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I P C E
N E W S L E T T E R
Number E 1, July 1997
TABLE OF CONTENT |
| Introduction Meeting 1996 in Copenhagen: the minutes I Reports from the countries II Theme: how to react to the child abuse industry? III Theme:
how to use Internet
for internal and external IV Theme: how to survive? V Theme: the relations with the Gay Movement VI IPCE decides about IPCE,
Introduction VII Financial Report July 1 1995 until July 1 1996 Documentation Service List July 1997 ATTACHMENT: Translated folder from The Netherlands: |
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IntroductionHere you have the IPCE Newsletter, numbered as "E 1" because it is the first Newsletter edited by E-mail, by diskette and by paper post. Please, tell the secretary if you cannot receive or read it on your screen. This Newsletter is sent in several forms via the Internet: as a formatted file for the one and as plain text for the other. On diskette, it will be sent in several word-processing formats. It is made and published in Microsoft Word 97. It comes also converted to MSWord 6 and in WordPerfect 5.1. According our rules and regulations, the Newsletter has to come as soon as possible after the meeting… Well, it is July 1997 now, but this is really as soon as possible. In a recent letter I told you that it was several months before I had the first hardware, which failed to work without expensive repairs. After I had new hardware, I had to learn to work with it. Then the co-secretary and I needed several months to find the best way to exchange formatted files. We both had to update our software. When ultimately the files came over OK we then discovered a problem with having different spellcheckers. At my end of the line, no checker at all seemed to be present, whilst when received by Ricky it was apparent that the Dutch spellchecker was installed even though the text was in English. As a result the files refused to accept an English spellchecker. Thanks to a number of advisers this problem was eventually overcome. However, it may reoccur when others start to send contributions to future editions of the Newsletter. Finally just when we were embarking on the text of the Newsletter, I was engulfed with a great personal problem. This again delayed our activities. The problem is recurring and means it is not possible for me to continue my work for IPCE and NVSH lwg JORis after October 1997. This Newsletter contains only the report of the meeting in Copenhagen at July 1996. Note however, there is an attachment to this Newsletter: the promised translated version of the brochure of the local NVSH Workgroups JORis Zutphen and Zwolle in the Netherlands.Now I have learned to work quite efficiently with my computer, I shall try to make the next Newsletter in a very short time, shortly after the next meeting at the end of July 1997. If I succeed, you will have the two Newsletters of this IPCE year. If I succeed, the Newsletter has had not a sabbatical year, but only a somewhat shorter sabbatical. The next number can contain updated reports from countries and the minutes of the meeting. At the meeting, I shall present the annual reports about the membership and the finances. Now we have our internal rules and regulations in place, let us turn our attention to the external problems we have to face. Surely, from country by country, this year's reports will be depressing, maybe even more so than last year. We have to think seriously about the situation, we have to analyze it and to search for strategies, so that we can survive no only as an organisation but also as individuals. We must help others in our respective countries so that they also may survive. Let us communicate intensively, not only throughout the meeting. Now we have more effective means for our communication, let we use them. Thus, we must use the IPCE list to exchange information and ideas with each other. Share this information and ideas with your members and with the other organizations in your country or with the candidate members, whom you know. Let us help each other to overcome our depressive feelings and encourage each other. Still your secretary, Frans
IPCE Meeting 1996 CopenhagenThe minutesPART I: Reports from the countriesPresent were about 22 persons from Denmark, Germany, Finland, New Zealand, The United Kingdom, France, Greece, Sweden and The Netherlands. The meeting regretted that NAMBLA, the largest organization in IPCE, was unable to send any delegate to the meeting. New ZealandA book, "Paedophile and Sex-offenders Index" has been published a woman called, Coddington. It holds data from court reports that have been published about those convicted of 'sex offences' against children in New Zealand. As a result many people are now fearful of their neighbors reaction to what is in many cases old and stale information. In Wellington an man who had had a loving relationship with his two nephews, (now 13 & 15), hanged himself when he found his name in this book. The 15-year-old found him and did the same. When they had taken the bodies away, they had to come back to collect the body of the 13-year-old as well. A similar book is planned for Australia. The chair of AMBLA, Gerald is to appear in front of the High Court in Wellington to present his complaint against Television New Zealand for their misuse of the word "pedophile". In a recent TV program they continually used the work as synonymous with child-sex-abuser. AMBLA has extended its organization to include members from Australia. However, there are few contacts. In Australia, there has been much publicity with the creation of a Royal Commission set up to inquiry into corruption in the New South Wales police. The Commission was told of policemen who had been tipping off so-called pedophile rings. It was not clear if the police officers concerned were members of these 'rings' or if they were working undercover. In any case at this point the Commission was more interested in pursuing the pedophiles who were identified than in investigating the corruption of the police. There have been seven suicides as a result of this investigation including that of a judge. The Australian pedophile organization BLAZE has been destroyed. The media searched actively to find individual offending of the members, as had happened with PIE in the U.K. New Zealand is an English speaking WASP (White Anglo-Saxon Protestant) country; thus, along with the language, the attitudes and problems are imported from the USA and the U.K. United KingdomMuch is going on now and things are moving very quickly. Two new kinds of anti-pedophile legislation are proposed. The first one combats sex tourism and forbids organizations and persons to ‘promote’ sex tourism. This includes suggesting in a letter, message or report, that anywhere children should be available. This holds for both U.K nationals - whether or not they live in the United Kingdom and also for any person of any other nationality who are ordinarily resident in UK. The second proposal is for the registration or ‘sex offenders’ who will then be controlled and restricted once they are released back into the community.. It is not clear what exactly is meant by 'sex offenders', for example it is uncertain if this will include the mere possession of ‘indecent pictures’. It is expected that these kind of laws will be exported into the rest of Europe. The governments use cases like the one in Dunblane to make such laws. British police have already got lists of sex offenders. They use these to stop people getting certain jobs and inform their colleagues overseas if someone goes abroad. Her Majesty’s Customs (Douanes) also seek to