... COMMITTEE OF THE PARTIES. Council of Europe Convention on the protection of children against sexual exploitation and sexual abuse (T-ES) Report

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1 COMMITTEE OF THE PARTIES Council of Europe Convention on the protection of children against sexual exploitation and sexual abuse (T-ES)... Report 3 rd meeting Strasbourg, October 2012 Prepared by the Children s Rights Division Justice and Human Dignity Directorate

2 1. The Committee of the Parties (hereinafter referred to as the Lanzarote Committee or the Committee ) to the Council of Europe Convention on the protection of children against sexual exploitation and sexual abuse (hereinafter referred to as the Lanzarote Convention or the Convention ) held its 3 rd meeting in Strasbourg on October The agenda of the meeting, as adopted, appears in Appendix I. 2. The Lanzarote Committee decided to postpone the election of its Bureau to the March 2013 meeting so that this election would coincide with the one of the Chairperson. It is recalled that, according to the Committee s Rules of Procedure adopted in March 2012, the Chairperson s terms of office are of one year, renewable once (Rule 3, para. 4). Opening of the meeting and up-date on ratification of the Lanzarote Convention 3. The representative of France, Chairperson of the Committee, opened the meeting. He particularly welcomed the four new members of the Committee, i.e. Iceland, Portugal the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia and Ukraine. He also welcomed the signature of the Lanzarote Convention by Andorra and the Russian Federation. 4. The Committee then took note of the recent deposit of the instrument of ratification of the Lanzarote Convention by Iceland, the forthcoming deposit of such instrument by Italy and progress in the ratification process by Belgium, Lithuania and Slovenia. 5. Any new signature/ratification of the Lanzarote Convention is regularly published on the Lanzarote Convention website ( CAPACITY BUILDING AND AWARENESS-RAISING Study visit to the Barnahus, Reykjavik, 31 May-1 June The Icelandic representative reported to the Committee that the study visit had been very successful and that, where requested, another such visit could be organised. The agenda of the study visit as well as the PowerPoint presentations made during the visit are available at: 7. It is recalled that the study visit was attended by 12 State representatives. They shared with the Committee their very positive experience, highlighting in particular the opportunity to learn, on the spot and with those involved, about a concrete example of a child-friendly institution. They recommended that similar activities be organised in the future. A summary of their replies to a feedback questionnaire sent by the Secretariat following the visit appears in Appendix II. 8. The representatives of Finland, Lithuania and the Netherlands, pointed out that following the visit it was easier to move forward specific aspects of national dossiers concerning similar structures or working methods. The representative of Denmark pointed out that children s houses were being established in his country. It was also recalled that such houses exist in Sweden and Norway. 9. The Committee decided to keep an exchange of views on the Barnahus model on its agenda so as to further reflect on how to make this good practice better known and further implemented. Conference on the role of international cooperation in tackling sexual violence against children, Rome, November The Italian representative invited the Lanzarote Committee to the capacity building Conference on the role of international cooperation in tackling sexual violence against children to be held in Rome on November He underlined that the aim 2

