Public Opinion is Clear: Urgent Legislation Required to Protect Children from Sexual Exploitation! Read the story

Members

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.

ECPAT Italia

Contact: Yasmin Abo Loha
Phone: (+39) 06 77209408
Address: Via Iside, 10 – 00184 Roma
Email: info@ecpat.it
Website: http://www.ecpat.it

Facts

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.

Resources

Council of Europe and ECPAT International
Italy — Joint Country Overview

Year: 2023

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ECPAT joins forces with DOT Europe, CCIA and 50+ tech trade associations and NGOs with a joint statement to the European Union

Year: 2024

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ECPAT International, Eurochild, Terre Des Hommes Netherlands on behalf of the Down To Zero Alliance
Behind the Screens: Early Findings from the VOICE Research

Year: 2023

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ECPAT International and NSPCC
ECPAT and NSPCC child online safety poll: Questionnaires

Year: 2023

ECLAG
Fact-check: Top 9 claims made on the Regulation to fight Child Sexual Abuse

Year: 2023

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Stories

News from Italy

Indicators

Age of Consent

No

Age of sexual consent is 14 years with a close-in-age exemption of three years.

ECO Italy, 2019

Extraterritoriality & Extradition

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

CSAM Definition

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

Background Check Required

Not Yet Assessed

National Commitments

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

Child Advocacy Centers

Not Yet Assessed

SEC Police Unit

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

Protection Standards Travel and Tourism

Not Yet Assessed

Public SEC Case Data

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