control entry and will inform the local police in their turn. Continually they gather and store information about suspected pedophiles even if they have never been charged. They conduct frequent house searches and if they find materials which show an interest in children, even though the material is not 'indecent', they conclude that this person is a pedophile. They are particularly interested in seizing address books and lists of telephone numbers and this will be used in deciding who will next be raided. People are therefore raided even though there is no complaint against them on the assumption that they will be able to find an indecent photograph of a child. As there is no legal definition of what constitutes indecency they will take anything to try to make a case against a person whom they perceive is 'a pedophile'. This information is then stored and whatever you do, for example travel abroad, is seen in this perspective. Constantly you are under control. Organizing into groups is not forbidden as they like to claim that UK is a democracy, but any group which forms is assumed to be conducting criminal activities such as exchanging children to abuse or making pornography for sale. The media especially are zealous in searching for such persons and 'pedophile rings'. The attention in the media for publicizing the bad cases is much overdone and their news items are frequently ecconomical with the truth. As an excample example: Hamilton, the man responsible for the massacre at Dunblane, was reported in one tabloid newspaper as photographing the boys in his various youth clubs as "bare" whereas in fact this was "with bare chests". We all are suppressed after the criminal acts of such persons. Youth is also suppressed. The Labor Party (opposition) is thinking about an evening curfew for young people - not to protect them, but to protect society. Children at the age of ten or even younger are ‘prosecuted’ for ‘inappropriate sexual behavior’ and are taken into care when this occurs. As in New Zealand, the parents are controlled by the (Child Care) Social Services, in which many fanatic women are working. GreeceAnti-pedophile panic has caught up with Greece. Everything started when the Athens pedophile group, the Palatine Society, was invited to take part in a TV program. The intention of the makers was to boost their ratings by being the first to show the Greek public something as weird as a pedophile group. The show dealt mostly with child prostitution and child pornography and had other guests including a policeman, a maker of (adult) pornography, a criminologist and a psychiatrist. In spite of the persistent attempts of the Palatine Society's spokesperson to explain that some children are attracted to adults and want to have erotic relationships with them, nobody seemed to listen and the issue was tackled in a very negative manner. The two-week period following the showing of this program was full of anti-pedophile news reports and TV shows. That very same week two different cases filled the news media. In both cases boys were involved and it was said that they were having sexual relationships with old men at the men’s homes and that this was for money. The media were full of the sensationalistic reports of psychiatrists. They explained their view of how and why some men would became pedophiles. They talked about child abuse, child prostitution and child pornography, all linking it to pedophilia. Two boys were invited to a show and, although words were put into their mouths, one of them did not say that he was unwilling to have sex in exchange for money. The hysteria cooled down after this period and only occasional TV shows have been made about child prostitution. One of them had a 17-year old boy-prostitute who denounced the police for blackmailing the juvenile boy-prostitutes in Athens and taking their money. Meanwhile, the public prosecutor has been hunting eagerly for the Palatine Society. The journalist and the show’s presenter have been summoned many times to the prosecutor's office in an attempt to gather material to locate them. So far, they have not succeeded. The police and the judicial system in Greece are corrupt and, therefore, the future for the group and its members does not look rosy if they are located. The TV station has also reprimanded the program producer for putting on such a controversial group. As a result of all this, most members of the Palatine Society left in panic; the group now has only two members. In spite of all this, Greece is still a pretty safe place for pedophiles to live, as long as they remain in the closet. Most people do not walk around fearing that their children will be raped or seduced by some pedophile; in short, it is not something people think about. However, the laws are severe. A person got 40 years in prison for organizing a transvestite group. Opinion-makers labeled the Palatine group as ‘criminal’ in the law’s sense as ‘inciting crime’. Even attempts to put the use of softdrugs into some sort of perspective of is a crime here. But practice is easier here than the laws are, by example in the case of pornography. DenmarkDPA has about 100 members in Denmark and several other countries. They meet once a month and their magazine Nye Politik is published four times a year. The situation in Denmark is not very different from the other countries in Europe. The media give much attention to pedophilia and the laws are changing gradually and becoming more repressive. One example is in the recent changes relating to child pornography. However, one notable difference is that, before this law was changed, we were able to have talks with politicians and put our point of view. We believe that our words have softened this law a bit. We have complained against some items in the media, but these people do not take our complaints seriously. The public mental health workers among others oppose us. They receive considerable amounts of money for their ‘therapies’; we have no money, no offices and no subsidy for the counseling that we do. The Post Service in Denmark refused to mention the DPA in the telephone book. Discrimination? There is a law against discrimination, including "all sexual orientations". Our lawyer said we could win a case, but he asked a lot of money for it and we fear publicity in this case. The gay movement in Denmark has chosen the age of 15 as the age of consent. Some would change this to 14. However, the young gays feared for bad publicity if this should happen. At the other side is a strong group of lesbians; they want a higher age of consent. The same lesbians opposed our participation in the gay parade and this was even before we had said a word about it or made any application! Thus, there was discussion about the possibility of our participation. The board would not refuse us, but the lesbians were furious about the decision claiming that our participation would be too provoking and lead to bad publicity for the whole parade. In fact, we did not participate. We do not expect any support from the gay movement, divided as it is and dominated as it is by the radical lesbians. The Netherlands
