4 | - Número: 024 | 11 de Maio de 2013

ANEXO A

Question of Mr. Mendes Bota to the Prime Minister of Georgia, Mr. Bidzina Ivanishvili Plenary Session of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe Strasbourg, 23rd April 2013

As General Rapporteur on Violence Against Women, I visited Georgia last year, right before your election, and witnessed the efforts, commitment and progress on this matter.
I hope your government will remain committed to this cause, and sign and ratify the Istanbul Convention, as soon as possible.
This would contribute to raise awareness and could also help preventing acts of violence as the one we saw against a member of this Assembly, Mrs. Chiora Taktakishvili, brutally assaulted by a demonstrator as the police stood passive.

ANEXO B

Speech by Mr. Mendes Bota, on the debate of report GHILETCHI (doc. 13152), about «Fighting “child sex tourism”« Plenary of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe Strasbourg, 23rd April 2014

Mr. President, Dear Colleagues

I congratulate both rapporteurs and address to Mr. Ghiletchi’s report, to tell I totally agree with his proposals.
To talk about the problem of child sex tourism is to inevitably address the values crisis of our modern society. Indeed there is something quite paradoxal about a ‘plague’ of which we are everyday more aware of, toward which we channel more and more money, and resources to fight it – doesn’t however stop extending.
Let us be clear about one thing: the globalized problem of child abuse isn’t merely a question of opportunity and mobility. It stems from a deeper issue of values crisis.
Of course, child molesting per se wasn’t born yesterday. Its roots lie deep in tradition’s misapprehensions, ages of oppression and social caste. Yet, never as today has it been such a widespread problem. Almost like a plague of locusts that, like Mr. Ghiletchi’s report states at one point, moves from one field of exploitation to the next once the spring runs ‘dry’.
Yes, technology has made it accessible to everyone and anyone.
Yes, travelling, as well as the gap between rich and poor, has brought it to our very doorsteps.
But, if anything, it has also laid bare the immense challenges our society faces today. A society that excels in its push for further inclusion, equality and dialogue, never fearing to tackle the issues of our time and propose solutions to them, and at the same time a society that lets fall through the cracks such monsters as a Marc Dutroux or a Josef Fritzl – amplified in the eyes of our own morals, and yet ample proof of our own shortcomings as lawmakers.
I say, if we truly want to be serious about combating this plague, we must start by asking the painful questions it evokes. Is it not to wonder that more and more of these famed ‘travelling sex offenders’, more and more child molesters everywhere, are some of our more unsuspecting and reputable citizens in our society, the high-profile businessmen, lawyers, doctors, priests, often celebrities, sometimes politicians, etc; people with high-profile jobs, successful careers, college educations; cultured and informed people, often parents and husbands themselves? Not by chance, according to Mr. Ghiletchi’s report, most travelling sex offenders originate from Europe, North America, Russia, Australia, New Zealand, Japan and Taiwan – highly developed countries and regions, therefore.