Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2000-04-10-Speech-1-051"
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"en.20000410.3.1-051"2
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"Madam President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, the need has grown over the last ten years for a policy for children, based on the 1989 United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, which has been ratified by all Member States. The attention that has been paid to this issue has increased considerably in all Member States. Nevertheless, at European Union level, even though children represent around one fifth of the Union’s population, specific attention is very rarely paid to their needs in economic policies and in other areas.
Thousands of children all over the world suffer serious and systematic violations of their fundamental rights, from domestic cruelty, which goes undetected and unpunished, and the economic exploitation of their labour, which robs them of their childhood and education, to their use in war; from being forced to play the horrific role of child-soldier to their use in prostitution or pornography.
According to the estimates of the Economic and Social Committee, there are more than five million children working in Europe. Most of these children work in areas such as pornography, drug trafficking, child pornography and sexual tourism. These children are in particular need of society’s protection.
The evolution of the Internet, its incredibly rapid development and its importance today raise the question of its use for these reprehensible purposes. In the last part-session, here in Strasbourg, we discussed what needs to be done about the Internet. The European Union’s desire is to make more rapid progress in terms of e-commerce and to make a firmer commitment to the new technologies and to education.
Today we have been discussing what we need to prevent and combat, and that is the circulation and distribution of child pornography, which has been increasing at an alarming rate. And although it may be true that we have to encourage web-site administrators and service providers to define their standards of conduct and to regulate themselves, and encourage Internet users to inform the authorities whenever they discover child pornography, it is nevertheless true that Union and national law bear some responsibility.
Mr Kirkhope’s excellent report makes it very clear how much we still have to do and where we need to improve, in terms of establishing specialist units, strengthening cooperation and exchanges between States, in terms of Europol’s activities and the efficiency of Member States’ actions, including, where necessary, the revision of their own legislation and the procedures in force in these areas so that we can guarantee the effective imposition of criminal sanctions.
As far as the responsibility of the Union itself is concerned, I am delighted at the fact that the Charter of Fundamental Rights that is being drawn up considers the specific rights of children, and takes account of the areas in which the Union can provide considerable impetus, specifically in these matters."@en1
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