ECPAT Newsletter Dear Supporters….
December 1, 2000 ·
Autumn 2000 has seen some major developments for ECPAT. In September the Home Secretary announced amendments to the Register of Sex Offenders which included ECPAT’s concerns that British sex offenders are not required to register addresses they intend to travel to overseas and can consequently escape registration. This issue has now been addressed in the Criminal Justice and Court Services Act. However, the road to effective legislation has not been easy. The first draft of the amendment, put forward in September when the Bill was at Committee Stage in the House of Lords, did not include enough detail. In debate, Lord Hylton and Lord Brennan bathed out the issue on behalf of ECPAT with Home Office Minister, Lord Bassam. The final draft of the legislation was subsequently amended to ECPAT’s satisfaction and requires offenders to give details of their travel plans (such as date of departure, destination country and port of entry etc.). We owe Lord Brennan a particular debt of gratitude for his perseverance on our behalf in debate.
ECPAT’s second concern with the register, that offenders convicted overseas be required to register on their return to the UK, has been addressed in a series of consultations meetings.
