Ludford welcomes tough line on exploitation

12.00.00am BST (GMT +0100) Wed 13th Jun 2001

Baroness Sarah Ludford, LibDem MEP for London and European Liberal Democrat spokesperson on justice and home affairs in the European Parliament, has welcomed the Parliament's support for EU action against child pornographers, traffickers in prostitutes and internet porn racketeers.

"Those Eurosceptics who express full-scale opposition to harmonisation of criminal laws across Europe must be prepared to justify letting paedophiles and pimps get away scot-free. The problem is soaring out of control, especially as criminals prey on poor women and children from Eastern Europe and beyond."

The proposed laws which EU governments must now finalise would secure common definitions of pornography and sexual exploitation and common penalty scales of up to ten years in jail. This would make criminal gangs much less able to take advantage of loopholes in order to flee justice. Co-operation should also ensure that European 'sex tourists' in places like Thailand would find no hiding place.

The European Liberal Democrats were instrumental in ensuring that there should be a Europe-wide register of sex offenders but access to it by police and prosecutors should respect normal data privacy rules.

Sarah Ludford however warns against European harmonisation "overkill":

"The European Parliament must beware of too much meddling in the detail of how national criminal systems deal with cross-border crimes such as trafficking and sex crime cases. Let's not lose sight of the wood for the trees."

"The onus is now on European Ministers to stop squabbling and start cracking down on the perverts and gangsters who prey on vulnerable women and children."