Legislation A new law on child pornography became effective in February 1996. Sentences are higher, up to six years imprisonment. House searches are now permitted and at the tariff is so much higher, imprisonment without bail pending trial is now likely. In fact, Although in theory a person may hold pornography depicting children, the possession of more than one specimen of sexually explicit pictures is forbidden. If a larger quantity is held then the presumption that these are 'stock' intended to be shown or distributed is presupposed and does not have to be proved by the prosecution. Sexuality, not nudity, is the criterion and a picture of a clothed child can be punishable if the attitude and/or the environment refer to sexuality, including ‘unnatural poses’. Practice It is anticipated that the police, especially in Amsterdam, will hunt for people who have so-called pornographic pictures. "We already have a list of addresses," they say. Even before this law came into effect, the first addresses were raided and searched and the first persons were arrested. These were people allegedly concerned with the production of Girl-love material, namely ‘Ophelia Editions’ and ‘Uncommon Desires’ Those arrested included persons whose only involvement was maybe to take parcels to others or to the post without any indication that they knew the nature of the contents. This is done under Art 140 who forbids being part of a 'criminal organization'. Even writing an article in the NAMBLA magazine GayMe was one of the accusations – thus passing the suppression of the freedom of the press into Dutch law. Books, which have passed the USA and Dutch Customs, have been seized and it was claimed that the customs authorities allowed them through so that they could trace their passage from hand to hand - just as they do with drugs. However, no account is paid to the fact that any quantity of drugs, beyond a little for personal use, is forbidden so that a person bringing more into the country knows that they are breaking the law. However, in the case of 'pornographic pictures' the only way of knowing that they are legal is to import them openly - once passed the customs authorities one should be able to assume that they are legal. One such person arrested has been photographer Donald Mader. His archive of historic books and photographs, his computer and all his software have been seized and the police are apparently trying to search for every person depicted in the photographs in the hope that they can get them to say that they have been assaulted sexually. The police have already said that they have had the whole of the 'staff' of ‘Ophelia Editions' under surveillance for many months with a 'stakeout' at the various addresses, photographing and video-recording any comings and goings, and months of telephone taps and opening of their postage and searching their garbage. Those concerned with ‘Ophelia Editions' were also the ones who openly opposed the new Dutch Law and indeed the photographs contained in the book sent to all MPs and others are now alleged to contain pornographic pictures despite them being openly passed through Dutch customs (see above). In the past, the Dutch courts have tried to sentence in an equal way for similar cases, with the help of a computer database of previous cases, and, in general, sentences are not as high in The Netherlands as elsewhere. There is a shortage of prisons and prison cells and thus many people are given non-custodial sentences with such things as community service instead. However, it cannot now be certain is this will continue for 'sex-offenders'. A flood of bad cases In 1994, the media - Journals and TV news - mentioned a few cases of ‘networks for child pornography and molestation.’ In 1995, a flood of cases was being reported in the press and on TV, especially about schools, institutions and sport clubs. Almost daily, a new case would unfold – some of them dating back many years, but today given full publicity. Child prostitution Terre des Hommes combats child prostitution with nearly daily spots on TV. These reports are short, but in every one the word ‘pedophile’ is used several times. This looks like a hammer on the minds of the Dutch public to put the message "Pedophiles = child molesters" into every mind. It seems that pedophiles are the ONLY people who exploit the poverty in other countries. Other adults are not mentioned, nor the governments, nor the businessmen. The message is: "ONLY these pedophiles cause all the trouble there. " Intimacy suspected Many a teacher, sports leader, kindly uncle, neighbor or grandparent, now feels under suspicion for every tiny bit of intimacy with children; so parents and grandparents now keep more distance from their offspring. Even without any intimacy, going about with children without a professional or functional legitimization seems suspected now. Youth In several cases, very young boys were the ‘offenders’. They are given a combination of prison and ‘therapy’. They must feel the hate of their environment. Thus, even teenagers are afraid to be seen as ‘pedophiles’. Even for young children, "pedophile" is now a common swear word, just as is the word "Flikker" (Gay). The NVSH Even within the NVSH nasty short articles have appeared in their local magazines. The intonation of these articles was so full of hate, that the Council of Members and the national board of the NVSH have had to reprimand some of these writers. We, the NVSH lwg JORis, will try to remain on speaking terms with these people. Because of all this concern, contact advertisements in the national NVSH magazine have a minimum age of 14 years. Intimacy Despite all this, some organizations in the professional youth care still try to encourage some forms of desirable intimacy between the workers and the children for whom they care. The basic activity of the workgroup is in organizing the open evenings every third Tuesday of the month. A dip in the number of visitors is probably caused by the extremely negative publicity about pedophilia. Every open evening we present information: documentation on the laws, books, magazines and video-replays of interesting TV programs. On separate evenings we have organized thematic discussions on the new law about pictures of sexual behavior and we have shown a video made by the police as propaganda for the new law. Another discussion was on sexual intimacy and education within the family and the way the law limits this. We have also shown a TV production of the Humanistic Broadcasting Organization, called "sex on the seesaw". A new board of NVSH–Amsterdam was elected in the autumn. This ended the crisis that broke out when the previous board stepped down after a meeting of the members had disapproved of their refusal to have the IPCE Meeting 1995 in Amsterdam. The new board has broad support, also from our workgroup. Several slanderous articles were published in the periodical "INFO" which criticized our workgroup and pedophilia in general. In reply, our workgroup and others wrote articles, which were also published. We replied to letters and phone-calls with standard information on the Dutch law and organizations. Foreigners get a reply in English and, if possible, a referral to the nearest IPCE -member organisation. However, the English Support Group, which started in 1994, has not continued because of lack of interest. We took part in the deliberation platform of the national workgroup NVSH Lwg JORis. The letter that was sent in 1994 by NVSH-Amsterdam to the parliament and the minister of justice, criticizing the new law on pictures of sexual behavior of people below the age of 16, got no reply. It seems not to have had and effected on the debate. For 1996, the workgroup intends to establish a closer contact with institutions of mental health. Martijn has fewer members now. It is assumed that people buy our magazine O.K. in a shop four times a year because this is cheaper than paying for membership. During the year a new chairman, was elected but we disapproved his public actions and he stepped down. However, he became well known to the public and press. Later he was arrested in The Philippines (for child molestation and making child pornography) and