TUNIS AGENDA FOR THE INFORMATION SOCIETY
Document: WSIS-05/TUNIS/DOC/6 (Rev. 1)-E
Date: 15 November 2005
Original: English
http://www.itu.int/wsis/docs2/tunis/off/6rev1.html
COMBATING CHILD PORNOGRAPHY
The International Centre for Missing & Exploited Children (“International Centre”), in collaboration with the International Association of Internet Hotlines (INHOPE), held its first focus group titled, "Combating Child Pornography: Greece, Turkey, Romania and Bulgaria", in Athens, Greece on 18 October 2005.The event was very successful as it was well?attended, issue?focused and resulted in clear action itemsfor each country and for the region in general. The next two focus groups will be held in the Baltics and Eastern Europe in 2006. Representing "Cyber-Rights Cyber Liberties" A. Tansug attended in the Seminar & Focus group and presented the situation as follows:The issue of child pornography is largely unknown in Turkey for cultural reasons. There is low internet penetration. In 2005, there was 263% growth in internet use however, only 9.9% of the population of Turkey is online. Mobile phones are more favorable to computers for accessing theInternet. Therefore, there is little e?readiness in Turkey.
The first child pornography investigation by Turkish law enforcement was an international case called “Operation Landmark” which was started by Interpol and the National Crime Squad of the UK. TheTurkish suspect was a teacher who had four local victims. This has been the only case with extensive publicity in Turkey.
In Turkey, there were thirteen child pornography cases in 2004 and seven cases in the first ten months of 2005, all of which were international cases and initiated by Interpol. The new criminal code for child pornography came into effect in December 2004 and includes computer crimes involving the sexual exploitation of children. There is a new child pornography unit of the national police in Turkey but there is no reporting hotline.
There has been no research in Turkey on the issue of child pornography.
The key issues in Turkey were discussed and included:
• Lack of public knowledge about the issue;
• Unwillingness to call attention to child sexual exploitation;
• Lack of precise definition of child pornography in the penal code;
• Lack of research on the makeup and extent of the problem;
• Lack of an official police or government hotline for reporting complaints.
Some possible action items discussed to improve in this area included:
• Create an official police or government hotline for reporting complaints;
• Engage the ISP industry to get involved in co?regulation;
• Educate public on the issue and on technology.
