CRC on prevention of the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography in Poland

UN Committee on the Rights of the Child has issued Concluding Observations regarding the report on implementation of Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography submitted by the Polish government.
Members of the Committee appreciated the legal changes introduced to the Criminal Code, especially regulations penalizing grooming of children with the use of Internet and mobile phones. Other recommended changes should include introducing definitions of child prostitution and the sale of children to the Criminal Code and ensuring protection from exploitation for prostitution or pornography to children from 15 - 18 years old.

In the view of the Committee efforts should be made to shorten the time taken by legal proceedings in cases concerning trafficking and to keep the focus on well-being, full rehabilitation and reintegration of children victims of trafficking.

As the data regarding the issues covered by the Protocol are still scarce the Committee advices establishing mechanism for collecting and analyzing the data on child-victims and children from the risk group, as well as perpetrators. Additionally research should be conducted to reveal the scale and causes of the phenomenon. Sexual exploitation of children should also be a topic of studies and prevention actions that would help to identify children at risk and find more targeted solutions to the problem.

Committee also recommends setting up a national plan of action that would include all issues covered by the Optional Protocol and coordination mechanism linking all the relevant resorts and institutions.

Information on child trafficking, child prostitution and child pornography should be disseminated with the use of trainings for professionals and media representatives, publications and social campaigns.

Recommendations made by Polish nongovernmental organizations in the alternative report submitted to the Committee have been included in the concluding observations summarized above.

Below you can download the full version of the Concluding Observations.

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CRC-C-OPSC-POL-CO1.pdf	45.75 KB