3 of the Conference was that of learning and sharing good practices in the field of international cooperation to tackle sexual violence against children. The Secretariat thus encouraged all representatives in the Lanzarote Committee to select some examples of good practice in the implementation of Article 38 of the Lanzarote Convention with a view to present them at the Conference in Rome. 11. The agenda, as well as all relevant material, of the Conference are available at: Keep me Safe 12. The Head of the Programme Building a Europe for and with Children, Ms Regína JENSDÓTTIR informed the Lanzarote Committee that on the occasion of Universal Children s Day, the Council of Europe launched a television and web documentary Keep me safe. This documentary illustrates good practices taking place in different member states through prevention, education and protection of victims, and through promoting child-friendly justice. It may be seen at: Council of Europe ONE in FIVE Campaign to stop sexual violence against children 13. Ms Regína JENSDÓTTIR also briefly up-dated the Lanzarote Committee on progress with the ONE in FIVE Campaign, the latest developments of which are available at: Ms Joanne HUNTING, Co-Secretary to the Current Affairs Committee of the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe informed the Lanzarote Committee that the Congress had recently launched a Pact of Towns and Regions to Stop Sexual Violence against Children to mobilise municipal and regional authorities for the ONE in FIVE Campaign. The Pact is a list of policies and initiatives, divided into 4 categories - prevention, protection, prosecution and participation, which may be implemented at local and regional level. More information on it is available at: Mr Valeriu GHILETCHI, 1 st Vice-Chairperson of the Committee on Social Affairs, Health and Sustainable Development and Rapporteur on fighting "child sex tourism" for the Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly, reaffirmed PACE s support to the ONE in FIVE Campaign. He drew attention on the three meetings of the Network of Contact Parliamentarians, which were held since the Lanzarote Committee s last meeting as well as on the up-coming ones. He particularly emphasised the meeting held in Moscow to discuss the same topic as the Lanzarote Committee s first monitoring round theme, i.e. sexual abuse in the circle of trust. More information on all topics examined during the Network meetings is available at: MONITORING 16. The Lanzarote Committee held a first reading of the two draft questionnaires (the one for a general overview of the implementation of the Convention and the one on the implementation of the Convention with respect to the theme sexual abuse in the circle of trust ) prepared respectively by Professors Ms Ksenija TURKOVIC and Mr Robert SPANO. Draft questionnaire to take stock of the situation in State Parties (document T-ES(2012)007) 17. Ms Turkovic presented the draft questionnaire and promised that more details concerning each suggested question (e.g. the provision of the Convention each question was related to) were included in her PowerPoint presentation, which would be made available to 3

4 the Committee. 1 She explained that the questions included in the draft were meant to generally address all the chapters of the Convention. She also highlighted that she inserted a couple of tables requesting statistics, which could serve as a model for other requests for data. She clarified that she had not developed the content of such tables as she preferred verifying first whether the Committee was in favour of requesting detailed statistics. 18. The Lanzarote Committee thanked Ms. Turkovic for her work, emphasizing however that it was of the view that the questionnaire was too detailed. It was recalled that the aim of this questionnaire was to gather a general overview of the situation in States with respect to the Lanzarote Convention. The assessment of a more specific situation should in fact be based on States replies to the thematic questionnaires since the Committee had opted for a thematic monitoring. 2 Most interventions also underlined that the questions should refer to the provisions of the Convention they were related to and make use, as much as possible, of Convention wording. 19. As to the issue of requesting statistics, it was discussed at length and the majority agreed that the general questionnaire should merely request whether relevant statistical data are collected. The request for specific data should instead be included in the thematic questionnaires. It was however underlined that States wishing to include any relevant statistics when replying to the general questionnaire should be allowed to do so in an Appendix to their replies. Draft questionnaire for the first thematic monitoring round on Sexual abuse of children in the circle of trust (documents T-ES(2012)005 and 006) 20. Mr Spano explained from the outset that not having seen the draft general questionnaire while preparing the thematic one, he included in the thematic questionnaire a series of questions aimed at gathering the relevant general background information needed to understand the framework of the specific questions. He pointed out that depending on what the Lanzarote Committee would decide was the right balance to strike as to the degree of information to be asked in the two different questionnaires, some of the draft questions in the thematic questionnaire could be deleted. 21. The Lanzarote Committee thanked Mr Spano for his work and agreed that a balance between the two questionnaires had yet to be found. The majority was of the view that questions of a more general nature in the thematic draft should be included in the general overview questionnaire. While going through each draft question, representatives in the Committee indicated which questions in particular should be transferred to the other questionnaire, underlining that where a similar question had already been included in the other draft, the wording suggested by Mr Spano should be preferred to the one used by Ms Turkovic as it followed more closely the one of the Convention. 22. The Committee decided to ask the Secretariat to put forward suggestions on how to better articulate the two sets of questions with a view to adopting the questionnaires at its next meeting. 23. The Secretariat agreed to prepare a revised version of the two draft questionnaires based on the specific suggestions discussed during the meeting. Moreover, 15 November 2012 was set as a deadline for members, participants and observers to send the Secretariat (lanzarote.committee@coe.int) amendments (not already discussed during the meeting) to the draft questions in view of clarifying their exact scope. 24. The revised draft questionnaires will be submitted to the Lanzarote Committee in due time before its next meeting. 1 Such PowerPoint presentation has been included in document T-ES(2012)009 and is available at: 2 See Rule 24of the Lanzarote Committee s Rules of Procedure. 4

