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ECPAT International Invited To Participate In A Public
Symposium On Child Pornography/Child Abuse Images At The Japanese Diet In
Tokyo
On 14 February 2012, ECPAT International’s Executive Director and Legal
Programme Officer participated in a symposium at the National Diet of
Japan on the issue of child pornography/child abuse materials in Tokyo.
This symposium, organised by ECPAT/STOP Japan with the support of several
partners including the Embassy of Sweden, The Body Shop Japan, The Japan
Committee for UNICEF and ECPAT Japan Kansai, brought together 60
participants from government agencies, foreign embassies (Sweden, Canada
and the UK), civil society organisations as well as representatives of
the private sector to discuss about the necessity of reforming the
Japanese legislation covering child pornography/child abuse materials.
Five key Members of the Diet attended the symposium and interacted with
the presenters and the audience.
The presentations focused on the importance of the harmonisation of
Japanese legislation addressing child pornography with the provisions of
relevant international legal standards ratified by Japan, especially in
relation to mere/simple possession of child pornography, which is still
legal. It was highlighted that as long as mere possession is not
criminalised, it will fuel the demand for child abuse materials, and will
be a major obstacle to criminal investigations as abuse materials
possessed for private use cannot be seized by Japanese law enforcement
agencies.
The presentations also underscored the importance of criminalising the
intentional access and viewing of child pornography as well as virtual
child pornography (cartoons, anime, video games, drawings, etc.),
especially as such materials, which are massively produced in Japan and
consumed all around the world, foster social tolerance towards child
sexual exploitation and can be used by child sex abusers to groom
children (solicit children online for sexual purposes).
Participating Members of the Diet provided background information on
previous endeavours to prohibit mere possession of child abuse materials
and virtual child pornography. They also confirmed their interest in
moving forward towards the development of a legislation that complies,
like many countries in different regions of the world, with relevant
international legal standards.
ECPAT/STOP Japan, in collaboration with ECPAT International, will follow
up on the outcomes of the symposium to ensure that legal reform
initiatives relating to child pornography/child abuse materials are kept
as a priority on the political agenda.
ECPAT UK Response to Calls for Review into Care for Child
Victims of Trafficking
On 16 February 2012, ECPAT UK welcomed the UK Government’s decision to
ask the Children’s Commissioner for England to conduct a review of how
child victims of trafficking are looked after when they are rescued in
the UK.
Director of ECPAT UK, Christine Beddoe said, ‘The call for a system of
guardianship for child victims of trafficking has been an integral part
of ECPAT UK’s campaigning for more than four years’.
ECPAT UK looks forward to working with the Children’s Commissioner to
ensure that there is an independent, thorough review of the care and
support provided to child victims of trafficking, one that the government
ensures is adequately resourced. Our goal remains to ensure that
child victims of trafficking are provided with all the support that they
need and deserve to recover from the trauma of their experiences, and to
help rebuild their lives.
‘It is pleasing to see that the government has requested that the
Department for Education calls for the review as opposed to the Home
Office. For too long child trafficking has been seen as an
immigration issue, rather than one of child protection. We hope that this
development represents a willingness by the Government to put children’s
rights at the heart of its work to support child victims of trafficking’.
For full press release, please click here.
Certification of School on Safe Internet Projects in the CIS
Region
In February 2012, under the frame of the ECPAT/Body Shop project
‘Certification of Internet-Safe Schools (CISS)’ started Training of
Trainer (ToT) preparations for young people for work with their peers in
pilot schools in Ukraine. Every Sunday, children from Kiev and Brovary
gather together for learning, sharing experiences and discussions.
Professional trainers carry out trainings and explain the purpose of the
CISS project.
 
As part of the CISS project, the School of Equal
Opportunities in cooperation with Kiev City Centre of Social
Services for Youth and Children organised a forum on how to access
the Internet safely. Sponsors of the forum included mobile company
Kyivstar, the ECPAT Affiliate group, La Strada Ukraine and the City
Administration of Kiev. More than 150 children and teachers from 10
schools participated in the forum, working in different sectors and
creating various projects on the topic.
  
In February, as part of the CISS project, a competition was
organised for students in various schools participating in the project in
Kiev. This competition was organised around European Safe Internet Day.
  
