CoE Child Protection Commitee CEO Scappucci to Eurofora: Judges=Key v. Sexual Crimes Abusing Trust

*Strasbourg/CoE/Angelo Marcopolo/- In order to Face the Growing Challenge of Sexual ill-Treatments on  Children, particularly Dangerous and Odious when such Crimes are Committed even by those to whom a Child has been EnTrusted by the Society and/or its Family, etc, National Judges can and should play an Important role, by Helping to Ensure that CoE's main Legal Standards are adopted in real practice by all its Member Countries, stressed in Substance, the PanEuropean Organisation's Children Protection Committee's CEO, Gioia Scappucci, speaking to "Eurofora" at the conclusion of a Press Conference on the Publication of the 1st Report on the Implementation of the "Lanzarote" Convention against Sexual Exploitation and/or Abuse of Children, which has been already Signed by all CoE's 47 Member States and Ratified by 38 Countries, from France to Russia included, etc.

The CEO of Lanzarote Committee had refered, in fact, to a Critical Observation made earlier by its current Rotating Chairman, Bragi Gudbrandsson from Iceland, concering the need for all CoE's Member States to adopt a common Legal Definition of the Specific Crime of Child Sexual Abuse "in a Circle of Trust"  : This includes a Wide Varierty of Persons, (vis a vis whom a Child wouldn't Defend him/herself as well as in front of Total Strangers), extending, f.ex., from simple "Friends" of the Family, up to Social Workers, a Foster Family where Children mifght have been "Placed" by Public Authoritries, etc, but most CoE's Countries haven't yet adopted a crystal-clear Legislation able to Treat with All the Various Cases of "Sexual Eploitation" and/or "Abuse" of Children by such Individuals to whom it might have been entrusted, (and, therefore, f.ex., Fear to Denounce, and/or vis a vis whom he/she might not be Careful enough), as Gioia Scappucci explained.

>>> However, we (CoE) have often observed that several National Judges, in fact, understand quite well the Risk of such eventual Loopholes in the Protection of Children, and, therefore, adopt a Case Law which Fills most Gaps in relation with CoE's s"Lanzarote" Convention's Definition of the above mentioned Crimes, the competent PanEuropean Committee's CEO told "Eurofora".

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+ Moreover, Judges are obviously becoming Important also in "Data-Collection" about Recent Cases of eventual Child Abuse, considering, f.ex., what the French Constitutional Court has pointed out on the Controversial and UnPopular "Adoption" of Children by Homosexual couples, where it gave to the Judge a particularly Important Role, "in the Best Interest of the Child".  But, given also the particularly Recent and Limited yet emergence of such Controversial cases, only in a Few States where UnPopular "Same Sex Mariage" has been Lately Imposed, (against which, several Other Countries, such as, f.ex. Russia, Belarus, Kazakstan, Uganda, China, etc, have even Adopted an "Embargo" Opposed to International Adoption of Children born in them, by Foreign States where they Risk to be placed under the Power of Homosexuals on pretext of "Adoption"), Lanzarote Convention's Mechanisme doesn't seem yet to have already Started to gather Sufficient Data in such New and Uncertain yet Fields. F.ex., Scappucci told "Eurofora" that Lanzarote Committee hadn't yet been Informed at all about several MEPs' Questions, officialy raised to CoE's Committee of Ministers, about Reported cases of "Child Trafficking" and/or even Open "Pederasty Propaganda", etc., which have provoked Recently Strong Controversies in the Netherlands, (i.e. there where the UnPopular "Same Sex Mariage" had been imposed for the 1st Time in Europe, already as Early as since 2001) : -"Until now, we  haven't yet made any particular Recommendation to the Netherlands", she soberly limited herself to point out simply, in this regard.       