5 Dates of the next meeting 25. The Committee took note that its next meeting would be March

6 Appendix I AGENDA 1. Opening of the meeting and up-date on the state of ratifications 2. Adoption of the agenda 3. Capacity building activities: de-briefing on the study visit to the Barnahus (Iceland, 31 May-1 June 2012); information on the activity in Rome on November Draft questionnaire to enable the Lanzarote Committee to take stock of the situation in State Parties: presentation by Ms K. Turkovic, independent expert having prepared the draft questionnaire; In-depth discussion on the draft questionnaire in view of its adoption. 5. Draft questionnaire for the first thematic monitoring round on Sexual abuse of children in the circle of trust : presentation by Mr R. Spano, independent expert having prepared the draft questionnaire; in-depth discussion on the draft questionnaire in view of its adoption. 6. Up-date on the Council of Europe ONE in FIVE campaign 7. Date and place of the next meeting 6

7 Appendix II BARNAHUS STUDY VISIT Summary of participants replies to the feedback questionnaire This short summary brings together the participants replies to the questionnaire sent to them after the study visit in Iceland. It contains some of the most important elements of their impressions. The general impression of the study visit was very positive among all participants. All of them underscored the importance of exchanging information, views and experiences. The importance of exploring a concrete, existing example of a child-friendly institution was also mentioned by all participants. This direct access to a best practice was extremely interesting, and served as a true capacity-building experience. Several participants were impressed by the cooperation between professionals from different fields dealing with children. The most telling example of this was the fact that the same childfriendly methods were used by the whole chain of actors involved in the process, i.e. police officers, doctors, psychologists, prosecutors and judges, who had all received special training. The setting up of a child-friendly context in all aspects concerning the child was also a factor of great importance. Several participants particularly pointed out the special interviewing/interrogation techniques used to talk to and hear children. The fact that the surroundings in which such hearings/interviews, and even legal proceedings, take place can also be child-friendly (e.g. a living room -looking interior instead of a court room) was noticed with interest. The participants felt that good examples like the Icelandic Barnahus could be transformed into systematic approaches to child-friendly institutions in Europe. A lot of will and determination is needed for this to happen, but the general impression was one of optimism. The Icelandic example shows that it is possible to replace existing systems with one that focuses on the needs of children. Moreover, this can be achieved without compromising other fundamental rights, such as the right to fair trial. Some of the limits identified to achieving a child-friendly system in the participants home countries were the diversity of procedures used by local health care, social, and justice sectors, the lack of coordination between actors, as well as the current economic crisis. With regard to the organisation of the study visit, the participants were satisfied and felt that the balance between presentations, discussions, and interaction with the other participants was good. The participants felt that other representatives could also benefit from similar study visits, and that theoretical presentations cannot replace the benefits coming out of a practical experience like this. 7

