Combating sexual abuse of children : Directive 2011/93/UE : European implementation assessment

This European implementation assessment analyses the implementation of Directive 2011/93/EU on combating the sexual abuse and sexual exploitation of children and child pornography. This study, written in-house, focuses on the following areas: prevention, identification of victims, investigation and prosecution, and assistance and protection for victims. It begins with a contextualisation of the directive and presents the provisions of the EU legal framework. The assessment highlights a number of outstanding challenges, in particular in prevention of child sexual abuse, where research shows inadequate implementation of the directive. The assessment then examines the issue of identification of child victims and finds several shortcomings, including how victims' disclosures are dealt with. The last section of the assessment focuses on the investigative and judicial proceedings phase, where necessary improvements in the application of child-friendly justice are underlined.