During the meeting of the Committee it was noted that the bill (Reg. No. 2472a) stipulates amendments to the Criminal Code, Criminal Procedure Code, also to the laws “On Protection of Childhood”, “On Protection of Public Morality” aiming to implement the norms of the Council of Europe Convention on the Protection of Children against Sexual Exploitation and Sexual Abuse adopted on October 25, 2007 and signed on behalf of Ukraine on November 14, 2007 (the Convention).
It was stressed that the bill aims to assign responsibility for crimes connected with sexual exploitation of children, to regulate procedural peculiarities of investigating cases involving children-witnesses and victims, to prevent illegal acts committed in regard to children on the part of people constantly working with them.
People’s deputies paid their attention to the fact that the Central Scientific Experts Office of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine Secretariat voiced several remarks and proposals to the draft law and considered that it required recommitment.
According to the Committee members, some remarks of the Central Scientific Experts Office of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine Secretariat are not reasonable enough and the provisions of the bill can be refined during its preparation for the second hearing.