*Former US president Jimmy Carter has called on Ireland to take a lead in introducing legislation to target the buyers of sex.
In letters to the Taoiseach, the Minister for Justice and all members of the Oireachtas, Mr Carter urged politicians to act with a "sense of urgency" to protect prostituted women and girls.
www.irishtimes.com/news/ireland/irish-news/former-us-president-urges-ireland-to-criminalise-sex-buyers-1.1914216
In the letters, Mr Carter acknowledges the progress being made in Ireland towards passing legislation that would target the buyers of sex.
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*Far too many sexual crimes are committed in our society with impunity, the head of the country’s biggest rape crisis agency has said.
In letters to the Taoiseach, the Minister for Justice and all members of the Oireachtas, Mr Carter urged politicians to act with a "sense of urgency" to protect prostituted women and girls.
www.irishtimes.com/news/ireland/irish-news/former-us-president-urges-ireland-to-criminalise-sex-buyers-1.1914216
In the letters, Mr Carter acknowledges the progress being made in Ireland towards passing legislation that would target the buyers of sex.
Mr Carter noted the recommendations made by the Oireachtas Justice Committee last year and said he was encouraged by the unanimous cross-party support to pass such legislation.
However, he said that over 12 months have passed since these recommendations were made and politicians need to act now to end the exploitation, abuse and trafficking of women and girls.
He said the reforms provide Ireland with an opportunity to take a lead on this important issue and inspire others to follow.
Prostitution, he said, is inherently violent towards women and girls and politicians in Ireland should act to reform legislation "with a sense of urgency".
The Immigrant Council of Ireland has welcomed the comments and called for political leadership to bring forward legislation in the current Dáil term.
*Far too many sexual crimes are committed in our society with impunity, the head of the country’s biggest rape crisis agency has said.
Ellen O’Malley-Dunlop’s warning comes as Government officials flag the danger of the European Commission taking legal proceedings over Ireland’s continuing failure to implement an EU directive on sex crimes.
This requires new laws, including in relation to child pornography, grooming and the rights of victims.
Children’s rights campaigner and senator Jillian van Turnhout said she has been waiting three years for the Government’s legislation and described the lack of laws to deal with child pornography, which she describes as online child abuse material, as “reprehensible”.
Ms O’Malley-Dunlop, chief executive of the Dublin Rape Crisis Centre, said rape and sexual assault were subjects surrounded by ignorance, fear, and myths and the continued failure to talk openly about “these heinous crimes” added to the growing problem. www.stopthetraffik.org.uk
Writing in today’s Irish Examiner, she said: “Myths and widely held but ill-founded beliefs about sexual assault and rape contribute to the fear which victims experience in seeking help or reporting their experiences. Frequently people are afraid they will not be believed, or will be blamed for provoking the incidents. This contributes to the silence that continues to surround crimes of sexual violence.
“Sometimes we are told that people don’t want to hear or read any more horror stories about rape and child sex abuse, but unless we talk about these heinous crimes in our society, and try and understand why they are committed, they will remain underground and continue to be committed.”
Rape Crisis Network Ireland, an umbrella body, said the Government’s Sexual Offences Bill was “long overdue” and called on Justice Minister Frances Fitzgerald to announce a publication date and consultation period urgently.
The department received approval by the Cabinet last December to draft the wide-ranging legislation.
Department officials have warned Ms Fitzgerald: “The December 2013 deadline for implementation of the EU directive has already passed and there is a danger that the EU Commission will initiate proceedings against us.”
In a briefing document, officials said: “There are a number of potentially controversial issues associated with this legislation. The Government still have to resolve the question of the age when a person can legally consent to sex.”
In response to questions, a department spokesman said that it was not possible to indicate when the bill would be introduced.
He said Ireland already had “extensive legislation” criminalising the sexual abuse and exploitation of children, including child pornography, and said this had been communicated to the European Commission.
Ms van Turnhout said she took “particular exception” to this and said our laws on online child abuse were “extremely lacking”.
She said: “Ireland hasn’t taken any action on child abuse material, which is reprehensible. I want a system to filter images, that are in place in the UK and Northern Ireland and on mobile phones.”
She said she was “very concerned” when the bill would be published, which she has been promised since 2012.
Rape crisis helpline: 1800 77 88 88
Other helpline links:
----------------*A child protection campaigner has warned that the sexual exploitation of youngsters is a much wider issue than had been acknowledged.