he jumped bail and fled that country. Much publicity followed. Every news item mentioned his former chairmanship of Martijn. Especially Defense for Children International and Child Right Worldwide who claimed credit for his prosecution. As a result, the Dutch Minister of Justice asked the Philippine’s authorities for the papers of his case, so as to prosecute him in The Netherlands. The whole story was not good for Martijn. Nevertheless, we go on. With our magazine O.K. we were present at the Gay Parade Day. We are also attempting to have more contact with the mental health institutions where we try to encourage them to refer more people to our association and to the NVSH’s workgroups. ItalyMembers of the Gruppo P are condemned solely because they formed a group (which was seen as dangerous for public morality). They appealed, but the Higher Court gave the same sentence of 3 years. Now they have appealed again to a higher court. Two of the members are now free. Sweden‘Save the Children’ and police work closely together to combat child prostitution and child pornography. This is now an item of major public attention. Incest cases are mentioned less frequently. People seem to be more critical in incest cases. A recent case in Germany was reported as creating "incest hysteria". After that several arrests in Sweden followed. There has also been much publicity about child pornography. Distribution is forbidden, though possession is still legal. Banning possession is proposed, but this is not possible because of the Swedish constitution. As a result there is a move to change that part of the constitution. This is only possible after the next General Election. A man was arrested for his behavior in Thailand. This was an expensive operation as special agents from the Swedish police followed him there (conveniently accompanied by a Danish television crew). But the result has been a very high profile case which is being used in other Countries (UK especially) as an example of the need for extra-territorial legislation. There will shortly be a worldwide congress in Sweden about (against) the sexual exploitation of children. Organizations such as ECPAT (End Child Prostitution in Asia), Save the Children, etc., will come together and try to harmonize their work and get many countries to strengthen their legislation. GermanyGermany is not a paradise for pedophiles but one can live here as long as there are no illegal contacts with children. Germany has three ages of consent, 14, 16 and 18 for homo- and heterosexual contacts, depending on the circumstances. Below the age of 14, every sexual act is forbidden. Between 14 and 16 prostitution (and so gifts, money or benefits) is forbidden. Until the age of 18 sexual acts are forbidden in dependency relations. Child pornography is forbidden to trade and to possess. "Child" is under the age of 14 here. It is not allowed to show these pictures to youth below the age of 18. "Child pornography" is every picture of any sexual conduct of any child. Is the child alone on the picture, well than the photographer is seen as the partner. For art, science and education there is some more room. The law however, is not very clear. Several producers are in prison now. The Internet is observed. Many pedophile computer owners have been raided throughout the country in this connection. Pedophilia is discussed in a very controversial way, In 1995, Rhdiger Lautmann, professor for sociology at the Bremen University, published his book "Die Lust am Kind". Since then he has been interviewed many times (and attacked). He is very supportive. This year Rainer Hoffmann published "Die Lebenswelt der Paedophilen", a scientific research on pedophile relationships. Both books give new views to the subject. Pedophilia seems to be realized increasingly as a genuine phenomenon and not only more as abuse, even in a few television broadcasts. There are two groups on national level (AG-P-BVH & AHS) and six groups on regional level: Berlin (two groups), Bremen, Nhrnberg, Mhnchen, and Thbingen. Some active members take care for prisoners and inmates of psychiatric hospitals. The groups in Bielefeld, Frankfurt, Hamburg and K`ln are not active or do not exist any more. In Dhsseldorf, another ‘group’ exists, the ‘Pedophile Self-help Group "Krumme 13" ‘. All other groups warn to contact this group because its leader is not trustworthy. The two groups in Berlin are different: the old group is a closed one with ‘older’ people; the new group is open and has more young and active members. FranceFrance has never recovered the scandalous abduction and murder of Pasteur Joseph Douce in1990. He it was who first established the Center du Christ Liberateur in France, for all sexual minorities including a group for pedophiles. Officially, nobody is accused of his murder; in fact, the authorities suspect it was authorized by a high police officer, but this is not said openly. Details of this crime are not available; only rumors go round. In the meantime, three books have appeared about the case. Since those events six years ago, there has been no association or group for pedophiles in France. Some persons have tried to establish branches of the new tolerant church: Eglise Oecumenique CCL/MCC France, the Metropolitan Community Church, which has been established in USA, GB, Australia and Germany for some time. The situation in Paris is now one of systematic intrusion by police, judiciary and media into the private life of anybody suspected of pedophile feelings or sympathy with pedophilia. The French law presupposes that nobody below the age of 15 could have - or want to have - any sexual relationship with someone above that age. Recently a man, condemned for many years of jail, has accepted chemical castration. For this action, he got special liberation on survey. More recently there have been 1500 house searches, leading to about 700 arrests for importing child pornography by the Internet. In the end, not the users but the editors are to be prosecuted. A letter from France to the meeting
These notes are from a French person who assisted the IPCE Meeting in Haarlem four years ago. I shall not be present at the meeting. The first aim or theme of this letter is security. The meetings are organized by groups established in countries (Denmark and Holland), where it seems to be possible yet to organize oneself in groups with the word pedophile in their name. In other countries, it is just suicide to organize or to be a member of a so-called group. I think of the people in Italy. If these so-called groups are possible in one country, do not think it is possible in another country. Speaking and informing about IPCE will ask for security and carefulness in most countries. If not, the result can be a disaster. By example, one should not give the IPCE Newsletters to unknown persons. Another example from France. A popular weekly magazine read an article in the xeroxed magazine Tantale about how to love a young girl. This magazine printed on its front page: "Nothing can stop the pedophiles any more! A magazine for children killers!". Some month later, the police raided Tantale with all the listings. Remember what happened in Sweden some years ago. The IPCE delegate sent information to a friend. His friend was arrested and raided and so information about IPCE came by the police. They transmitted it to the Swedish media. Journalists from Sweden arrived at the meeting in Amsterdam. Some people talked with these journalists. The result was negative. Thus, please, inform the delegates about a minimum set of securety rules. Remember CRIES/Espoir in Belgium: 700 subscribers of Espoir raided! I give some practical advises.
