Public seminar organised by the Council of Europe: the States Parties to the Lanzarote Convention will discuss about statues of limitation in respect of sexual offences against children and approaches to the legal age for sexual activities

30/05/2023

Anouk Pinaud 

International Justice and Human Rights Researcher, 

Global Human Rights Defence, 

This Wednesday, 31 May 2023, the Council of Europe and the Permanent Representation of France to the Council of Europe are organising a public seminar, broadcast live from Strasbourg, on a subject that has been at the heart of preoccupations for several years now: “Statues of limitation in respect of sexual offences against children and Approaches to the legal age for sexual activities”. 

In recent years, the Committee of the Parties to the Council of Europe Convention on the Protection of Children from Sexual Exploitation and Abuse (the "Lanzarote Convention" / "Lanzarote Committee") has monitored developments concerning two important issues: the statutes of limitation in relation to sexual crimes against children and the legal age to engage in sexual activities (more commonly known as the “age of consent”). By definition, the age of consent is the age at which a person is considered to be legally competent to consent to sexual acts. Therefore, the act of engaging in sexual activity with a child younger than the age of consent cannot be considered consent and may constitute child sexual abuse or statutory rape if committed by an adult. 

In 2021, the Lanzarote Committee launched two surveys to gain a better understanding of national approaches. The 48 member states of the Lanzarote Convention actively participated in these surveys. Due to the large amount of data to be processed and the diversity of responses, a more detailed analysis will be carried out. The aim of the seminar to be held on 31 May 2023 is to compare and analyze the national approaches in States Parties to the Lanzarote Convention to the statutes of limitation in respect of sexual offences against children and to the legal age for sexual activities. 

For more information, the Lanzarote Committee is the body established to monitor whether Parties effectively implement the Lanzarote Convention. According to information provided by the national authorities and other sources, the Committee assesses the situation of child sexual violence at the national level. Besides monitoring, the Committee adopts opinions that contribute to the development of specific provisions of the Lanzarote Convention, as well as thematic and topical statements on the protection of children against sexual violence, and also contributes to the work of other international organizations. 

This seminar will provide an opportunity for open discussion of the issues involved. This debate will be all the more interesting because there is no common approach to the length of the statutes of limitation among the Parties to the Convention. In the 21st century, some States Parties have completely abolished the time limits on prosecutions, either almost completely or only for the most serious forms of crime. This choice is motivated by the complexity of these cases and the generally long investigation times. At the same time, other Parties have so far maintained the statute of limitations for all types of offences in this category, although there is a general trend towards extending the time limit. The seminar will explore all the issues surrounding the statute of limitations for sexual offences against children. 

It is only in the second phase, during the afternoon of Wednesday 31 May 2023, that the States Parties will discuss the issues surrounding the legal age for sexual activities. According to the Lanzarote Convention, there is no common legal age for sexual activities. However, Article 18 of the Convention requires States Parties to criminalize the act of engaging in sexual activity with children who have not reached this age threshold. However, the state legislature has the discretion to determine what the minimum age should be. Because of this freedom, not all countries have adopted the same age of sexual consent. The discussion will therefore focus on the reasons why a common consensus has not been reached between all the States Parties, the derogations made to these rules and, lastly, the notion of consent.

As a result, an article will be published on GHRD TV following the seminar to present the conclusions reached. 

Sources and further readings:

Article Council of Europe Portal, Children’s Rights, Lanzarote Committee: https://www.coe.int/en/web/children/lanzarote-committee 

Article Council of Europe, 25 May 2023, Statues of limitation for sexual offences against children and “age of consent” in Council of Europe member states : https://www.coe.int/fr/web/portal/full-news/-/asset_publisher/y5xQt7QdunzT/content/id/225674222?_com_liferay_asset_publisher_web_portlet_AssetPublisherPortlet_INSTANCE_y5xQt7QdunzT_languageId=en_GB#p_com_liferay_asset_publisher_web_portlet_AssetPublisherPortlet_INSTANCE_y5xQt7QdunzT 

Programme, Public Seminar, Comparative analysis of national approaches in States Parties to the Lanzarote Convention, Organised by the Council of Europe : https://rm.coe.int/public-seminar-statutes-of-limitation-in-respect-of-sexual-offences-ag/1680ab3198 

Article Wikipedia, Age of consent, 24 May 2023: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Age_of_consent