New EU legislation will criminalise AI-generated child sexual abuse material and remove a statute of limitation on child abuse crimes across Europe, MEP Maria Walsh has said.
MEP Walsh is a member of the European Parliament’s Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs (LIBE) Committee; the committee responsible for the Revision of the Combating Child Sexual Abuse Directive. The Directive will be voted on in the European Parliament on Tuesday 17th June.
The legislation will criminalise AI-generated child sexual abuse material (CSAM), including the development, possession, and distribution of artificial intelligence systems used to produce such content.
MEP Maria Walsh said:
“Next week, the European Parliament will vote on legislation which will transform protections for children across the EU. For the first time, child sexual abuse material generated by AI will be criminalised.
“Artificial Intelligence systems are being used to sexually abuse children in a number of ways, including by using images and voices of real children to create child sexual abuse material. This results in the victimisation of real children, including survivors of prior child sexual abuse.
“The new laws will also remove the statute of limitation on child sexual abuse crimes in all EU countries. Shockingly, the average age of disclosure of an experience of child sexual abuse is 52 years old. In other words, child sexual abuse is a life sentence. On top of this, a third of abused children never disclose their experience at all.
“We have a long and shameful history of mistreating young people and vulnerable members of society in this country; 90% of people believe that we have failed to address the issue of child sexual abuse in Ireland. However, it is not a problem solely limited to Ireland. Across the European Union, historical and ongoing abuses of minors exist. In a bid to properly tackle this on an EU level, the European Parliament will vote on new EU legislation on child sexual abuse material next week.
“Time should not wash away accountability. There should be no “safe zone” that begins when the clock runs out. Child abusers should never be allowed to hide and escape from accountability for their actions. A life sentence for victims must mean a lifelong possibility of justice.”