8 Appendix III LIST OF PARTICIPANTS STATE PARTIES / ETATS PARTIES 3 ALBANIA / ALBANIE Ms Miranda PASHAJ Director of the National Agency for the Protection of Children Rights Apologised/Excusé Ms Elisa DIZDARI Expert at the National Agency for the Protection of Children Rights AUSTRIA / AUTRICHE Ms Martina KLEIN Judge and Legal Advisor, Federal Ministry of Justice, Directorate General for Criminal Law BULGARIA / BULGARIE CROATIA / CROATIE Ms Sanja NOLA Assistant Minister Directorate of Ciminal Law and Probation - Ministry of Justice DENMARK / DANEMARK Mr. Ketilbjørn HERTZ Position: Legal Adviser, Deputy Head of the Criminal Law Division, Ministry of Justice FINLAND / FINLANDE Mr Jaakko HALTTUNEN Councellor, Legal Service, Unit for Human Rights Courts and Conventions, Ministry for Foreign Affairs FRANCE M Eric RUELLE Magistrat, Premier vice-président, Tribunal de grande instance de Meaux Chair / président GREECE / GRÈCE Mr George NIKOLAIDIS Director, Department of Mental Health and Social Welfare, Centre for the Study and prevention of Child Abuse and Neglect LUXEMBOURG M Claude JANIZZI Conseiller de direction première classe, Ministère de la Famille et de l'intégration MALTA / MALTE Dr Lorna BUTTIGIEG Ministry of Education, Employment and the Family MOLDOVA Ms. Tatiana ŢURCAN Expert in International Cooperation and European Integration Division Ministry of Interior 3 States for which the Convention was in force at the date of the meeting. 8

9 MONTENEGRO Ms Svetlana SOVILJ Senior adviser for children protection, Ministry of Labour and Social Welfare NETHERLANDS / PAYS-BAS Mr Erik PLANKEN Policy Advisor, Law Enforcement Department, Ministry of Security and Justice Mr Jonathan CHOUDHURY Policy Advisor, Law Enforcement Department, Ministry of Security and Justice ROMANIA / ROUMANIE Ms Alina ION Legal Adviser at the Department for Drafting Legislation, Ministry of Justice SAN MARINO / SAINT-MARIN Ms. Silvia MICHELONI Lawyer SERBIA / SERBIE Mr. Stevan POPOVIC Independent adviser, Ministry of Labor and Social Protection SPAIN / ESPAGNE Mme Almudena DARIAS DE LAS HERAS Sous-directrice générale adjointe aux affaires de justice auprès de l UE et des OOII, Ministère de la Justice Mr Alberto COBO REUTERS Prosecutor -Adviser to Director General for International Legal Cooperation THE FORMER YUGOSLAV REPUBLIC OF MACEDONIA / L EX-REPUBLIQUE YOUGOSLAVE DE MACEDOINE TURKEY / TURQUIE Ms Selnur CAKMAK Judge - Ministry of Justice International Law and External Relations General Directorate OTHER MEMBER STATES OF THE COUNCIL OF EUROPE / AUTRES ETATS MEMBRES DU CONSEIL DE L EUROPE ANDORRA / ANDORRE Mme Caterina ALEIX LARTIGUE Ministère de la Santé et du bien être social ARMENIA / ARMÉNIE AZERBAIJAN / AZERBAÏDJAN Ms Jeyran RAHMATULLAYEVA Assistant to the Chairperson of the State Committee on Family, Women and Children Affairs BELGIUM / BELGIQUE Ms Vicky DE SOUTER Attaché Juriste, Direction générale de la Législation et des Droits et Libertés Fondamentales BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA / BOSNIE-HERZEGOVINE 9

