During a discussion of this issue at PACE one expressed an idea that students’ photos and personal data on the social networks are invitations to pedophiles.
“A colleague from the Moldovan delegation asked me last night what the issues were on today’s agenda, and my short answer was, pornography. He thought that it was a bad political joke. Unfortunately, it was not”, told one of the PACE delegates in his speech.
On October 5 before discussing the functioning of democratic institutions in Armenia, PACE discussed more enthusiastically two reports, one of which was about the necessity of the internationally coordinated actions against child pornography and the other one was called, “Violent and extreme pornography”. The first report suggested that by using the term “child abuse images” instead of “child pornography”, it would be possible to convey the idea that such images were the direct result of crimes. It was also suggested that the viewing of child abuse images should be made a crime in all countries. By the way, during a discussion data were made public, according to which around 40% of images came from the USA, 40% from Europe and 20% from the rest of the world. “Those figures made it clear that the most civilized countries had the biggest problems”, stated a rapporteur on this issue.
Mendes Bota, the Chairperson of the PACE Committee on Equal Opportunities for Women and Men, pointed out two imperatives concerning pornography, “One is freedom of expression. Those who support a liberal approach to pornography claim that adults are free to choose the kind of entertainment that they prefer.” According to him, on the other hand, there is a need to protect some members of our society for whom pornography can be harmful, “Children first, but also in our opinion women. What we are talking about today, however, is not pornography in general but a different form of pornographic images which are of a violent or grossly disgusting nature.” He went on clarifying that for years, the threshold of tolerance has shifted much further, “But when it comes to images of violence, torture and mutilation, to pictures of women being humiliated and degraded, or scenes of bestiality and necrophilia, can we really tolerate them? Should we not think of the impact that all this can have on the viewer and on the social environment at large?” Mendes Bota stated that violent and extreme pornography is not only harmful; it is inherently dangerous, since there is a possibility that violence may gradually become normal. During a discussion Najat Maalla M’jid, the UN Special Rapporteur on the Sale of Children, Child Prostitution and Child Pornography, made a statement that financial companies should be required to block the accounts of companies and individuals suspected of involvement in child pornography.
During a discussion the German delegates were particularly active, one of which, Mrs. Rupprecht who spoke on behalf of the Socialist Group urged the EU member states to reconsider their legislations, e.g. including the law surrounding the use of credit cards to purchase child pornography over the Internet, “Germany had already taken steps in that direction.”
A Romanian delegate referred to results of a survey, according to which 86% of students had stated that they had at least one social network account, “Their personal data and photos are invitations to pedophiles.” And a Greek delegate thought necessary to immediately ban relevant websites and to add filters, “We need to create and maintain undercover websites in order to track offenders.”
It is mentioned in the resolution adopted that the Council of Europe member states should take measures to block websites that include illegal content and may encourage interest to violent and perverted sexual acts. In his final speech Mendes Bota stated, “To people who claim that this is freedom of expression, we must say, no, this is an abuse of freedom of expression.”