Parliament votes in favor of banning child-like sex dolls

Members of the Tweede Kamer, the lower house of Dutch parliament, supported an amendment on Tuesday that would result in a ban on sex dolls made to look like children. The amendment states that anyone owning or selling dolls that look like children which are meant for sexual acts could be sentenced to four years in prison.

“Research from the United Kingdom shows that 75 percent of cases which include a child sex doll also results in child pornography being found,” said the amendment's sponsor, MP Ingrid Michon-Derkzen (VVD), in a committee debate last Wednesday. “I just want us to eradicate this terrible thing that exists in our world with everything we have.”

Outgoing Minister of Justice Dilan Yeşilgöz has wanted the ban for years. She wanted to use the Sexual Offenses Act, which has been in effect since March, but she decided against the ban when she found that she had to first notify the European Commission on time.

“That is a lot more complicated than we had initially expected,” the minister said last week. She promised to speed up the process regarding the new law. "We are further ahead than most other countries.”

Michon-Derkzen thinks that it is taking too long to move forward with the law that would ensure that the dolls are banned. She referred to other European countries that already have a similar ban on child sex dolls.

She thinks that the Netherlands is somewhat behind on this issue. The amendment is connected to a law that is meant to combat child pornography.