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April 9th, 2014

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Danish police last year passed on to Interpol the identities of 35 Danish children whose pornographic photos were shared on the internet – a small number compared to its neighbours. Interpol’s ICSE database received nearly 4,000 identifications from across the continent, including 177 from Norway and 238 from Sweden.

Anders Persson, the long-time head of Interpol’s child pornography division who now works for Sweden’s national police force Rikskriminalpolisen, said that his neighbours need to take a hard look at themselves.

No excuses
"There is no explanation for the Danish figures being so low,” Persson told MetroXpress newspaper. “I am sure that cases are not being reported by local jurisdictions.”

A spokesperson for child welfare organisation Red Barnet said that most child pornography is shared by the abusers themselves, and that the lack of cases being reported by Denmark is a major concern.

“I suspect that Danish police are not reporting every share,” Kuno Sørensen told MetroXpress. “Every time a photo is shared, the victim is violated again.”

Danish explanation “nonsense”
In his defence, Flemming Kjærside, the head of IT at Rigspolitiet, the Danish national police department, said that only three to five of the victims are new cases.

“There can be many reasons why many more victims are reported by Norway and Sweden,” Kjærside told MetroXpress.

"The laws could be different and we have at least as many victims that we have not reported because their pictures haven’t been shared.”

But Persson isn’t buying into the idea that the number of shares reported by the Nordic states could be so different.

“It is nonsense that paedophiles keep child pornography to themselves. They share it,” he said.

MPs demand answers
Members of two radically different political parties, the left-wing Socialistisk Folkeparti (SF) and right-wing Dansk Folkeparti (DF), have found common ground in demanding an explanation from Karen Hækkerup, the justice minister, as to why Danish police have identified far fewer victims of child pornography than their Nordic counterparts.

READ MORE: Danes tied to large international child porn ring

“This is about children, so we need to use every means possible to find the victims and prosecute the guilty,” SF spokesperson Karina Lorentzen told MetroXpress. “It is simply wrong that victims of child pornography must live with images of their abuse being shared.”

DF said that they will demand a written explanation from the Justice Ministry.

“This is disgusting,” DF party head Peter Skaarup told MetroXpress.