid:151) the degree of such cooperation must be assessed in the

light of the situation in each Member State;

(cid:151) the Joint Action of 24 February 1997 adopted by the
trafficking in
Council,
concerning action to combat
human beings and sexual exploitation of children, and in
particular point (i) of Title II thereof,

(cid:151) the Council Decision of 29 May 2000 to combat child

pornography on the Internet,

(cid:151) this resolution is without prejudice to the Luxembourg
Convention of 20 May 1980 and the Hague Convention
of 25 October 1980,

Taking into account
the protection of personal data as
regulated by Council of Europe Convention No 108 of 28
January 1981 for the protection of individuals with regard to
automatic processing of personal data,

(cid:151) the European Parliament’s Resolution of 30 March 2000 on

sex tourism, and in particular point 27 thereof,

has adopted the following:

(cid:151) the European Parliament’s Resolution of 19 May 2000 for
further actions in the fight against trafficking in women,
and in particular points 12 and 18 thereof,

(cid:151) the European Parliament’s Resolution of 15 June 2000 on
the victims of crime, and in particular point 8 thereof,

(cid:151) the European Commission’s proposal

for a Framework
Decision on combating the sexual exploitation of children
and child pornography,

Whereas:

(cid:151) combating the disappearance and sexual exploitation of

children is a priority for the European Union;

(cid:151) civil society has a role to play in this fight;

1. This Resolution concerns the search for missing or sexually

exploited children. It covers the following situations:

(cid:151) disappearance and abduction:

(cid:151) runaway children,

(cid:151) children abducted by a third party,

(cid:151) children missing inexplicably,

(cid:151) sexual exploitation:

(cid:151) child trafficking, prostitution and pornography,

(cid:151) paedophile networks on the Internet,

(cid:151) civil society organisations can provide useful support for
the competent authorities in finding missing or sexually

(cid:151) non-organised sexual abuse outside the family.

C 283/2

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

9.10.2001

are

2. Member States

invited to encourage

cooperation
between the competent authorities and civil society,
in
particular civil society organisations, in finding missing or
sexually exploited children.

This cooperation does not affect the responsibility of the
competent authorities for investigations and prosecutions.

Where
following forms:

appropriate

such cooperation might

take

the

2.1. examining the possibility, account being taken of the
level, of providing
means already existing at internal
civil
emergency
organisations with
telephone line, or encouraging arrangements whereby
such organisations would provide a line of this nature.

society

an

telephone

line would be

This
the
collection of information and evidence on missing or
sexually exploited children, and would be available free
of charge 24 hours a day.

intended for

2.2. making it possible, if that is not already the case under
national
to support civil society organi-
sations in the search for missing or sexually exploited
children, for instance by:

legislation,

(cid:151) disseminating information for

locating missing

children, if the authorities deem this useful,

(cid:151) making available to the competent authorities, at
their request, volunteers for organised searches in
the context of finding missing children,

(cid:151) providing support for the families of missing or

sexually exploited children,

3. Member States are invited to compile all data on missing or
sexually exploited children in order to ascertain the extent
of the phenomenon and analyse its trends, and to exchange
such data with one another.

Such compilation should be carried out by the competent
authorities, where appropriate with the support of civil
society organisations.

4. The Council invites the Commission to have a study drawn

up on:

(cid:151) the actual extent of

the phenomenon of missing or

sexually exploited children,

(cid:151) the existence, role and structure of

the civil society
organisations in the Member States actively supporting
the search for missing or sexually exploited children,
along with the arrangements for their involvement and
cooperation with the competent authorities,

(cid:151) legal issues arising from the involvement of such organi-
sations, in particular the issues of the competent auth-
orities sending confidential information to such organi-
sations, the impact of the involvement of such organi-
sations on criminal procedure, and data protection rules.

Member States are invited to pool their expertise for the
production of this study.

5. The Council invites the Commission to report to it on the
results of this study within one year of the adoption of this
Resolution.

(cid:151) providing specific expertise in the field of missing

or sexually exploited children.

6. On the basis of the study, the Council will determine what
measures are desirable at European Union level and will
invite the Commission to examine:

2.3. Member States are invited to lay down suitable rules, in
accordance with their legislation on investigations and
prosecutions,
appropriate
information about the search for missing or sexually
exploited children between civil society organisations
and the competent authorities.

exchange

the

for

of

(cid:151) the standards necessary to optimise the exchange,

in
particular between Member States, of
information
communicated between the competent authorities and
society organisations and between the various
civil
organisations themselves,

That exchange of information should be effected with
every guarantee of the security of the system, the confi-
dentiality of data and the protection of personal data.

(cid:151) the

safeguards necessary for

information exchange,
exchanged and the protection of personal data.

the
the confidentiality of

security of

this
the data