The Danish government is to present a proposal that considers tightening some penalties for sexual assaults on children including confiscating passports of convicted pedophiles for a period of time. The element in the proposal is indicated to prevent them from traveling abroad to commit more child abuse, local media BT reports.
According to court spokeswoman Karina Lorentzen Dehnhardt (SF), some of the countries that have special challenges with child abuse including the Philippines and Thailand have asked Denmark for help on this particular element and she says that the initiative makes good sense if it aimed at, for example, a country like the Philippines, where it is suspected that many children are sexually abused.
According to media DR Nyheder, the government will present a bill in the fall to increase the punishment for “sexual abuse other than intercourse with a child under 15 years” by 50 percent, when compared with the level of punishment today.
Karina Lorentzen Dehnhardt says she is very positive in terms of looking at limiting travel opportunities for convicted pedophiles as an element in the bill. She says however that there needs to be looked at if there is professional evidence for confiscating passports or whether it is just a political proposal to seem harsh.
Kristian Hegaard, legal spokesman from the government’s support party The Radicals’ agrees and says, “We agree with the basic intention, namely that we must prevent and stop child abuse.
