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AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - Dutch pedophiles are launching a political party to push for a cut in the legal age for sexual relations to 12 from 16 and the legalization of child pornography and sex with animals, sparking widespread outrage.

The Charity, Freedom and Diversity (NVD) party said on its Web site it would be officially registered Wednesday, proclaiming: "We are going to shake The Hague awake!"

The party said it wanted to cut the legal age for sexual relations to 12 and eventually scrap the limit altogether.

"A ban just makes children curious," Ad van den Berg, one of the party's founders, told the Algemeen Dagblad (AD) newspaper.

"We want to make pedophilia the subject of discussion," he said, adding the subject had been a taboo since the 1996 Marc Dutroux child abuse scandal in neighboring Belgium.

"We want to get into parliament so we have a voice. Other politicians only talk about us in a negative sense, as if we were criminals," Van den Berg told Reuters.

The Netherlands, which already has liberal policies on soft drugs, prostitution and gay marriage, was shocked by the plan.

An opinion poll published Tuesday showed that 82 percent wanted the government to do something to stop the new party, while 67 percent said promoting pedophilia should be illegal.

"They make out as if they want more rights for children. But their position that children should be allowed sexual contact from age 12 is of course just in their own interest," anti-pedophile campaigner Ireen van Engelen told the AD daily.

Right-wing lawmaker Geert Wilders said he had asked the government to investigate whether a party with such "sick ideas" could really be established, ANP news agency reported.

Kees van deer Staaij, a member of the Christian SGP party, also demanded action: "Pedophilia and child pornography should be taboo in every constitutional state. Breaking that will just create more victims and more serious ones."

The party wants private possession of child pornography to be allowed although it supports the ban on the trade of such materials. It also supports allowing pornography to be broadcast on daytime television, with only violent pornography limited to the late evening.

Toddlers should be given sex education and youths aged 16 and up should be allowed to appear in pornographic films and prostitute themselves. Sex with animals should be allowed although abuse of animals should remain illegal, the NVD said.

The party also said everybody should be allowed to go naked in public and promotes legalizing all soft and hard drugs and free train travel for all.

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An opinion poll published Tuesday showed that 82 percent wanted the government to do something to stop the new party, while 67 percent said promoting pedophilia should be illegal.

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Originally posted by PVS
that figure is based on whether or not such a political party should be outlawed, not whether or not its ok to watch kiddie porn and date children.

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Originally posted by Bardock42
Yes, I agree...I actually find it rather disturbing that the figures are that high....

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Originally posted by PVS
same here. however it gives me a sense of relief that americans are truly not the idiots of the earth. we just tend to be the mouthpiece for the practice of stripping our own civil liberties and begging our government to control us so that we dont have to decide whether or not to be a peadophile, nazi, kkk, communinst etc. it just seems that the western world in general is just plain sick of liberty.

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Originally posted by Bardock42
I suppose you could say it is one part of freedom to decide that you don't want it anymore....

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Originally posted by PVS
dont want what? kiddie porn and molestation? they are illegal already, so whats to decide? in a truly free society, people dont have the legal right to shut someone up just because they find their words offensive.

now, if it was something infectious, like a person riling up a mob and convincing them to do murder, thats another issue entirely. but really, who is going to decide to be a paedophile based on what some political party says? for that matter, how can you decide to have a mental disorder?

though they are in open support of an illegal activity, that in itself is not illegal.
if it was, then where is the line? should supporters of marijuana law reformation be banned and penalized?

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Toddlers should be given sex education

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Originally posted by Shakyamunison
We should be protecting children, not...

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Originally posted by PVS
there are laws set firmly to protect children.

what i find truly shocking is people's lack of trust and faith in their own community. the logic seems to be that all their friends, families, and neighbors will suddenly decide to be kiddie fondlers because of what some political party has to say.

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Originally posted by Bardock42
Are you sure we disagreed on free speech at some point?

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Originally posted by Phoenix2001
It almost sounds as if they want an anarchy.

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Originally posted by Bardock42
Not at all...to be honest, I found their arguments rather reasonable even.