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Dear Chairpersons,
Dear Parliamentarians,
Dear Ambassador of Montenegro, Chair of GR-SOC,

I have always emphasised the role of your Network in keeping the fight against sexual violence against children high on the political agenda of the Council of Europe.

Your commitment to the “One in Five” Campaign has had a real impact on ensuring the ratification of the Lanzarote Convention and the implementation of legal reforms and concrete measures in our member States.  

I am pleased to inform you that, since your last meeting in June, the Committee of Ministers has taken the formal decision to prolong the Campaign for another year. This is a direct result of the Recommendation of the Parliamentary Assembly on “Combating sexual violence against children: towards a successful conclusion of the One in Five Campaign”, which called for the extension of the Campaign until the end of 2015. I join the Chairpersons’ plea for a permanent action by the Council of Europe to combat sexual violence against children.

This is a good illustration of how the two main bodies of the Council of Europe can work efficiently together on issues of common concern.

The Lanzarote Convention also continues to gather support, and it has just entered a very exclusive club. With the Czech Republic’s signature, the Convention has now been signed by all 47 member States of the Council of Europe!

Over the summer, the Convention was also ratified by Latvia and Georgia, and Monaco will ratify next week. This brings the number of State Parties to 34, and I expect more member States to ratify still this year.

Ladies and gentlemen,

The topic of your hearing today is the disturbing over-sexualisation of children that we are witnessing throughout our European societies.

Whilst sexuality and sexual education is fundamental to helping children build healthy emotional relationships with their peers and adults, “over sexualisation” of children in society may have a negative impact on their emotional health and beyond.

Over-sexualisation of children is present in every sphere of public life - through TV series and commercial spots, on advertising billboards on the streets, in public transport or elsewhere. Images displaying gender or sexual violence have become the “normality” – both on-line and off-line.

The Council of Europe Mid-term Strategy Conference “Growing with Children’s Rights” (Dubrovnik, March 2014), drew attention to over-sexualisation and the challenges it raises.

Article 6 of the Lanzarote Convention requires states Parties to take the necessary measures to educate and inform children on the risks of sexual violence, as well as on the means to protect themselves. The Lanzarote Committee is therefore also dealing with this matter.

At its last meeting, the Committee expressed concern over the fact that over-sexualised society gives children the impression that it is acceptable to exchange or circulate sexual images of themselves via instant messaging or social media.  Children often ignore that these images may very easily end up on the web, out of control, and even risk being exploited to commit sexual criminal offences against them.

The Lanzarote Committee also discussed the difficulties and challenges raised by the increasing phenomenon of online solicitation of children for sexual purposes online. The complications created by the over-sexualisation of children, in particular the easier access to and exchange of pornographic images of children were addressed and the Committee will be adopting an opinion on these issues at a forthcoming meeting.

Within the context of the “One in Five” Campaign, the Pestalozzi Programme of the Council of Europe, has started to address the issue of over-sexualisation of children by organising specialised training courses for professionals on sexual education. The aim is to encourage sustainable change for a positive impact on the well-being of children and young people.

Dear friends,

Over-sexualisation of children in society may have long lasting and harmful consequences not only for children’s emotional health but also for their human dignity and physical integrity. We need to do our best to raise awareness on these risks.

I hope that the issue of over-sexualisation will be part of the next Council of Europe Strategy for the Rights of the Child. Together with your Network and the Assembly, we will be able to promote a strong co-ordinated response by national authorities.

I wish to congratulate you for having devoted your meeting to this important issue.  I am confident that it will bring inspiration and motivation for our common fight to protect children from all types of sexual violence!

Thank you for your attention.