Cuardaigh

Child sexual exploitation and sexual abuse are among the worst forms of violence against children, and are crimes that know no borders. The constant rise of these crimes, exacerbated by the pandemic, underscores the importance of harmonised national legislation and international cooperation to improve prevention, protect the victims and prosecute the perpetrators. The European Day helps to raise awareness to this end.

Violence directed against a woman because she is a woman, or that affects women disproportionately ('gender-based violence against women') is a violation of fundamental rights, and a major obstacle to gender equality in all EU Member States. Despite increased attention, national legislation does not offer equal protection for women against all forms of gender-based violence across the EU, and there are significant gaps in the measures adopted at EU level. On 8 March 2022, the European Commission ...

End-to-end encryption (E2EE) systems bring enhanced security advantages to private communications. Yet they also pose increased difficulties to law enforcement investigations. In the case of child sexual abuse (CSA) online, these systems hide data from children who are being abused or coerced into sexual abuse, leading to a failure to pursue these crimes. Reports of online grooming increased by 82 % in 2022. While E2EE might prevail for all its advantages, it is also necessary to protect young children ...

In December 2022, the European Commission presented a proposal to review Directive 2011/36/EU to strengthen the rules on combating trafficking in human beings and to better protect victims. Despite some progress achieved in recent years, it is estimated that over 7 000 people become victims of human trafficking in the EU on an annual basis, although the figure could be much higher because many victims remain undetected. Human trafficking is not only a serious and borderless crime, but also a lucrative ...

Online child sexual abuse materials (CSAM) and grooming (manipulative practices aimed at exploiting and abusing people), now increasingly targeting younger children, have been spreading at an alarming rate. In 2022, the more than 32 million reports of suspected online child sexual abuse, represented a historical peak. Among these reports, those on grooming marked an 82 % increase. Most of the activities detected were hosted in Europe. In response to this situation, on 11 May 2022 the European Commission ...

Between 2018 and 2020, over 18 000 migrant and refugee children were reported as missing in Europe. It is feared that many may have been exploited and abused for sexual or labour purposes. The European Parliament has repeatedly stressed the need to address the disappearance of migrant children in the EU. The conflict in Ukraine and the subsequent mass displacement of people have only made the situation worse, creating fertile ground for criminal networks to take advantage of vulnerable people, especially ...

On 11 May 2022, the European Commission presented a proposal for a regulation laying down rules to prevent and combat child sexual abuse. The European Parliament's Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs (LIBE) has requested this complementary impact assessment of the proposal. Without disputing the need to protect children against child sexual abuse, this study focuses on specific aspects of the proposal, namely the problem definition, the impact of the proposal on the internet and ...

This briefing, written by the Policy Department for Citizens’ Rights and Constitutional Affairs at the request of the European Parliament's Committee on Women’s rights and Gender Equality, on the occasion of the International Women’s Day (IWD), which this year elaborates on “the gender aspects of energy poverty”. It points out the initiatives of the three European institutions - the European Parliament, the Commission and the Council - in this regard.

This study, commissioned by the European Parliament’s Policy Department for Citizens’ Rights and Constitutional Affairs at the request of the FEMM Committee, outlines and assesses the impacts of social media on women and girls, on gender equality, and on democracy and civic participation more generally. It further analyses whether social media are creating a bias in their treatment of women and men, and provides recommendations to policy makers.

On 25 January 2023, the Committees on Women's Rights and Gender Equality (FEMM) and Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs (LIBE) jointly adopted, by a substantial majority, their interim report on EU accession to the Council of Europe Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence (Istanbul Convention). The report calls for swift European Union (EU) ratification, noting that the 2021 opinion of the European Court of Justice enables EU accession even in the ...