Child rights group slams Sweden on sex crimes
The Swedish government and responsible authorities ‘ignore’ child sex tourism offences, according to child rights organisation Ecpat.
The group furthermore slammed the Swedish police for not having investigated more than 100,000 images depicting sexual abuse against children.
In a letter to the UN signed by Ecpat and 30 other child rights organizations, they maintain that Sweden fails to take the appropriate measures in the fight against child trafficking.
Child sex tourists travel freely abroad exploiting local children due to the Swedish government’s inability to charge offenders, according to Ecpat.
They want the government to prioritise the sex trade with children and give the police more resources to fight these crimes.
“Enormous amounts of child porn are confiscated but only a very small share of the victims are ever identified. Each image must be scrutinised,“ Helena Karlén of Ecpat told news agency TT.
Over the years Ecpat has turned to several Swedish ministers for backing in this question but not much has been achieved.
“Child pornography crimes are not prioritised. Most of the victims are not Swedish children and that explains in part why not so much has been done about it,” Karlén told TT.
Sweden's minister for justice, Beatrice Ask, repudiates the accusations from Ecpat.
"It is not true that Swedish police and Swedish authorities are not actively working on this problem," she told TT.
She thinks that the child organizations seem misinformed as to what Sweden is doing to combat sex tourism.
At the police they say that Ecpat and the other groups are basing their figures on a report from 2008 and that they have come a long way since then.
"We take this very seriously and are rather good at combatting child porn crimes," Björn Sällström of the National Police child porn unit told TT.
Sweden will be reporting their efforts on combatting child pornography and child trafficking to the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child for the first time this year.
Comments
See Also
The group furthermore slammed the Swedish police for not having investigated more than 100,000 images depicting sexual abuse against children.
In a letter to the UN signed by Ecpat and 30 other child rights organizations, they maintain that Sweden fails to take the appropriate measures in the fight against child trafficking.
Child sex tourists travel freely abroad exploiting local children due to the Swedish government’s inability to charge offenders, according to Ecpat.
They want the government to prioritise the sex trade with children and give the police more resources to fight these crimes.
“Enormous amounts of child porn are confiscated but only a very small share of the victims are ever identified. Each image must be scrutinised,“ Helena Karlén of Ecpat told news agency TT.
Over the years Ecpat has turned to several Swedish ministers for backing in this question but not much has been achieved.
“Child pornography crimes are not prioritised. Most of the victims are not Swedish children and that explains in part why not so much has been done about it,” Karlén told TT.
Sweden's minister for justice, Beatrice Ask, repudiates the accusations from Ecpat.
"It is not true that Swedish police and Swedish authorities are not actively working on this problem," she told TT.
She thinks that the child organizations seem misinformed as to what Sweden is doing to combat sex tourism.
At the police they say that Ecpat and the other groups are basing their figures on a report from 2008 and that they have come a long way since then.
"We take this very seriously and are rather good at combatting child porn crimes," Björn Sällström of the National Police child porn unit told TT.
Sweden will be reporting their efforts on combatting child pornography and child trafficking to the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child for the first time this year.
Join the conversation in our comments section below. Share your own views and experience and if you have a question or suggestion for our journalists then email us at [email protected].
Please keep comments civil, constructive and on topic – and make sure to read our terms of use before getting involved.
Please log in here to leave a comment.