Global Progress Towards Ending the Sexual Exploitation of Children
A global problem requires truly global solutions to address the sexual exploitation of children.
Indicators
Age of Consent
No
The age of sexual consent is 14 years, for both girls and boys, 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
Age of Consent Law is Appropriate
The age of sexual consent for both males and females is 18 and a close in age exemption (up to 3 years) is provided for consensual sexual relationships between adolescents.
The age of sexual consent is the legally defined age at which a person is considered mature enough to agree to sexual activity. The age of sexual consent varies across jurisdictions around the world and there is no international legal instrument establishing it, however various forms of advocacy have encouraged States to establish a minimum age under which engaging in sexual contact is considered a criminal offence. This is intended to prevent sexual contact with children and to prevent argument that the child consented as a defence.
Often national provisions related to the age of sexual consent include an exception, known as a close-in-age exemption, making consensual sexual activities between young people lawful if the partners are of similar ages and the age difference is not higher than a certain number of years.
To ensure that cases of child sexual exploitation do not go unpunished, ECPAT advocates for the age of sexual consent to be set at 18 for both males and females with a close-in-age exemption of 2-3 years provided in order to ensure young people are not penalised for consensual sexual acts with peers. The age from which the exemption applies should be established by States but may begin for young people somewhere between 12 and 16 years of age.
Yes The national legislation explicitly indicates that the age of sexual consent unequivocally is 18 for both males and females, with a close-in-age exemption for sexual acts between peers (of up to 3 years) is provided by law.