Enforcing the takedown of abusive material is the logical way to go in protecting victims of child sex abuse, MEP Miriam Dalli said.

"Blocking doesn't help the victim... If we truly want to help victims, we must empower them with the ability of redress, which involves the judicial process,” she said.

Amongst the gaps identified in a European Parliament report is that internet service providers do not abide with takedown procedures.

The MEP was speaking in conjunction with the European Day on the Protection of Children against Sexual Exploitation and Sexual Abuse.

Dr Dalli, as the S&D spokesperson on the fight against Child Sexual Exploitation and Abuse online, has called for the utilisation of every possible resource to help combat this phenomena.

“This includes empowering society with the right tools, allowing citizens to report with ease abusive material to the authorities,” she said.

Dr Dalli said she believes that educating children about the risks online is an important preventive measure in the fight against criminals who target children for their own profit.

This week, the European Parliament's committee on civil liberties voted in favour of a report on the implementation of an EU directive combating child sexual exploitation and abuse online.

The report aims to help the EU institutions better understand the manner by which member states are implementing EU rules on combating sexual abuse. It looks at the various deficiencies and gaps in the implementation of the 2011 Directive on Combating the Sexual Abuse and Sexual Exploitation of Children and Child Pornography.

“Abuse is abuse, sexual abuse is sexual abuse and we must call it by its name. To continue to insist on calling child sexual abuse material 'child pornography' is a major insult to the thousands upon thousands of victims of this heinous crime,” Dr Dalli said.