European Internet Safe Day in Belarus
In February 2012, the ECPAT Affiliate group, NGO ‘Children – not for
Abuse’ from Belarus, carried out several activities around the European
Day of Internet Safety. On 7 February, a training session was held on how
to access the Internet safely. During the training, teenagers became
acquainted with the dangers of the Internet and discussed ways to avoid
these dangers as well as possible assistance from both teachers and
parents. The President of the ‘Children – not for Abuse’, Ms Margarita
Prjahina together with the deputy chief of Department ‘K’ of the Ministry
of Internal Affairs, Mr Oleg Slepchenko, took part in a live broadcasted
discussion on the Belarus National portal TUT on the topics ‘Do social
networks represent a danger to youth’, where the problems of social
networks as a risk for children and youth, and possible use of networks
for preventive work were discussed.
On February 7, a partner of the ‘Children not for Abuse’ - the regional
centre of social services in Dzerzhinsk (the Minsk area) organised an
activity named ‘Online safety or how to survive in the virtual world’ for
teenagers. Police officers, representative from the public prosecution
office, and teachers and psychologists took part in discussions with
youth around this issue.
Finally, in line with the CISS project, five schools in the Minsk region
(Belarus) started drawing competitions around the topic ‘My Safe
Internet’.
  
ASSEJA Entering Into The National Committee For The
Prevention And The Fight Against Human Trafficking In Cameroon
On 30 December 2011, under the direction of the Prime Minister, 15
representatives from various ministries and NGOs, including the ECPAT
affiliate group in Cameroon, ASSEJA, met to evaluate the mechanism of
action against trafficking in persons in Cameroon. This second committee
meeting came after the adoption of the Law No. 2011/024 against human
trafficking on 14 December 2011 by the President of the Republic of
Cameroon. This committee is responsible for:
- Increasing repression efforts,
- Improving the legal framework
- Establishing a partnership between government and relevant NGOs
- Conducting an investigation on human trafficking in the northern part
of Cameroon
- Training the various stakeholders.
Two cases of trafficking and 115 cases of sexual exploitation were
reported to the committee as well as 1495 cases of sexual molestation, of
which 275 have been reported to courts and 687 rape cases, of which 412
have been presented to the courts. The police meanwhile have recently
treated 92 cases of trafficking. The Department of Justice has reported
numerous cases pending.
 
Training Seminar and Establishment of a Platform Fighting
Against GBV
From 1 to 3 February, ‘SOS Sexual Violence’, the ECPAT affiliate group in
Ivory Coast, was invited to a training workshop on gender-based violence
(GBV). Twenty-five people attended the training, including those from
state structures such as community centres, health centres, courts, and
remand centre of Abidjans, security forces (police and gendarmerie),
religious communities and NGOs. The training was organised by UNFPA in
collaboration with the Ivorian Ministry of Family, Women and Children.
The training was part of the 2012 Action Plan of ‘SOS Sexual Violence’,
and focused on building the capacity of the staff. This training aimed to
set up and reference and counter reference mechanism to address cases of
GBV. Over the three days, the training explored issues around the warning
system VSLC, the principle of ethics and safety, standard operating
procedure (SOP), and GBV IMS and GBV guidelines (including how to
identify these emergencies and develop warning systems). The last day
focused on practical-level coordination. The next meeting for the start
of operations of the platform was scheduled for the end of February.
  
Report On Online Safety of Children in
Moldova
In February, ECPAT partner La Strada Moldova released a report on
Internet Safety ‘Children in the Republic of Moldova—Alone online? Safe
Online?’, which reveals the aspects of (risky) behaviour of Moldovan
children on-line. The electronic version of the Report (English) can be found here. The Russian version of the report
will be available for download soon.
Ukrainian Communications Companies Sign a Code of Conduct
On 21 February, as a follow up of the ECPAT/Body Shop project which was
implemented in Ukraine in 2011, the Ukrainian information agency UNIAN in
Kiev and the ECPAT Affiliate group, La Strada Ukraine, with support of
the Ombudsman on Children Rights, organised an official signing of the
Code of Conduct for IT Providers. Several speakers were present at the
event, including the Ombudsman on Children Rights, Mr Y Pavlenko;
President of La Strada, Ms K. Levchenko; Director of Corporate Relations
of mobile communications company Kyivstar, Ms Z. Parhomenko;
Department Head of mobile company MTC Ukraine, Ms V. Ruban; and Head
of City Council on the Humanitarian Policy, Ms A. Shlapak.
Press from ten national TV channels and 15 radio and newspaper
journalists covered the event, which was widely covered through
Internet-based media as well.
 
Preventing CSEC during the 2012 Carnival in Rio de Janeiro
ECPAT Brazil, in an effort to prevent the Commercial Sexual Exploitation
of Children during the 2012 carnival in Rio de Janeiro, launched a
campaign called ‘CSEC is not samba’. ECPAT BRAZIL partnered with the Bus
Terminal of Rio de Janeiro, where 12,000 tourists were expected to
arrive. The campaign logo was featured on bandanas, posters, banners and
paper fans to encourage people to report any suspicions by dialling 100
or contacting the ‘Conselho Tutelar’ (local Children’s Protection Unit).
The materials were also distributed among taxi drivers, bus drivers and
transportation terminal personnel. Alongside the campaign, ECPAT Brazil
developed a two-day course that was conducted prior to carnival in Rio de
Janeiro. ECPAT’s message was for people to have a fun and healthy
carnival for children!
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