ICPO-Interpol - General Assembly 65th Session - Antalya - 23rd-29th October 1996

HAVING IN MIND the 1989 United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child,

SUPPORTING the declaration and programme of activities adopted during the World Congress Against Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children held in Stockholm from 26th to 31st August 1996,

ACKNOWLEDGING the fact that children are the most vulnerable members of society and must therefore be accorded specific protection against the offences of which they are victims,

CONSIDERING that the interest of the child must take precedence over any other consideration,

RECALLING Interpol General Assembly Resolution AGN/61/RES/10 on offences against minors, and the creation of the Interpol Standing Working Party on offences against minors,

HAVING NOTED the report on offences against minors submitted by the General Secretariat to the National Central Bureaus, which describes the Stand-ing Working Party's activities and gives a picture of trends in crimes against children,

The ICPO-Interpol General Assembly, meeting in Antalya from 23rd to 29th October 1996 at its 65th session:

RECOMMENDS that member countries carefully study the recommendations made by the Interpol Standing Working Party on offences against minors contained in Appendix 2 of Report AGN/65/RAP. No. 5 and, if necessary, amend their national laws in conformity with the spirit of those recommendations and also make provision in their national penal legislation for the prosecution of offences committed abroad;

RECOMMENDS including the subject of offences against minors as an item on the agendas of all the Organization's regional conferences;

ASKS member countries to pay greater attention to offences against minors and to provide increased resources for combating such offences, especially by training specialist personnel to work in the special units within police forces;

RENEWS its confidence in the Interpol Standing Working Party on offences against minors, and asks it to continue to assist in the fight against this particularly sensitive form of crime and in fostering international police co-operation, renews the Working Party's mandate and asks it to submit a full report on its activities to the General Assembly at its next session;

PLACES PARTICULAR EMPHASIS on the importance of constant co-operation with the United Nations institutions dealing with the rights of the child and on the advisability of establishing a working relationship with the European Union in the context of Council of Europe Recommendation R(91)11 of 9th September 1991 and its appended Report, Articles II-3 and II-4 of which mention the importance of co-operation with Interpol and other international organizations working for children's welfare;

ABROGATES the following Resolutions:

• AGN/58/RES/15 - (1989) - Improving international co-operation to combat
  offences against minors.
• AGN/61/RES/10 - (1992) - Offences committed against minors.