EU Parliament reviews measures to combat child sexual abuse

Brussels (The Brussels Morning Newspaper) – The EU Parliament’s Committee on Internal Affairs is evaluating how to proceed with the recommendations to combat child sexual abuse.

The Committee on Internal Affairs of the newly elected European Parliament formally discussed the adjustments and harmonization, including in criminal law, for which the member states are liable. These were formed by the EU Commission in parallel with the intended regulation to fight depictions of sexual abuse (Child Sexual Abuse Regulation – CSA Regulation).

“These two instruments complement and depend on each other,” EU Commissioner for Home Affairs Ylva Johansson presented, emphasizing the significance of the project: Europe is the main repository location for depictions of child sexual abuse.

What are the proposed penalties for child sexual abuse offences?

Above all, the restriction periods are to be significantly improved: 20 years for offences with a minimum prison sentence of three years, 25 years with a lowest sentence of five years, and 30 years from the age of bulk for offences with a minimum prison sentence of eight years. This is planned to take account of the long-term trauma mourned by victims. There are currently no special rules in many member states, while in others the rules already largely correspond to the current proposal.

The minimum penalties are generally only reached through functional perpetration; even today, possession offences are generally quite lower. The Member States should be expressly free to choose how they want to deal with images that minors voluntarily make available to each other under criminal law. An essential and less controversial provision concerns the victims of sexual abuse: in the future, the Member States will have to deliver better support, care and financial compensation to the victims.

What concerns exist about the regulation’s impact on internet providers?

The EU Commissioner for Home Affairs stated that this complementary regulation on the agenda today was not around internet service providers. However, the EU Commission‘s proposal contains, among other items, a new Article 8, with which “the intentional operation or management of an information society service prepared to commit” criminal offences in the area of the design, dissemination or initiation of reports of sexual abuse of minors is to be harmonized throughout Europe with a fine of at least one year.

With this recommendation, Johansson hopes that the Member States, which have not yet been able to decide on a common position on the CSA Regulation, will reach an understanding quickly; unlike with the CSAM Regulation, which became understood as “chat control”. 

Johansson said: “I have not presented a recommendation for mass surveillance”. She was thus protecting herself after accusations from the levels of the nationalist Sweden Democrats, who otherwise spoke out in acceptance of national regulations for the forced castration of offenders.