Czech Republic

Czech legislators on the 13 th of June voted to make possession of child pornography a criminal offense.
Of the 150 deputies present in the parliament's 200-seat lower chamber, 136 voted in favor of the amendment of the country's criminal code. 14 deputies abstained. If approved by the parliament's upper chamber, the Senate, and by the president, possession of child pornography will be punishable by up to 2 years in prison.

A growing number of Czech children are at risk from their own parents or guardians. According to a report released in 2006 by the Social Affairs Ministry an increasing number of Czech children suffer physical, sexual and psychological abuse in their own homes.

"Spare the rod, spoil the child," is a philosophy still widely practised by most Czech parents. Studies carried out by the Centre of Preventative Medicine at Charles University suggest that ten years ago 90 percent of children had experienced some kind of corporal punishment at home, and that the number has hardly fallen since.

Petr Weiss

As Cesky Rozhlas radio reported, in February 2007 Austrian police busted a huge international pornography network involving more than 2,360 suspects from 77 countries. Sixty-three Czechs were among those who downloaded child-porn from paid-web sites but shockingly enough the Austrians can expect little cooperation from the Czech police.