Stop child sex abuse - teach The Underwear Rule

A campaign has been launched aimed at raising awareness about child abuse and in particular encouraging children who suffer from it to speak up and get help.

"The Underwear Rule" is part of the Council of Europe's ONE in FIVE campaign to stop sexual violence against children.



According to the Council of Europe statistics one in five children in Europe is a victim of sexual abuse and "it's estimated that in 70 to 85% of cases, the abuser is somebody the child knows and trusts."

"TRUSTS" - did you get that?

The Underwear Rule speaks to children directly and provides "a simple guide to help parents explain to children where others should not try to touch them, how to react and where to seek help."

Kiko (snapshot from television spot)

It includes a television advertisement featuring the cartoon character Kiko telling children what is and isn't acceptable in terms of being touched.

And a 20-page "The Underwear Rule" book can be downloaded free of charge from the campaign's website.

"What is The Underwear Rule?"

"It’s simple," writes Juliet Linley, in her Corriere della Sera column Mamma Mia.

"A child should not be touched by others on parts of the body usually covered by their underwear. And they should not touch others in those areas.

It also helps explain to children that their body belongs to them, that there are good and bad secrets and good and bad touches.

Through its ONE in FIVE campaign, the Council of Europe wants to achieve two main goals:

a) promote the signature, ratification and implementation of the Council of Europe Convention on the Protection of Children against Sexual Exploitation and Sexual Abuse; 


b) equip children, their families/carers and societies at large with knowledge - and tools - to prevent and report sexual violence against children, thereby raising awareness of how widespread sexual violence against children is."

At the launch of the campaign in Rome, Maud de Boer Buquicchio, the deputy secretary-general of the Council of Europe said she hoped it would "inspire countries across the world to tackle the global phenomenon of child abuse," and "make sure international borders are not an obstacle in prosecuting offenders."

Supreme Court rules pornographic images at work aren't illegal

La Cour de Cassation in France, or the country's Supreme court, has overturned a decision made by an industrial tribunal and an appeals courts which had both upheld the dismissal of an employee who downloaded pornographic images at work.

The case dates back to 2002, when a worker at the carmaker Peugeot Citroën in the western city of Rennes was fired after pornographic images he had downloaded were discovered on computer at work.

He took his case to an industrial tribunal and to the Court of Appeal in Rennes, but in both instances the ruling went in favour of the employer.

His last chance was la Cour de Cassation which, it has been revealed, last month ruled in his favour.

It accepted his arguments that the employer had no right to access what were private and personal files and that saving images on his computer had in no way had an impact on his ability to do his job.

"The saving of three files containing pornographic pictures, which were not criminal in nature, did not constitute grounds that would justify dismissal," the Court ruled, adding that the outcome of the case would have been different had the images been "unlawful" such as ones of a paedophile nature.

In effect the ruling found that the employee had been unfairly fired and the case has been referred the matter back to the appeals court to determine how much compensation he is now entitled to.

French police in child porn swoop

Early Tuesday morning police arrested 90 people in a nationwide sweep to break up a suspected online child pornography ring in France.

More than 300 officers were dispatched throughout the country following an investigation that had lasted more than four years and had centred on the sharing of images and videos of children reportedly as young as one year old.

Police also seized computers in Tuesday's operation with one of them alone, according to James Juan, the public prosecutor of the northern city of Beauvais (Oise), containing more than 30,000 images.

"That was just the pictures," he told a news conference. "There were also around 1,000 videos on that single computer."

The roots of the operation go back to December 2004, when a site containing pornographic pictures and videos of children first came to the attention of the police.

The creator, from the northern town of Clermont (Oise), was just 17 years old at the time when he set up the site.

Even though he was arrested in May 2005, the pictures and videos were still on the Net and others were downloading and sharing material from his server; proof as far as the police were concerned, that there was an "organised network in place" for diffusing child pornography.

And so began "Némésis" - the code-name for the investigation - to trace and locate those involved in the suspected ring. It was carried out by a specialised police unit to monitor cyber crime.

It was a process which Robert Bouche, the commander in charge of one of the sections in the northern city of Amiens (Somme), admitted was long, but necessary under the circumstances.

"We were dealing with people who knew how to use the Internet and technology easily," he said

"Many for example were computer experts (data processors or computer scientists) more than capable of making the job of investigators all the more difficult and ensuring they couldn't easily be identified," he added.

The 90 men, whose identities have not been released as investigations are still ongoing, apparently come from all walks of life.

If charged and found guilty they could face prison sentences of up to 10 years.