++ This 1st Lanzarote Convention's Implementation Report, by Adding also a Focus on "Criminal Proceedings" in the "Best Interest of the Child", and "Corporate Responsibility", etc., comes, however, quite Timely, considering also some Other Recent Big Scandals, as, f.ex., that Revealed at the UK's South Yorkshire region's Capital : Rotherham City, where a Landmark 2014 Report by Professor Alexis Jay, (Focusing mainly on the former "New Labour" controversial PM Blair's era of 1997 - 2013), revealed that "over 16 Years", at least "1.400 Children were Sexually Exploited", including "Girls as Young as 11, .. Gang-Raped" by a Mob of "Perpetrators" mainly "Muslims" of "Asian" origin, benefiting from a Scandalous Complicity inside the Local Socialist Establishment, most of whom were recently obliged to Resign or were "Suspended"  from the Labour Party by its New leader Corbyn, (as, f.ex., former Council Leader Roger Stone, Labour Councillor Shaukat Ali, and  former Deputy Council Leader Jahangir Akhtar, etc), while "Internal Reports, from a Decade ago, revealed "links between Child Sexual Exploitation and Drugs, Guns and Cruiminality", as, inter alia.,also  mainstream Brittish Newspaper "the Guardian" denounced, (See, f.ex. : http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2014/aug/26/rotherham-child-sex-exploitation-capital ). F.ex., "Children in the town were Systematically Identified by Gangs as Vulnerable, seduced with Drugs and drink, Brainwashed ... and then Used for Sex, often Raped, before sometimes being Trafficked to nearby cities to work as Prostitutes. The Brutal violence that surrounded this Depraved process was Shocking. Children who refused ...were doused in Petrol, Threatened with Guns, made to witness Brutally Violent Rapes, and told they would be next if they told anyone". "Even when they Spoke out, they were met by .../Disbelief from the Authorities : ..In one instance, a Girl of 12 was Groomed, Raped and then Trafficked. The Authorities "Blamed the Child … for placing herself at risk". In another case an 11-Year-old Girl had been sexually assaulted, then a year later found Drunk in a car with a suspected Abuser who had taken Indecent Pictures of her ...She was declared to be at "No Risk of Sexual Exploitation"...

Worst : - "Many of the Children came from Poorer backgrounds and Troubled Homes, and were (Placed by Public Authorities) in Care", (i.e. had been Forcibly Separated from their Natural Family, Father and/or Mother, as in Many such Cases at the UK, Sweden, etc, still Pending at the ECHR in Strasbourg, one of the most Moving being that of a Poor Couple which had been Separated, but later United Together in a Joint Legal Struggle to get their Children back...). "The Local Administration and Police knew about the problems, and chose Not to Prevent them", perhaps also because "the concern of being labelled a racist did mean people pulled Back from Probing too deeply". Indeed, "Despite the Horrible and Repeated Facts of serious Child Abuse Crimes, "a Cosy, Indifferent Bureaucracy – Social Workers, Councillors and Police Officers, ...could Not face up to Do something about Terrible Crimes, partly because of their prejudices about the Poor (People : 'The Suspicion is that Council Officials and Police Officers considered them part of an Under-Class"!), and partly because they were concerned about being labelled as prejudiced against Asians". Even if a "2015 Inspector's Report" found that the entire  Local Council was "Not FIt for Purpose", and Transmittedits Powers, until a "Full Election in 2016", Nevertheless, the Fact that the Scandal wasn't revealed but Only After a New Prime Minister (David Cameron) was Elected in Downing Street No 10, as well as a New Labour Leader, Jeremy Corbyn, is Not Enough to show that an Efficient Monitorintg Mechanism would exist at a National level alone. (See : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rotherham#Governance );  Because "the Scandal goes Beyond its Shocking details" and raises the Question: ...How are Poor and Vulnerable Children being Looked After ... ? ", as "The Guardian" concluded.

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Meanwhile, for the 1st Time, for a Grassroots Level, EU and CoE have recently Published Together a Joint "Practical Guide to European Law relating to Rights of the Child", during Autumn 2015 in Strasbourg, which includes also some Relevant material, while the PanEuropean Organisation's Parliamentary Assembly's Social Affairs Committee, chaired by ChristianDemocrat/EPP MEP Valeriu  Giletchi, held a Hearing on Children Trafficking and Sexual Exploitation/Abuse, well Ahead CoE's overall  New "Strategy for the Rights of the Child", due to be officially Adopted on April 2016, at a High-Level Conference to be organized in Sofia, in the context of the current Bulgarian Presidency of the CoE, (Comp. Bulgarian Foreign Minister Daniel Mitov's Statements to "Eurofora": http://www.eurofora.net/newsflashes/news/coechairbulgariamfaonmigrationcrisis.html ).