ECPAT Italia began in 1994 as a campaign of different associations and became a Non-Lucrative Organisation for Social Utility (ONLUS) in 1998. The group is very active in the tourism sector and is currently implementing the Code of Conduct. ECPAT Italy also conducts capacity-building activities on the different manifestations of commercial sexual exploitation of children.
Contact: Yasmin Abo Loha
Phone: (+39) 06 77209408
Address: Via Iside, 10 – 00184 Roma
Email: info@ecpat.it
Website: http://www.ecpat.it
Trafficked children in Italy include Romani and Sinti boys; Nigerian girls; and Romanian, Moroccan and Brazilian boys and girls. These children are subject to trafficking for sexual purposes and forced begging.
In 2015, 18,000 unaccompanied minors arrived in Italy following the refugee crisis. These children coming from Somalia, Eritrea, Bangladesh, Egypt and Afghanistan are particularly vulnerable to trafficking.
In 2015, it was reported that 5,080 Italian children suffered from violence, of which 770 were victims of sexual violence; 87% of the victims of sexual violence were girls. There was also a 148% increase of sexual acts with 14 year old minors and 16 year old minors involving relatives.
Reports show that the production and dissemination of child sexual abuse material has increased by 543 % in Italy during the past five years. 81% of the victims are young girls.
Year: 2024
Year: 2023
Year: 2023
No
Age of sexual consent is 14 years with a close-in-age exemption of three years.
ECO Italy, 2019
Partial
Active and passive extraterritoriality is provided for all SEC related offences, including those committed abroad by a foreigner with an Italian accomplice (in this latter case the foreign offender can only be convicted for crimes punished with at least 5 years of imprisonment and upon request of the Minister of Justice). It is unclear whether double criminality is required for extraterritoriality.
Extradition requires double criminality and is limited to cases where it is explicitly provided by an international convention.
SEC offences are referred to as extraditable under the European Arrest Warrant (EAW) framework within the EU without requiring double criminality if the act is punishable by a maximum period of at least three years of imprisonment in the requesting State.
ECO Italy, 2019
Yes
The national legislation provides a definition which is in line with international standards.
The definition provided explicitly covers any type of materials, criminalises material depicting a person appearing to be a minor as well as computer/digitally generated CSAM, including realistic images of non-existing children.
ECO Italy, 2019
Not Yet Assessed
Partial
Italy has ratified the CRC, the OPSC, the OPIC, the Trafficking Protocol and the the ILO Convention No. 182.
Italy has also ratified the Council of Europe’s Lanzarote and Budapest Conventions.
Italy has not ratified the UNWTO Framework Convention on Tourism Ethics
ECO Italy, 2019
Not Yet Assessed
Partial
There are several units including SEC in their mandate: mainly the Postal and Communications Police Service with regards to CSAM-related offences and the National Antimafia and Counter-Terrorism Directorate (DNA) with regards to SEC cases linked to organized criminal networks. Furthermore, each territorial police office (i.e. Questura) has a specialised Minors Office (part of the Anti-Crime Division), which provides support to child offenders and child victims of SEC among other crimes.
It is unclear whether both offences under national and extra-territorial jurisdiction are able to be addressed by these units.
ECO Italy, 2019
Not Yet Assessed
No
There are national statistics on offences related to child sexual abuse material but it is unclear whether this data is made available regularly and whether it is clearly disaggregated into categories for age, gender, nationality, types of abuse/exploitation and victim/offender.
There are national statistics on formal cases of child victims of trafficking who benefitted for social protection projects, disaggregated by age, gender, nationality and type of exploitation. It is unclear whether this data is made available regularly and whether it includes reported and prosecuted cases.
ECO Italy, 2019
