The celebration of the European Day for the Protection of Children against Sexual Exploitation and Sexual Abuse, every year on 18 November, is a good tool to draw public attention to a crime that is not apparent, that is not always reported, which does not always lead to a conviction and which nevertheless represents considerable suffering for the child concerned. The Lanzarote Committee, which I have the honor of chairing, helps to encourage the Parties to the Council of Europe Convention on the protection of children against sexual exploitation and sexual abuse (“Lanzarote Convention”) to prevent this crime, to prosecute the offenders and to protect the victims by regularly reviewing the initiatives taken in this area and by sharing good practices.

Recent technologies such as the internet and social media can be a means to raise awareness and protect children but can also be a channel through which these crimes are facilitated. This explains why the Lanzarote Committee decided to focus its 2nd monitoring round - launched in June 2017 – on an in-depth analysis of specific problems raised by the sexual exploitation and sexual abuse of children facilitated by information and communication technologies (ICTs) and to identify avenues for improving the situation. This round aims more specifically at focusing on the rising phenomenon of sharing child self-produced sexually explicit images and / or videos whose dangers children are not aware.

The situation of children affected by the refugee crisis, which has been the subject of an urgent monitoring round, remains worrying. In particular, unaccompanied children constitute a particularly vulnerable population. All our efforts must be deployed to protect these children from falling victims to sexual exploitation and sexual abuse during their dangerous journey.

Let us unite our efforts to fight at all levels against this form of crime that produces lasting psychological consequences for child victims.