MEPs work to tackle online child risk

10.44.00am GMT Tue 3rd Feb 2009

MEPs are set to endorse a report by the European Parliament's Civil Liberties Committee which calls for tougher action to combat child abuse on the internet. It calls for 'grooming' and paedophile chat rooms to be criminalised, for internet providers to block these sites, for credit card companies to put a stop to payments, and for criminal record checks for posts working with children across the EU.

Sarah Ludford MEP, Liberal Democrat European Justice and Human Rights Spokeswoman, is a member of the Civil Liberties Committee and visited Cambodia in 2008 to look at ways of tackling child sex tourism.

Commenting on the recent report she said:

"This report rightly calls for more effective European responses to protect children from pornographers and paedophiles. There are few crimes more disturbing than the abuse of children.

"While the UK already has some legislation in place, these problems are international and must be tackled with stronger cross-border cooperation. There must be urgent progress on the EU wide anti-trafficking hotline which I successfully fought for last year and on a European 'Amber Alert' scheme for missing children.

"It is not good enough that a quarter of EU Member States have failed to sign the European Convention on the protection of children against sexual exploitation and abuse, and about the same number have failed to ratify a UN measure against child prostitution and child pornography. They must stop delaying on such an important matter."