Name: Child sexual abuse: Time limits to prosecute fragmented across EU
Uploaded: 2025-12-17T15:41:46.551Z
Duration: 1 min 30 s
Description: A new damning report calls on all EU member states to write off, or at least extend, child sex crime limitation periods.

A new damning report calls on all EU member states to write off, or at least extend, child sex crime limitation periods.

Brussels

Statutes of limitations for prosecuting child sexual abuse cases differ significantly across the European Union, creating barriers for many survivors who often take decades to come forward. While countries such as Belgium, Hungary, and Denmark have abolished limitation periods for most or all cases, others retain strict deadlines that can prevent victims from pressing charges if they disclose abuse later in life.

The legislative landscape remains fragmented, with some countries starting the limitation period only when victims reach adulthood, and others beginning the clock at the time of the crime. This inconsistency results in unequal access to justice for survivors depending on where they live within the EU.

Child sexual abuse: Time limits to prosecute fragmented across EU

Time bars justice for child sexual abuse victims across the EU. Child sexual abuse is widespread in the EU with one in five children affected. For many survivors, speaking out can take decades. Victims file their criminal reports when they are 52 on average, if they choose to disclose at all. For many, it means that the clock of justice has already run out, because the statute of limitations has expired, barring them from pressing charges. The legislative picture in the EU is extremely fragmented, which creates what's been defined as a postcode lottery for victims who want to seek justice. In countries like Belgium, Hungary and Denmark, limitation periods have been abolished for most, if not all, cases of child sexual abuse. Others have only removed it for the most serious offences. In the rest of the EU, limitation periods still apply to all child sexual offences. In some of these countries, however, the clock doesn't start ticking until the victim reaches adulthood. In Germany, the most serious crimes can be prosecuted till the victim turns 60. In Spain, the limit is 55, 48 in France and 46 in Italy. Other countries like Finland, Slovakia and Bulgaria have been classified as the least safe in this sense as the limitation period starts the moment the crime is committed.

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