ABOUT CROSSING BORDERS Lessons learned and reaffirmed in the Robert M. sex-offender case. Bas Vogelvang Avans University

1. Internationally active 2. Very young children  1. Less vulnerable for detection and trial  Very young children  2. Victim’s age and abuser relationship: Family Other Victim’s age member acquaintanceStranger 0-5 (10%) 49% 48% 3% 6-11 (58%) 42% 53% 5% (32%)24% 66% 10%  Snyder, 2000  Barriers: 1) arrange availability 2) use force 3) avoid detection 4) minimize guilt

3. Offender age 4. Offender type  3. Relatively young:  4. ‘Lover’ and predator: Age % <21 3% % % % % >60 6% WODC 2004 Strong pedosexual Weak pedosexual preoccupation preoccupation Frequent child contact‘lover’, often homosexualincest Incidental / infrequent child contactpedosexual predatoropportunistic predator Knight & Prentky, 1990

5. Internet sharing 6. Out of sight  5. Not very common, increased his vulnerabilility  Linked with organized crime  6. Robert M. profited from a lack of transnational legislation and co-operation   cross-national pedosexual child abuse is only one dimension of cross-national child sexual exploitation:  Child Sex Tourism  Child Trafficking  Child Pornography  Child Cybercrime  Associated ‘demand and market related’ crime

Child sex tourism destination countries Vogelvang, Wolthuis & van den Braak 2004

Child sex tourism: offender types ECPAT 2010  Situational child sex offender  Takes the opportunities presented to him to use a minor as sex object  Preferential child sex tourist  Actively travels and seeks out minors for sexual contact  Pedosexuals as subgroup, sometimes working together  Both types of offenders create a local demand in receiving countries

Creation of a sex tourist market  sexual desires and self-created opportunities of sex-offenders  poverty and underdevelopment, lack of education, urge for survival  political and social disruption and the existence of organized crime  lack of or insufficient national and extraterritorial laws, combined with corruption and lack of enforcement  legal tourist activity (hotels, bars, transport) also profits from the sex tourist market  cultural factors, most importantly opinions about girls and females and sexuality of minors, often religiously motivated  family circumstances  family pressure  sexual offending within the family  broken families and runaway children / orphans / adoption   child trafficking   child labour

Example: Baltic states, 2000  Downfall of communism: no immediate alternative social structure  Prostitution amongst street children  Russia and Scandinavia as sending countries  Linked with organized crime and trafficking to both Western Europe and Baltic states

Child trafficking in one year  1.2 million children trafficked worldwide (UN).  Europe: 200,000 individuals trafficked annually from eastern Europe  Significant proportion being children being forced into child labour, prostitution and crime. Terre des Hommes: 6,000 children between the ages of 12 and 16, with more than 650 being forced to work as sex slaves in Italy.  Increase of abuse of adoption procedures  Internet allows for finding and abusing children outside holiday resorts  change in trafficking destinations

Child pornography and Cybercrime  Child pornography:  Production increasingly linked to child sex tourism  Consequently linked to trafficking of children to produce new pornographic material  Cybercrime:  Linked with blackmail, child pornography, child trafficking and child sex tourism  Increase of online solicitation of children for self-generated webcam child abuse material  ECPAT: Link equivalent legislation in all jurisdictions with integrated partnerships with the private sector, NGOs, education specialists and other stakeholders Example: ROBERT: Risk taking Online Behaviour Empowerment through Research and Training Internet and Online Service Providers need to install reporting mechanisms

Response is slow but steady  Pioneering work of NGOs and intergovernmental organizations, such as the United Nations  Followed by governments by increasing number of international conventions and treaties.  World Congresses Against Commercial Sexual Exploitation (Stockholm 1996, Yokohama in 2001).  Europe: Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography. Adopted  Council of Europe Convention on the Protection of Children against Sexual Exploitation and Sexual Abuse  Council of Europe Convention on Cybercrime  Declaration of the Committee of Ministers on protecting the dignity, security and privacy of children on the Internet  > 30 countries with extraterritorial laws that allow the prosecution of their nationals for crimes committed abroad, regardless of whether the offense is punishable in the country where it occurred.

Heroes  Children at Risk in Baltic Sea Region  CRIN - Child Rights Information Network  ENOC - The European Network of Ombudsmen  ISPCAN - International Society for Prevention of Child Abuse and Neglect  SEECRAN - South East European Child Rights Action Network  ECPAT - End Child Prostitution, Child Pornography and Trafficking of Children for Sexual Purposes  Save The Children  The Separated Children in Europe Programme  ICMEC - The International Centre for Missing & Exploited Children  EURONET - The European Children's Network  EveryChild

Operation Predator

Operation Rescue / Europol

Recommendations: improve …  Prevention and treatment of (repeat) victims in receiving countries  Offender treatment availability and efforts for social inclusion combined with control and supervision, e.g. Circles of Support and Accountability  National and extraterritorial laws for sex offenders  Self-regulation and participation in legislation of (inter-)national organizations:  international / global trade companies,  tourist industries and national tourism departments,  national police and justice departments  internet providers  Role of NGOs combating child sexual abuse: Help them to...  combine their efforts for collecting information and sharing it with (inter-) national organizations  launch more worldwide awareness campaigns and local support programs  Hiring protocols and integrity screening of professionals & volunteers working with children  Assessment and intervention competence of police officers and child protection workers

It is the spirit and not the form of law that keeps justice alive Earl Warren contact :