The risk of sex offenders working with children could be heightened by the lack of
communication between EU countries, as there is currently no system to share the
criminal records of known offenders. In just one month in 2004, over 17,000 people
from EU states came to the UK looking to work with children or vulnerable adults.
Due to the freedom of movement rights held by EU citizens, these workers can
move between EU countries without limitations. However, this also applies to
criminals whose backgrounds are not being fully researched before they are allowed to immigrate and search for work.
This issue was also raised in the report 'Protecting Children from Sexual Abuse in
Europe: Safer Recruitment of Workers in a Border-free Europe’, where it was
suggested that "Although most of these individuals will be law-abiding citizens it is
likely a small proportion of convicted or potential sex offenders will be among
migrant workers, as with any national population"