Renewed calls to ban pedophile manual in Netherlands

Foundation Strijd tegen Misbruik is demanding that the Netherlands bans the pedophile manual - an over 1 thousand page handbook which explains in detail how pedophiles can lure, groom, and abuse children, and how to do so without anyone finding out. The foundation against abuse will take the matter to court if the government refuses to intervene, AD reports.

Minister Ferdinand Grapperhaus of Justice and Security previously looked into whether the pedophile manual can be banned, but said that lawyers in his department concluded that a ban is impossible because the manual contains no criminal material, according to the newspaper.

But Strijd tegen Misbruik, which previously managed to get pedophile association Martijn banned after years of legal battles, does not accept this conclusion. The foundation sees many similarities between the pedophile manual and Martijn. The manual contains similar information as what was shared within the pedophile association. Strijd tegen Misbruik already sent a letter to the Tweede Kamer, the lower house of Dutch parliament, calling on the parliamentarians to ban the pedophile manual. If this does not work, the foundation will take the matter to court.

The pedophile manual has been available on the dark web for many years. It is widely shared on dark web networks focused specifically on Dutch children being sexually abused, according to RTL. Newspaper AD also managed to easily find parts of the manual through regular search engines like Google.

Legal expert Yme Drost, who helped Strijd tegen Misbruik in its fight to ban Martijn, finds it outrageous that the call to ban the pedophile manual is met with resistance from politicians. "If parents in the Netherlands knew the contents of this book - which they definitely should not read by the way - the country would be turned upside down", Drost said to AD.

In the fight against Martijn, Dutch politicians also did not seem to see the need for a ban. Drost stressed that he did not give up then and is determined to continue fighting against the pedophile manual now. The book is already banned in the United Kingdom, so there is precedent. Drost believes he can appeal to the Lanzarote treaty, in which countries agreed to protect children against sexual exploitation and -abuse, to force a ban.