It is too easy for convicted child sex offenders to move abroad and abuse children there, either while on holiday or while doing voluntary work, according to a new report.

The Netherlands should therefore withdraw the passports of convicted paedophiles with a high risk of reoffending, the report by the government’s human trafficking and child abuse monitor, says.

The report says the government should be doing more to protect children from sex tourists as there are currently few barriers to stop convicted paedophiles moving abroad.

Plane tickets are cheap and easy to buy and developing countries welcome the setting up of schools and orphanages, the report states.

Children’s rights

But the Netherland has an obligation under children’s rights treaties to work to prevent this, the report states.

Of the 2,340 Dutch people in foreign jails or on probation at the time the report was compiled, 34 had been found guilty of child sex crimes.

As well as withholding passports, the Netherlands could also require convicted sex offenders to report regularly to the Dutch authorities and extend exclusion zones to schools and playgrounds abroad. However, this will be difficult to monitor, the report points out.

In addition, the Dutch certificate of good behaviour, which all people who work with children are required to have, should also be available in English, the report states.