Promoting effective measures to deal with the issues of missing children and sexual abuse or exploitation of children

Calls upon Member States to examine the possibility, taking into account the resources available, of providing, inter alia, a toll-free hotline or other means of communication or encouraging arrangements, for instance through the use of the Internet, whereby the qualified organizations or associations referred to in paragraph 1 above could make a hotline available 24 hours a day; also calls upon Member States to establish appropriate arrangements, to the extent necessary, in accordance with their legislation pertaining to investigations and proceedings, in order to facilitate the mutual exchange, between such organizations or associations and the competent authorities, of appropriate information concerning the tracing of missing or sexually abused or exploited children; calls upon Member States to take immediate steps to provide for the effective and proportional punishment, under their domestic law, of persons who procure or obtain the sexual services of children; calls upon Member States to make every effort to ensure, in conformity with domestic legislation, that the time limit for bringing criminal proceedings in cases involving the sexual abuse or exploitation of a child does not obstruct the effective prosecution of the offender, for instance, by considering the possibility of postponing the beginning of the time limit until the child has reached the age of civil majority.

Adopted without vote, 37th plenary meeting

In: Resolutions and decisions of the Economic and Social Council, organizational session for 2002, New York, 14 Jan. and 12-15 Feb. 2002; resumed organizational session for 2002, New York, 29 and 30 April 2002; substantive session of 2002, New York, 1-26 July 2002; resumed substantive session of 2002, New York, 4 and 25 Oct. and 19 Dec. 2002 - E/2002/99 - p. 47-48 - (ESCOR, 2002, Suppl. no. 1).