Nine out of ten children between the ages of 8 and 16 have viewed pornography on the Internet, a conference on child pornography in Dublin has heard.
The Child Pornography Forum was organised by the International Centre for Missing Children (ICMC), whose vice chairperson is Mary Banotti MEP, and was held in the European Parliament's offices in Dublin today.
Attended by a team of experts on the issues involved with child pornography, the one-day conference is being held to raise awareness within the international community and develop strategies needed to protect children.
Ms Banotti said: "Child pornography is a very serious problem and we urgently need an effective global approach to deal with it."
The ICMC was set up by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children which provides information on missing children and lobbies for stronger laws for the protection of children.
The conference was opened today by Mr Brian Lenihan TD, Minister of State at the Department of Health & Childcare.