10 CYPRUS / CHYPRE CZECH REPUBLIC / RÉPUBLIQUE TCHÈQUE ESTONIA / ESTONIE GEORGIA / GÉORGIE GERMANY / ALLEMAGNE Mr Silvio MEILE Legal advisor, Federal Ministry of Justice HUNGARY / HONGRIE ICELAND / ISLANDE Mr Bragi GUDBRANDSSON General Director, Government Agency for Child Protection IRELAND / IRLANDE ITALY / ITALIE Ms Patrizia DE ROSE Head of the Department for Equal Opportunities Presidency of the Council of Ministers Mr Michele PALMA Director General of the International Affairs and Social Intervention office Department for Equal Opportunities Presidency of the Council of Ministers LATVIA / LETTONIE LIECHTENSTEIN LITHUANIA / LITUANIE Ms Asta SIDLAUSKIENE Senior Specialist, Ministry of Social Security and Labour, MONACO M. Gabriel REVEL Adjoint au Représentant permanent de Monaco NORWAY / NORVÈGE POLAND / POLOGNE Mrs. Alicja KLAMCZYŃSKA, Chief specialist in the Criminal Law Department in the Ministry of Justice. PORTUGAL RUSSIAN FEDERATION / FÉDÉRATION DE RUSSIE 10

11 Mr Alexey MURATOV Deputy to the Permanent Representative of the Russian Federation to the Council of Europe SLOVAK REPUBLIC / REPUBLIQUE SLOVAQUE SLOVENIA / SLOVÉNIE Mrs. Jadranka VOUK- ŽELEZNIK Counsellor, -Ministry of labour, family and social affairs SWEDEN / SUÈDE Maria HÖLCKE Deputy Director, Ministry of Justice SWITZERLAND / SUISSE Mme Anita MARFURT Juriste, Département fédéral de justice et police, Office fédéral de la justice, Unité Droit pénal international, Mr Olivier FELIX Trainee at the Permanent Representation to the Council of Europe UKRAINE UNITED KINGDOM / ROYAUME-UNI * * * * OBSERVERS WITH THE COUNCIL OF EUROPE / OBSERVATEURS AUPRES DU CONSEIL DE L EUROPE HOLY SEE / SAINT-SIÈGE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA / ÉTATS-UNIS D'AMÉRIQUE CANADA JAPAN / JAPON MEXICO / MEXIQUE Ms Andrea BARBOSA Mission Permanente du Mexique auprès du Conseil de l Europe EUROPEAN UNION / UNION EUROPÉENNE Mr César ALONSO IRIARTE Fight against sexual exploitation of children / Unit A.2: Fight against organised crime European Commission Apologised/Excusé * * * * * 11

12 INTERNATIONAL AND NON-GOVERNMENTAL ORGANISATIONS / ORGANISATIONS INTERNATIONALES ET NON-GOUVERNEMENTALES UNICEF Ms Martha SANTOS Programme Manager, CEE/CIS Regional Office, United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), Geneva UNHCR Mr Samuel BOUTRUCHE Legal Associate - UNHCR Representation to the European Institutions in Strasbourg ECPAT INTERNATIONAL Mr Theo NOTEN ECPAT Netherlands Apologised/Excusé Apologised/Excusé Katlijn DECLERCQ ECPAT Belgium and Western Europe representative NGO Coalition Brussels (ECPAT, Missing Children Europe, NSPCC, Save the Children) TERRE DES HOMMES INTERNATIONAL FEDERATION Ms Eylah KADJAR-HAMOUDA Head of International Secretariat SAVE THE CHILDREN ALLIANCE / ALLIANCE INTERNATIONALE SAVE THE CHILDREN Mr Kuno SORENSEN Apologised/Excusé Representant of Save the Children enacso (European NGO Alliance for Child Safety Online) Mr Kuno SORENSEN Psychologist Apologised/Excusé * * * * * COUNCIL OF EUROPE BODIES / ORGANISMES DU CONSEIL DE L EUROPE COUNCIL OF EUROPE S COMMITTEE OF MINISTERS / COMITE DES MINISTRES DU CONSEIL DE L EUROPE Ambassador Anica DJAMIC Permanent Representative of Croatia to the Council of Europe, Thematic Co-ordinator on Children PARLIAMENTARY ASSEMBLY OF THE COUNCIL OF EUROPE / ASSEMBLÉE PARLEMENTAIRE DU CONSEIL DE L'EUROPE Ms Marlene RUPPRECHT General Rapporteur on Children for the PACE Mr Valeriu GHILETCHI 1st Vice-Chairperson of the Committee on Social Affairs, Health and Sustainable Development, Rapporteur on fighting "child sex tourism". CONGRESS OF LOCAL AND REGIONAL AUTHORITIES OF THE COUNCIL OF EUROPE / CONGRÈS DES POUVOIRS LOCAUX ET RÉGIONAUX DU CONSEIL DE L'EUROPE Ms Dušica DAVIDOVIĆ Member of the Current Affairs Committee of the Congress 12

