Child Sex Tourism

HC Deb 08 June 2004 vol 422 c315W

Mr. Jim Cunningham

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what his Department's plans are to tackle child sex tourism. [172797]

Paul Goggins

[holding answer 17 May 2004]: The Government are committed to eradicating the sexual exploitation of children, including where British citizens go abroad to abuse children. We have put in place comprehensive legislation to deal with this problem: Section 72 of the Sexual Offences Act 2003 enables courts in England and Wales and Northern Ireland to deal with British citizens or residents who commit sexual offences against children abroad. Similar provisions apply in Scotland. The Criminal Justice (Terrorism and Conspiracy) Act 1998 makes it an offence for a person to conspire to commit an offence outside the UK, including sexual offences against children.

In addition, the Sexual Offences Act 2003 has introduced a new civil preventive order aimed at protecting children abroad from UK sex offenders. The foreign travel order is targeted specifically against paedophile sex tourists—those who travel overseas to abuse young children because the opportunities to do so are more available in some countries than in the UK. It enables the courts to prevent those with a conviction for a sexual offence against a child aged under 16 from travelling abroad where there is evidence that they may cause serious sexual harm to children aged under 16 overseas.

The Sexual Offences Act 2003 also includes a new order which enables the courts to make offenders who have received convictions or cautions for sexual offences overseas (whether they are British citizens or foreign nationals) subject to the notification requirements ("the sex offenders register") of Part 2 of the Sexual Offences Act 2003 if they come to the UK.

The Government have also made regulations which reduce the period that "registered" sex offenders can intend to spend abroad before they have to notify the police form eight days to three days. The police can, and do, pass this information to other jurisdictions where they believe it will prevent the offender from committing an offence overseas.

Finally, a working group has been established to further examine the issue of combating child sex tourism. This group includes representatives for Government Departments, the travel industry, NGOs and the police. The Home Office is also funding a research project, managed by ECPAT UK, aimed at identifying the best channels through which we can raise awareness of child sex tourism.