A special mentioning for those who wish to continue the use of the word pedophile in the name. I have been thinking since years and talked about it with friends. In my opinion, it is no more possible to use the word for a group or magazine. After 15 years of negative comment from the media, the word means now ‘children raper or murder’ for the public. Their reaction will be one of disgust and rejection. We cannot effectively fight against these media. In most countries, police will raid a group or magazine that calls itself Pedophile at the first opportunity. The members or subscribers will be considered as childrapers. The public will approve these police actions. Some persons with high responsibility like scientists, educators or writers, have a clear knowledge about adult-minor relationships. They do not take the risk to have an official link with ‘a pedophile group’, because they are suspected themselves. Really, the word is too dangerous. Ask a journalist for his meaning of the word… They do not know there are about 700 marriages involving minors every year in France, authorized by the Procureur de la République. The gay movement should work on the differences between hetero- and gay relations in many societies. Hetero’s can form a family with a minor; gay relationships with minors are forbidden and prosecuted; lesbian relationships with minors are ‘not seen’. They ‘cannot exist’. I will ask the meeting to discuss a moral code for persons and for groups. A quality standard is needed for every group. One should study the adult-minor relationships carefully and read many (good) books about it, before going to the public. This holds especially if one talks with the mass media. We need a guide or a booklet to do it good. Only really competent persons can do this. I would ask also a more quick and effective secretariat to exchange ideas more than once a year. Maybe other persons can help him. I hope these ideas are of some help for the meeting. One can contact me through the secretary. John from France PART II: THEME: How to react to the child abuse industry?A letter from AMBLAThe questions here are: What are we going to do to ourselves? What letters and ideas will I put on the IPCE List [see part III]? How do I get others enthused? How do we make allies? How do we attack the media? Who and how are we going to take to Court? What laws can I use? What Bill of Rights do we have? Can we use a Human Rights Act? Is there a standard that the broadcasting industry has to keep to? What about the printed media? Who are they responsible to? We have been far too long in the defensive; we have to go on the offensive. Not in a negative way, but be ‘positively-offensive’! Wake up, Freedom and Justice is calling you! The problemsEvery sexual act with children is seen as abuse, even if it is merely children playing with each other. The media are full of stories about 'child abuse' and the media are powerful. Many persons are prosecuted. Frequently huge claims for damages follow. This is becoming common in the USA, U.K., Germany, The Netherlands and in Australia. In this last, a government office, the Victims Compensation Tribunal, helps the ‘victims’ to claim and receive large sums of money. This can also be the case even if the adult is not convicted, as the standard of proof in such civil claims is much less that that required for a criminal prosecution. Many are prosecuted on false claims. This "Accident Compensation Scheme" is a source of money for young people, especially girls. The amounts of money are extremely high - especially if the 'abuser' was in some official capacity when it is then possible to sue an organization such as the Church or a Local Authority. The whole thing is becoming too easy: if a therapist signs a paper, the prosecutor will believe it. In the U.K. the Criminal Compensation Board recently supported the claim of two young girls for damages against a teacher. It was only revealed to be a false claim when one of the girls admitted that the other had suggested the scheme as a way of, "getting a lot of money". The media are powerful. A person in Denmark went to Court against the journals that had mentioned him as "a pedophile" simply because he was a member of the DPA. He lost his case. The court claimed that the journals had made "a statement", not "an accusation". However, for the public "pedophile" is the same as "criminal". In addition, other DPA members protested without any success. How to react?First, you can keep informed. On the Internet, there is The Which-hunt List, managed by a professor and some recognized experts. These scientists demand proofs instead of rumors. You can read books and articles, for example about the credibility of the memory or witnesses, especially of children. It is important to gather serious documentation. If you have found something of importance, make summaries and spread the information. For instance, in Germany there is Lautman’s book which is positive as it dares to suggest that there is some differentiation between sexual abuse and consensual sexual contacts. However, in the whole of the U.K., there are only four copies of this book presently in the University’s libraries. We can do good work by translating and spreading such books. Gathering good documentation and literature is not difficult in this computer era. Spreading summaries on the Internet is cheap and effective. You should focus on Human or Children’s Rights (not on pedophilia). With good documentation, you win authority; people see you as an expert. If you work at this for three or four years, you can build up this kind of expertise. On the web, you can ask questions; frequently you will have an answer from someone within 24 hours - sometimes in minutes. Strong persons and organizations can help. For example organizations like VOCAL: Victims of Child Abuse Laws. In New Zealand, a woman, Felicity Goodyear-Smith of an organization named CDSA, has written an excellent book: "First do no harm". This woman was one of the speakers at a congress; she was taken very seriously. In fact, the psychologists have very different opinions; many of them are now beginning to doubt various aspects of the 'child abuse industry'. It is not necessary to do this work alone. If others protest, it will work better. If you feel that you would become too public in your own country then instead raise protests against injustices in other countries. It may be simpler and more powerful if someone in the U.K. protests about events in say, Holland via their Dutch Ambassador; conversely, Dutchmen can protest about things in UK through the British Ambassador. Can our own organizations do some work? Yes, said DPA, we edit our magazine and so does Martijn, which publishes O.K. in the Netherlands. It is important to have and show "a good mentality", thus do not publish too 'improper' pictures. Your members will like these, the public will not. For members and for the public different strategies have to be followed.
PART III: THEME: The use of the Internet for internal and external communicationThe meeting was told that Eagle and Isabel will represent the BerryList. To keep safe, Ted’s method of working should be advisable for use by an IPCE List. Suggestions from New ZealandMy proposal is that there is a central computer that communicates with all the boy-love and pedophile groups. This should not be available as a free discussion net for all. Members of organizations can bring forward submissions that are then distributed to all organizations for discussion and replies. This process can go back and forth until a common thread is found and followed. Common statements for the press can be formulated in this way and also documents or letters to world organizations. The organizations in their turn keep their members informed (through newsletters, but preferably by E-mail) of the global news and concerns. This can be used for regular meetings and conclusions referred back to central. In this way we are all involved and will be able to make the most of the talent that is available amongst all of us (and that is considerable, given the chance!). As I said above, this IPCE list should only be available to the pedophile and boy/girl love organizations, including the BerryList. The IPCE list is one of political, ethical and possibly spiritual exchange and power. One must always communicate on the IPCE list as if the Gestapo is listening in. So, nothing illegal must ever be discussed. Otherwise, you will give the Gestapo the best of tools to destroy you and the list. The BerryList with its experience and its membership will be able to help with setting up and organizing the principles to