13 OFFICE OF THE COMMISSIONER FOR HUMAN RIGHTS / BUREAU DU COMMISSAIRE AUX DROITS DE L HOMME Ms Françoise KEMPF Adviser GOVERNMENTAL COMMITTEE OF THE EUROPEAN SOCIAL CHARTER / COMITE GOUVERNEMENTAL DE LA CHARTE SOCIALE EUROPEENNE (T-SG) STEERING COMMITTEE FOR HUMAN RIGHTS / COMITÉ DIRECTEUR POUR LES DROITS DE L'HOMME (CDDH) EUROPEAN COMMITTEE ON CRIME PROBLEMS (CDPC) / COMITE EUROPEEN POUR LES PROBLEMES CRIMINELS (CDPC) EUROPEAN COMMITTEE ON LEGAL COOPERATION / COMITÉ EUROPÉEN DE COOPÉRATION JURIDIQUE (CDCJ) Mr Werner SCHÜTZ Former Deputy Director General - Ministry of Justice Germany Apologised / Excusé THE CONFERENCE OF INGOS OF THE COUNCIL OF EUROPE / LA CONFÉRENCE DES OINGS DU CONSEIL DE L EUROPE Ms Anna RURKA Présidente d'eurocef (Comité européen d'action spécialisée pour l'enfant et la famille dans leur milieu de vie) INDEPENDENT EXPERTS / EXPERTS INDEPENDANTS Mr Robert SPANO Professor and Dean, Faculty of Law, University of Iceland Ms Ksenija TURKOVIC Professor of Criminal Law, Faculty of Law, University of Zagreb * * * * * SECRETARIAT OF THE COUNCIL OF EUROPE / SECRETARIAT DU CONSEIL DE L EUROPE Parliamentary Assembly / Assemblée parlementaire Ms Jannick DEVAUX Chargée de Projet/Project Manager Réseau contre la violence sexuelle à l'égard des enfants/network to stop sexual violence against children Congress of Local and Regional Authorities / Congrès des pouvoirs locaux et régionaux Ms Joanne HUNTING Co-Secretary of the Current Affairs Committee Directorate General of Democratic Governance, Culture and Diversity / Direction de la gouvernance démocratique, de la culture et de la diversité Mr Niall SHEERIN Secretariat of the European Committee on Local and Regional Democracy (CDLR) Democracy, Institution-Building and Governance Department 13

14 Mr Thorsten AFFLERBACH Head of the Social Cohesion and Integration Division and Secretary of the Steering Committee on Social Cohesion (CDCS) Ms Anna TRIGONA Youth Department Apologised / Excusé Apologised / Excusée Directorate General of Human Rights and Rule of Law / Direction Générale des droits de l Homme et de l Etat de droit Ms Regina JENSDOTTIR Ms Gioia SCAPPUCCI Ms Susanna GREIJER Ms Michelle BRONNER Head of the Children s Rights Division and Executive Secretary of the Lanzarote Committee Secretary to the Lanzarote Committee Trainee, Children s Rights Division Assistant, Children s Rights Division Interpreters / Interprètes Mr TYCZKA Chistopher Mr JUNGLING Didier Ms TRAPP Christine 14