INFORMATION NOTE FOR NATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS INSTITUTIONS AND OTHER NATIONAL MECHANISMS 2nd monitoring round of the Lanzarote Committee on the protection of children against sexual exploitation and sexual abuse facilitated by information and communication technologies (ICTs)

Council of Europe Convention on the Protection of Children against Sexual Exploitation and Sexual Abuse

The Council of Europe Convention on the Protection of Children against Sexual Exploitation and Sexual Abuse (hereinafter “the Lanzarote Convention” or “the Convention”), which entered into force in July 2010, requires criminalisation of sexual offences against children. It sets out that Parties to the Convention shall adopt specific legislation and take measures to prevent sexual violence, to protect child victims and to prosecute offenders. The “Lanzarote Committee” (i.e. the Committee of the Parties to the Convention) is the body established to monitor whether Parties effectively implement the Lanzarote Convention. The monitoring of the Lanzarote Convention is divided by rounds, each round concerning a theme and all Parties are monitored at the same time.

Current monitoring round

Over the past years, the Lanzarote Committee has examined challenges raised by several trends in child sexual exploitation and abuse which have emerged as a result of the rapid development and increased use of information and communication technologies (ICTs). It decided, in consequence, to focus its 2nd monitoring round on challenges to be met and promising practices to be followed to ensure the protection of children against sexual exploitation and sexual abuse facilitated by information and communication technologies (ICTs).

The questionnaire for this monitoring round adopted in June 2017 seeks information on the situation in Parties with respect more specifically the protection of children against the criminal exploitation of child self-generated sexual content (in particular sexually explicit images and videos).

Contribution of national human rights institutions and other national mechanisms to the 2^nd monitoring round

The Lanzarote Committee seeks the views of national human rights institutions and other national mechanisms on the implementation of the Lanzarote Convention in the Parties to the Convention. Therefore, national human rights institutions and other national mechanisms may submit replies to the monitoring questionnaire and – at the latest within two months from the publication of a given Party’s reply on the website of the Lanzarote Committee – also comment on Parties’ replies.

Parties to the Convention are required to reply to the questionnaire by 25 October 2017. Their replies will be published on the Lanzarote Committee’s website (www.coe.int/lanzarote) as soon as they are registered by the Secretariat. Ideally, if the Parties submit their replies on time, national human rights institutions and other national mechanisms may submit their replies/comments by the end of December, 2017 (depending on when exactly the Parties’ replies are registered).

The replies/comments by national human rights institutions and other national mechanisms may relate to all/some of the questions of the questionnaire.

Involvement of children in the drafting of the replies is strongly encouraged.

The Lanzarote Committee might request the national human rights institutions and other national mechanisms to provide additional information when it assesses all the information brought to its attention.

The replies/comments of national human rights institutions and other national mechanisms shall be submitted to the Secretariat by email ([email protected]) with a clear indication whether the information is public or confidential. Furthermore, the submission shall be in one of the official languages of the Council of Europe, namely English or French and in WORD format. There is no template for replies/comments made by national human rights institutions and other national mechanisms, the comments should clearly relate to specific replies to given questions.

For any advice or clarifications concerning the Lanzarote Convention’s 2nd monitoring round, do not hesitate to send an email to the Secretariat ([email protected]).