"Together against it" - Call of the Commissioner for Fundamental Rights on the occasion of the first European Day against sexual exploitation and sexual abuse of children

The Commissioner for Fundamental Rights has joined the campaign of the Council for Europe for the protection of children against sexual harassment, abuse and exploitation; and he also calls for the importance of prevention. According to Ombudsman László Székely, such concealed issues and evading responsibility advise everyone - including legislators and citizens- for having task to do in the field of protection. Actions against sexual abuse of children is the most pressing and common task in child protection.

November 18 is announced to be the first European day for the protection of children against sexual abuse. In this regard, the Commissioner for Fundamental Rights emphasizes that any forms of violence against children- including sexual harassment- cannot be justified or explained. However, the violence against children can be prevented and these assets can be the trust, information, assistance and attention. The sexual abuse and harassment of children, as other forms of violence, are existing phenomenon in every countries of the world including ours regardless culture, social class, educational attainment, income and ethnic origin. According to the European aggregates, almost in three-quarters of the cases, the child knows his offender. However, up to tenfold of the cases perpetrated by family member or an acquaintance come to light.

The scale of the problem is shown well, on the basis of the available data in Europe, roughly one in five children falls as a victim to one form of violence with the worst and most serious consequences for children. The sexual violence can take many forms in practice. It may also involve incest, human trafficking, sexual exploitation and sexual abuse, forced participation in child pornography or in child prostitution. All of these may result in a serious and often irreparable damage in the children's mental and physical health with consequences which still plague their adulthood, and keep the formerly abused children in pain and shame.

Besides prosecuting perpetrators, the prevention, support of the victims, their better protection in the judicial system, and having persons whom they can trust and to turn with confidence are even more important in this sensitive issue. The Commissioner underlines the importance of exploring the threats of the digital world, the rights awareness with dialogue between children and their parents. Combating children's sexual abuse, nurses, teachers and the child protective services are particularly important actors; however, according to the Ombudsman, everyone is part of the warning system in a broader sense. The Commissioner for Fundamental Rights examines the deficiencies of this warning system and makes recommendations for solving the identified problems to the service operators.

The Ombudsman recalls: in August of this year, Hungary has ratified the Lanzarote Convention adopted in 2007 by the Council of Europe, which convention contains several obligations. The convention aims to provide equal protection for children, and establishes common requirements and definitions for the participating European countries. The main objective is to focus on the children's main interests; the prevention of sexual abuse and exploitation; the protection of victims of sexual crimes, and the perpetrators' accountability. The Commissioner considers important to point out that the current negative trends can be changed locally in smaller communities by the consistent implementation of the existing legislation and methodological recommendations.

The Council of Europe's video in English, which was produced for the European Day on the protection of children against sexual exploitation and sexual abuse, can be found here.