Minister gets tough on child sex tourists, passports may be taken

Justice minister Ivo Opstelten on Thursday announced a package of measures to get tough on child sex tourism, including confiscating the passports of repeat offenders.

Opstelten wants to ensure Dutch officials work more closely with countries where child sex tourism is common, such as Brazil, Thailand, the Philippines and India. This will include deploying police experts to help track down offenders, the minister said.

In addition, paedophiles who are thought to have a high risk of reoffending could lose their passports and face longer monitoring by the probation services.

Foreign employers will also be able to ask Dutch job applicants for a declaration of good behaviour if they are to work with children.

The minister also wants to improve the international registration of offenders and the way information is exchanged between countries.

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