A programme of EU measures to combat the sexual exploitation of children and paedophile rings is expected to be in force within weeks, the European Parliament was told yesterday.
The Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Mr Gay Mitchell, said that the main provision would be to give the European Drugs Unit new power to co ordinate the fight against trafficking in women and children and to combat international paedophile rings.
The move, which is the result of an initiative by the Irish presidency, is due to be announced at a meeting of Justice and Home Affairs Ministers in Dublin next week.
Ms Mary Banotti, Fine Gael MEP and European Parliament Mediator for Abducted Children, who was one of the initiators of the measures, called for a European register of convicted paedophiles. She said that she was proposing a system whereby people who had been convicted of paedophile off licences would be registered both nationally and internationally.
She had proposed a central database for all children missing within the EU during a debate in the parliament in July and her proposal had proved to be "tragically prophetic".
Events in Belgium had focused international attention on the many legal loopholes which existed both nationally and internationally. It was possible that many lawmakers had not yet comprehended the extent of the child pornography and child abuse crimes being committed within the EU, Ms Banotti said.
The European Parliament yesterday debated the package of measures, which include cooperation among member states at judicial and police levels and the exchanging of information about criminal organisations and paedophiles. The resolution is expected to be passed today.
Mr Mitchell said that, while paedophile rings were operating on a highly organised international basis, EU countries had not co operated sufficiently to ensure a viable response. It was estimated that more than one million children worldwide, some as young as two, had fallen victim to commercial sexual exploitation.