be followed. The success of the BerryList is only due to the very vigilant and careful managing of Ted. I hope to see it happen, I am looking forward to this. The BerryListThis list can be a model for an IPCE List. It is a private mailing list by E-mail. Membership comprises about 40 boy/girl love activists in many countries. They send messages to the moderator of the list. He removes the headers that identify the sender and then sends the messages to everybody on the list. Each day between 5 to 10 messages are exchanged. This is extremely effective: far quicker and cheaper than a hardcopy Newsletter sent by post. It is also safer. Only the moderator (and one other safe person in another country as backup) will know the E-mail addresses of the members. The moderator will set out the FAQS (i.e. the policy of the group and stipulations on the nature of posts - no pictures no illegal material etc. The messages are news items that can have implications for other countries or organizations and ideas, opinions and the like. Membership to the list will be by invitation only. No other persons can read the messages. It is a private, not a public list. An IPCE Web site?A web site or home page is a page or a set of pages on the Internet that is accessible for everyone who cares to surf the net and find the site. Only the maker or the owner of the site decides what he/she puts on the site. The Munich group has a web site, which has been accessed about 15,000 times in the past year. An IPCE Web site should give an IPCE message to everyone who wants to read it. However, IPCE is only a meeting point for organizations. Is it not better that every organization has its own site or page? Every organization can give its own message in its own terms and language. If IPCE as a whole has to make a text, it could take a long time for deliberation as the text would have to be passed around for approval. Moreover, if IPCE had it's own web page, this would change the nature of the organization. The meeting decides
To make the next Newsletters in three ways: To start an IPCE List for (delegates from) organizations, if possible at least one in each country. This list can be for news items and for discussions. One of the first discussion points for this list is the making of an IPCE Web site. Now no IPCE web site shall be made. Frans, who will continue his task as the IPCE secretary is asked to make the next Newsletters in the three ways mentioned. Ricky will be the co-secretary and the starter of the IPCE list. All persons who want to go on this list should e-mail Ricky after one week from the end of this meeting. (To enable him to get home first). AMBLA will be the reserve organization for this work. The BerryList shall be a member of the IPCE List. Why has there been no IPCE List?Ricky comments:At the Copenhagen meeting I asked everybody who was interested in an IPCE list to contact me by e-mail once I had got home. I did not receive any additional posts which meant that everybody interested in an IPCE list was already on the BerryList so that, as all posts were going to be sent to the BerryList (see above) any new list would only have duplicated the messages already being put out on the BerryList to the same people. However, the situation changed when the news reports were taken off the BerryList and sent instead to BL News where only about a quarter of those on the BerryList elected to receive them. That coincided with Frans getting his computer. We hoped that there would then be better communication between the Secretary (Frans) and the IPCE List moderator (me). We had hoped to get the IPCE list running as soon as Frans became proficient so that information could be passed and checked between us. However, that took longer than expected because to troubles with comparability etc. Then personal problems which meant that we are only now ready to start the list and this might as well wait until the IPCE Conference where I hope to have detailed proposals for the construction of a comprehensive network of political and other information. PART IV: How to survive?Connect with broader movementsIn most countries there are civil liberty movements which one can join either as an individual or a group. However many, such as Amnesty International, do not recognize pedophiles as a suppressed group as they claim that if they did so, they would lose the support of many other contributors. It is for this reason that AI refused to support Pasteur Doucé .In Denmark some people are actively attempting to exclude gays from the help of Amnesty. Maybe some organizations can support pedophiles, but not openly and in public. Try to win court casesThis is a difficult and expensive way, but if one wins a case, the highest authorities like the European Court acknowledge some rights. However, if you lose the case, there will be a precedent. It is difficult, for example, to fight against a journal; journals have enough money for their lawyers. Journals like publicity, for us publicity can be disastrous. Build a well-informed organizationNational workgroups have to gather much information. One should read the journals and gather articles and facts. One should know who are the good organizations, magazines and journalists. One should gather the good books, articles and research reports. One should know which country's customs authorities refuse to allow the import of certain books. How to survive as a local group?One of the local groups represented at the meeting had its meetings at the local gay organization. However, people did not dare to enter that place. Thus, they now meet in a private home. People want to be seen as an individual, not as a member of a group. The Athens group decided to put its ideas forward on TV. That was not a good strategy: it was nearly the end of the group. A German group put an advertisement on the bulletin board of the Local University. Immediately the advertisement was removed and it was mentioned in an article in the gutter press. However, this publicity gave the group some new members. The Munich group works within a broader movement, the Gay Organization VSG. VSG supports the group as long as this group does not ask ‘too much’. In Denmark this strategy did not work. The Gay Organization removed the DPA. This was done especially by some lesbians who fought fanatically against the DPA. Many women will not even try to see the difference between consensual pedophile contacts and child sexual abuse. Gay men are usually a little more understanding. But are usually only willing to 'come out' with this support publicly. A German delegate tells about a meeting of the Local Gay Organization full of opponents. There was not any room for any nuance, or for putting forward the positive results of research reports. Because of the crying and shouting women, discussion was impossible. Thus, the meeting decided not to support the local pedophile group. Only some individuals gave support as private persons by forming a support group.The ideas and the climate or culture in the gay organizations differs from place to place and from country to country. A general strategy is not possible. Supposedly in the South European countries, some support might be possible. The Amsterdam Workgroup had the support of the NVSH Amsterdam for a long time, but this is rapidly changing now. Many of the contributors to the local NVSH Magazine have written slanderous articles about the group. The local board refused to be host IPCE last year. The member’s meeting criticized this and the board resigned. A new board has been elected and they are trying to build a bridge between the group and its opponents. It is difficult and the outcome is, as yet, unsure. Dangers for a group can come from within the group also. Quarrels between the members can split a group. Informal groups or people, who violate the law and get publicity, can damage the whole group. Thus, most groups have a code for members and visitors. It is advisable to split carefully the work of the group and the private matters of the members. It is advisable to keep the private relationships private and to be carefully with contacts among the members. In the past the young friends of a member can tend to go from one group member to another and then to the next member… If this happens then it becomes exactly what the outsiders think; they see ‘a ring’. This is dangerous for the whole group; it can be better then to break up the group. For survival one has to think and work on the long term – thus, sometimes one has to be severe with each other in the short term. PART V. THEME: The Relations with the Gay MovementGreeceThere are four Gay Organizations in Greece.
