Belgium: : New criminal provisions for online solicitation for sexual purposes and cyberluring

• Autores: Eva Lievens
• Localización: IRIS: Legal Observations of the European Audiovisual Observatory, ISSN-e 1023-8565, Nº. 7, 2014, págs. 4-5
• Idioma: francés
• Texto completo no disponible (Saber más ...)
• Resumen

  • On 10 April 2014 two new (complementary) acts were adopted in Belgium that amend the Criminal Code in order to protect minors against solicitation for sexual purposes through ICT (information and communication technologies) �grooming�, on the one hand, and �cyberluring� (�cyberlokken�), on the other hand.

    The first act introduces a new article 377quater in the Criminal Code, which criminalises the proposal, through information and communication technologies, of an adult to meet a child who has not reached the age of 16, for the purpose of committing any of the offences established in the sections �Indecent assault and rape�, �Depravity of youth and prostitution� or �Public indecency�, against him or her, where this proposal has been followed by material acts leading to such a meeting. This act can be punished with a prison sentence between 1 to 5 years. Additionally, an increase of the penalty has been integrated in article 377quater of the Criminal Code when sexual abuse is preceded by online or offline grooming.