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MEPs combat child pornography on the Internet

MEPs are calling for the criminalisation of all types of sexual abuse of children including "grooming" and paedophile chat rooms on the internet.

MEPs have recently voted on a report calling for the criminalisation of internet providers of paedophile chat rooms and forums and to require national authorities to block access to or delete the domain names of the websites concerned. The report also calls for credit card companies to cooperate to block the internet-based payment systems for websites involved in child pornography.

West Midlands Labour MEP Neena Gill, said: "Our children deserve our best efforts to keep them safe from the criminals who are prepared to abuse them. We need an increased level of protection of children throughout Europe in view of the development of new technology, in particular the internet."

The report also calls for EU citizens who commit a sex crime outside the EU to be subject to standard extraterritorial legislation. Applicants for certain posts working with children should also undergo a criminal records check and those whose work involves regular contact with children should have an obligation to report situations where abuse is suspected.