SwedenPAG was the Gay Organization in Sweden. It became gradually more mainstream and especially anti-P. All minority groups were banned from the organization. Even the Lesbians started their own organization. Ultimately PAG itself ceased to exist. And there is now no national gay organization. We get some support from some individuals and little groups. Most of the existing gay groups are hostile. The United KingdomAll the gay organizations in the U.K. are officially against pedophilia; in fact, they are quite conservative. They were shocked by the proposals about registering "sex offenders" but only by the fact that the register included crimes, which they considered 'consentual', so that they could be seen as offenders too. Nevertheless, there was no dialogue with pedophiles even though they attended meeting of activist groups orgsanised by Liberty (Nation council for Civil Liberties). They react as the whole of the rest of society does, for example like the bank which refused PIE an account. Only one group (Peter Tatchell of Outrage) is talking about an age of consent lower than 16. DenmarkOnce the gay movement was more or less radical, but now they have their basic rights, their interest in politics and other’s rights is minimal. There was a debate about pornography, in which we met good partners with whom to speak. The NetherlandsThe situation differs from place to place. Three local workgroups have good relations with the local gay organization NVIH-COC; some groups can gather in their offices. In other cities this is not permitted, and in these places there is no contact between their branches of COC. On the national level, the national NVIH-COC had promised to defend the pedophile groups in ILGA, but in fact, they did not do so "for strategic reasons". GermanyHere the relationship is better than in other countries. VSG supported the Munich group, even with money and in lending them a room. The national gay organization BVH has the national German ped-group in his ranks. The SVD however, is anti-ped, with the exception of some libertarian left-wing people. Recently, a National Lesbian Conference refused to accept a group of pedophile women. The situation differs here also from place to place. In Bremen and Tübingen the local groups meet in rooms of a gay organization; in Bielefd, for instance, this is not possible. The BVH has some trouble now because of the lack of interest by its members, except the pedophile ones. BVH is thinking now that it should either close down, or to become more radical, or to undertake only some services for the members. The AgemP, the national German Ped-group, is thinking of the possibility of becoming independent or to move to the AHS. New ZealandThere is no connection between AMBLA and the Gay movement. Central and South AmericaHere is more room for the pedophile ideas among the gays, but there are no organized groups there. A New Gay Organization?The International Lesbian and Gay Association (ILGA) expelled all Ped-connected organizations in an effort to placate the USA and keep its NGO status with the UN. It has become a highly centralized organization with much use of power and manipulating of procedures. Most of the groups in the USA acquiesced but a number of representatives of European gay and lesbian organizations held a counter-revolutionary conference in Athens in July 1995. They discussed setting up a new international organization as an alternative for ILGA. Groups seeking integration of ‘lesbians’ and ‘gay men’ into society dominate ILGA whereas the new organization will liberate homosexuality (in everyone) and sexuality in general. This idea goes back to the original principles of the gay liberation movement of the sixties. One of the basic principles should be the solidarity with minorities within this movement. Whilst working against the oppression of homosexuality in society, we will not in turn oppress ‘our’ minority groups, including pedophiles. We will observe the differences between countries and cultures as we see diversity as a great potential strength. We will facilitate communication and work for common aims. Democracy should be a first principle of the organization. Everybody should speak freely and listen respectfully to each other. There should be as little bureaucracy as possible and as much room as possible for minority groups and cultural differences. We should strive for consensus in decision making. Solidarity will be the second principle. We will help all oppressed people because of their homosexuality. We will cooperate with liberation groups and non-gay organizations. We suggest a membership organization, made up of groups around the world, which is governed by decisions made by delegates and run according to a constitution. The two languages of the organization will be English and Spanish and in the name of the organization, we see reflected the aim of liberation of homosexuality in everyone. The names could be IOLH, International Organization for the Liberation of Homosexuality and OILH, Organizacion Internacional por la Liberacion de la Homosexualidad. DiscussionThe Stonewall movement has similar ideas. One of these is to view human beings, not as ‘homosexual’ or 'heterosexual', but as ‘pansexual’. These ideas can be shared by at least a part of the meeting. Identities like ‘homo’ or ‘hetero’ are confusing and give problems to teenagers who ask themselves "Am I the one or the other?" instead of asking perhaps, "How much of one and how much of the other? " and from that, "Does it matter?" However, the majority of the ILOH delegates in Athens chose to maintain the term 'homosexual' in the name. The meeting expressed some doubt if the gay movement has had any success. "Every child or teen is afraid to be a gay." "Gays live in ghetto’s, in a subculture. Is it gay liberation to dance in an apart disco with other gays?" The labeling comes from society. They label us. This works… as long as we accept these labels and label ourselves too. "When people ask me ‘Are you a pedophile?’, I at first ask how they define this word. If it is tightly defined, I refuse this label; if it is formulated broadly, I can accept it." "The same holds for organizations: one should base an organization not on a small label (‘P’) only, but as broad as possible." The new movement is still in its early stages. One expects it to grow ‘naturally’. One expects that there will be new members, new organizations joining from those who refuse to sign the anti-ped declaration which ILGA demands. Many organizations have refused already. ILGA is thinking now what to do. However, the new movement will not provoke ILGA. A problem was seen in the more radical subgroups of the new movement. What if they defend pedosexual acts, which we reject? Would the movement not be attacked from the outside or exposed from the inside? No, the movement should not accept everything, not real abuse. We do not expect that these kinds of people will come to our movement. It should be noted that the new organization is not intended as an action group, but a discussion platform. One delegate gave a potted history of the gay liberation movement. At the start, it was really a liberation movement. However, when the lesbians and feminists were integrated they changed the nature of the movement into one of oppressive ideas. Ironically their oppression was similar to that which they claimed had historically oppressed women. This has not changed even now. In several organizations, the lesbians have their own groups with their own executive - they are apart. In Sweden, for instance, the men and the women in the gay/lesbian organizations are almost at each others throats. The Lesbians isolate themselves. However, one has to recognize that many Gays are misogynous and not all gays are nice and polite to women. These women, oppressed themselves, become blind with hatred. The same women have a narrow vision of pedophiles, as men who can only abuse children. These ladies however, have much influence. We cannot learn from the lesbians. Their sexuality is not criminalized, simply its existence is denied. Their situation therefore differs from ours. Radical freedom is an ideal of some people, but not for all. Radical freedom has it limits in the equal freedom of others. Thus, we do not aim for radical freedom, but only the acceptation of consensual sexuality. However, this can even be a problem if you focus (or people think you focus) only or exclusively on sexuality. With this supposed focus, every friendship becomes suspect. In addition, if you focus on sexuality alone, you will never have real friends. Is it not better then, to speak of erotic liberation? No, not if you define sexuality broadly. However, if you do this, every cuddle, ever sitting on the lap, can be seen as sexual and therefore suspect. That is exactly what is happening now in society, especially at school. If we define sexuality in a broad sense, others will behold their small interpretation. Laws have small interpretations too. We tend to use broader concepts and to place these in a broader context. Terms like "JORis" (Youth Adult Relations, intimacy, sexuality) or "Intergenerational consensual relationships" are the result of these ideas. Results of the discussionThe new organization has our best wishes. A small doubt exists about the limitation of emphasizing homosexuality instead of sexuality. A lot of discussion is needed about the strategy for liberation. The new movement is founded on the ideas of the Sixties, but it needs a strategy for the Nineties. A platform is certainly needed for this discussion. An alternative to ILGA is surely needed. ILGA is in deep trouble now, externally - because, despite kowtowing to the US and UN demands, they still have not got their cherished UN NGO status, and internally - because so many of the affiliated organizations have now refused to sign the anti-Ped-declaration). Thus, IPCE wished the new initiative every success. PART VI. IPCE decides about IPCEIntroductionAt the meeting in 1995, the delegates decided a preliminary set of rules and regulations for IPCE. This was continued in 1996. This meeting changed the rule about the voting rights and added some other rules. Both meetings decided to reject the annual proposals to change the name of IPCE into a name without the "P" (for ideological and safety reasons). In this part of the minutes, I repeat the decisions made in 1995 with the amendments and the new rules made in 1996. Thus, the next text gives The IPCE rules and regulations as a whole.