Hilary Willmer, chair of trustees at the charity Parents Against Child Sexual Exploitation (Pace), said a "huge amount" of youngsters were being abused. www.paceuk.info
She was speaking out following the report into events in Rotherham, which found that more than 1,400 youngsters were abused over 16 years from 1997.
Asked if similar numbers of children could have fallen prey to abusers in other towns, she said: "I wouldn't want to bandy figures around but it's certainly a huge amount that is going on."
Ms Willmer worked with families in Rotherham in the late 1990s and was a colleague of the author of a 2002 report into the unfolding scandal, which was never published.
The document, by a Home Office researcher, was "effectively suppressed", according to Professor Alexis Jay who wrote the report into events in Rotherham between 1997 and 2013.
Ms Willmer told Channel 4 News the report "actually was drawing attention to all the failings of the local council, social care, police and everyone, who were failing to deal with information that was passed to them".
She said: "We were able to identify houses where the young girls were taken as well as all sorts of other places, that there would be a big network operating in places like the shopping mall at Meadowhall.
"It was well known, car numbers and information was handed to them but she was told that it was all anecdotal and therefore not enough to do anything about it."
Prof Jay's report said the work resulted in a c hapter of a draft report on research into the situation in Rotherham which " contained severe criticisms of the agencies" including "alleged indifference towards, and ignorance of, child sexual exploitation on the part of senior managers".
She said: "Had this report been treated with the seriousness it merited at the time by both the police and the council, the children involved then and later would have been better protected and abusers brought to justice. These events have led to suspicions of collusion and cover up."
Ms Willmer said: "I think there was a denial because of the perception that these were errant teenagers who were just a nuisance.
"There were certainly instances of where parents have gone out and found the children and told the police where they are, not just in Rotherham but elsewhere, and it hasn't been followed up.
"Hopefully that is less common now than it was at the time. But certainly there was a perception, the received wisdom, was these girls had chosen this lifestyle, they are going out with these men and they have almost got what they asked for.
"That was really very widespread. It isn't like that now, it would be much more difficult to argue that."
MPs on the Home Affairs Select Committee are poised to examine what happened to the 2002 report.
Committee chairman Keith Vaz told the Independent on Sunday: "We would be very keen to get from the Home Office a full and frank response to the research that was commissioned in 2002.
"This is an essential part of the jigsaw to determine why the council failed to act, and whether the Home Office could have done more to ensure that it did act."
He added: "We want to see every piece of information the Home Office holds on this, and I will be writing to the Home Secretary to see what files it holds no this horrific behaviour in Rotherham."
------------------------Abstract:
Children are the most highly victimized segments of our society. The victimization of children is estimated to be the most costly public health and public safety problem today.
Download research data at this link:
childlaw.wordpress.com/2014/07/16/the-young-and-the-helpless-re-defining-the-term-child-victim-of-crime/
For Full paper go to: http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2467182
childlaw.wordpress.com/2014/07/16/the-young-and-the-helpless-re-defining-the-term-child-victim-of-crime/
For Full paper go to: http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2467182
Despite the urgency of the problem, and the proliferation of literature and policy proposals pertinent to childhood victimization, thus far, no significant efforts have been made to design a coherent definition to the term ‘child victim of crime.’ Existing definitions fail to account for the distinct developmental needs of children, and the unique effect of crime on children.
The result of this lacuna is a colossal failure of our legal system to protect the most vulnerable and impressionable group, our children. It also leads to wasteful and inefficient utilization of public funds, and compromises public safety.
This article provides a comprehensive framework, that bridges theory and practice, to develop an innovative evidence-based definition to the term ‘child victim of crime’. Implementation of the proposed definition will enable the protection and treatment of millions of children crippled by crime, who currently fall beyond the boundaries of narrow policies designed for adults and unsuitable for children. It will also help improve public safely, and save invaluable public resources.
The result of this lacuna is a colossal failure of our legal system to protect the most vulnerable and impressionable group, our children. It also leads to wasteful and inefficient utilization of public funds, and compromises public safety.
This article provides a comprehensive framework, that bridges theory and practice, to develop an innovative evidence-based definition to the term ‘child victim of crime’. Implementation of the proposed definition will enable the protection and treatment of millions of children crippled by crime, who currently fall beyond the boundaries of narrow policies designed for adults and unsuitable for children. It will also help improve public safely, and save invaluable public resources.
Number of Pages in PDF File: 44
Keywords: crime, children, victims, developmental victimology, definitions, criminal law, law and social science, best interest of the child, VOCA, VAWA, crime victim services, CAPTA, violence, child protection, exposure to violence, child witnesses, parental incarceration
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