Council of Europe

11.10.2011 - Ms Najat Maalla M’jid, United Nations Special Rapporteur on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography, addressed the fourth meeting of the network of contact parliamentarians on the 5th of October on the issues surrounding “child sex tourism”.

Among the main themes which emerged from the discussion was the need for international cooperation at all levels in order to effectively combat child sex tourism, a “comprehensive transnational legal framework”. Najat Maalla M’jid stressed the importance of involving the tourism industry in the fight against sex tourism. States must be prepared to apply their laws extra territorially in order to take action against the perpetrators of crimes against children committed elsewhere.

During the meeting, which was chaired by Ms Liliane Maury Pasquier (Switzerland, SOC), Mr Pieter Omtzigt (Netherlands, EPP/CD), contact Parliamentarian for the Netherlands, was appointed as Rapporteur for the upcoming report on child sex tourism.

The Deputy Secretary General of the Council of Europe, Ms Maud de Boer-Buquicchio provided an update on the ONE in FIVE Campaign. She reiterated that she has every hope that the Lanzarote Convention and its monitoring mechanism will meet expectations, and highlighted the importance of Member States sharing expertise and experiences with the Convention, which also contains provisions on combating child sex tourism.

* Interview of Najat Maalla M’jid
* Intervention of Najat Maalla M’jid in PACE plenary Session