A. The IPCE rules and regulations1. Name and purposeInternational Pedophile and Child Emancipation, (IPCE), is an international platform for cooperation between organizations dealing with the emancipation of pedophiles, children and youth. IPCE lawful aims are for free consensual intergenerational relationships. The purpose of IPCE is to exchange opinions and ideas, to share information and to coordinate political and other strategies. 2. MembershipMembers of IPCE can be national and/or local organizations that support the IPCE purposes on their application for membership. Candidate members can be individual persons who live in a country in which there is no IPCE-member organization. The secretary of IPCE takes a preliminary decision on all applications for membership and reports these to the next annual meeting. This meeting then decides on the membership. The secretary sends a yearly list of members to all other members giving only the name and the country and names of member organizations and the number and countries or origin of the candidate-members. 3. The secretaryThe annual meeting appoints a secretary for the period until the next meeting. The secretary must be a member of an IPCE-member organization. The responsibility for the function of secretary is shared by his or her organization. 4. Admission to the meetingMember organizations can only be represented by appointed delegates; individual candidate members can only represent themselves. Application for attending the meeting must be sent to the secretary or hosting organization in due time. Admission can be denied if no application is received or if the secretary does not advise membership. Visitors can be introduced at the responsibility of the secretary or of a (candidate) member with the approval of the secretary. The secretary has to check the approval of the nearest member. The meeting can accept or reject visitors. 5. Voting rightsEach Delegate may vote at a meeting. A member organization, which has the official status of an organization, has at least one vote. Additionally they may have one vote for every second or third hundreds paying members of the organization, with a maximum of three votes (The 1997 meeting added this cursive rule). A candidate member has one vote in the meeting, but if one country has more than one candidate member attending the meeting then the candidate members from that country have one vote together. The meeting will vote on request of one of the delegates present, but the meeting will always search for consensus before a motion is put to the vote. Any member can request voting on proposals concerning IPCE. 6. The NewsletterThe secretary issues at least two Newsletters a year, sent by E-mail or diskette, and at least one a year, printed on paper and sent by post. The first Newsletter contains the reports of the annual meeting and will come as soon as possible after the meeting. The printed Newsletter is posted as printed matter if requested by the receiver. Invitations for the meeting will, if sent by post, be posted as closed letters. Subscribers who have paid for the Newsletter and who are trusted will receive it. The secretary can send the Newsletters free to others who lack money and make a request for it. The front page of the Newsletter shall only contain the logo "IPCE" in small letters and not the full title. However the full title or any part can be used freely inside the Newsletter. Under no circumstances will the secretary print anything which is illegal in any country to which the newsletter is to be sent.. Writers in the Newsletter have to be aware of the existence of conspiracy laws in some countries. 7. IPCE ListThe 1996 annual meeting decided to form an E-mail Internet list. The annual meeting appoints a moderator for this list. The moderator will work in conjunction with the secretary to distribute the Newsletter and any other IPCE information that may be legally distributed. 8. LanguageThe Newsletter, the papers and the discussions during the meeting are in English. If needed, the secretary will try to have papers translated by one of the members. 9. ContributionThe annual IPCE meeting will decide on the scale of contributions for the following year. The contribution has to be paid to the secretary in advance, but not later than during the annual meeting. For member organizations the amount of the contribution is multiplied by the number of votes, they have in the meeting. The secretary can reduce the contribution for candidate members at their request. If however, this reduced contribution is still unaffordable by the individual member, the meeting will decide on the contribution to be paid.. 10. The organization and safety of the meetingThe annual meeting chooses the member association that is responsible for the local organization of the meeting on the following year. This member association provides a good meeting place and is responsible for the safety within the premises. Rent for the meeting place is to be paid from the IPCE contribution. The organizing association is not responsible for lodging, but provides adequate tourist information. The guests at the meeting are free to bring and eat their own food and drinks and are not obliged to buy from the host. The meeting will be undertaken according the laws of the hosting country. Illegal acts, following the laws in the hosting country, are strictly forbidden. Use of photo, film, video and audio recorders without explicit permission of all the delegates attending the meeting is strictly prohibited. B. Decisions of the Meeting for now and the next yearThe secretary The moderator and co-secretary The contribution The accounts, The next meeting The next host Themes (a) the experience of organizations working with web sites, (b) an IPCE site? (c) the new gay organization and (d) other themes. Motion C. Evaluation of the MeetingThanks to our host, the DPA for the perfect location and organization of the meeting in this beautiful town. Thanks to Frans for his secretaryship and leadership during the meeting. Thanks to all who gave their time and energy to agree about the basic IPCE rules and regulations. Thanks to Ricky for his constructive proposals, which helped us to reach consensus. Thanks to all delegates who spend much time and money to come to the meeting. Depressive feelings were reported by several delegates, especially upon hearing the reports from the countries. We had hoped to hear some positive items, but things go worse everywhere. Some delegates said the discussions about the internal rules were unpleasant and too time consuming. Other delegates expressed their dissatisfaction about the lack of punctuality (Punktualität) of the meeting upon several occasions, particularly at the failure of many to arrive at the appointed hour to start; only the host and the secretary were present at these moments. If we spend so much money and time to come here, let us work more effectively and productively. Several delegates however reported positive feelings and encouragement. They commented that it was goods to meet nice people, to find new ways of communication, to get ideas and to feel companionship. Many delegated pleaded that, now we have decided about our internal rules and regulations, we should spend to more time on these so that we can spend our time the next meeting for more external matters.
PART VII: Financial report of IPCEFrom July 1 1995 until July 1 1996
The financial controls commission of NVSH lwg JORis controlled this report. The IPCE Meeting at July 1996 accepted the report. The secretary signs it, Frans Documentation Service List July 1997 |
