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Regional Seminar on Combating Child Sexual Exploitation:
Legal Framework and International Cooperation in Bali, Indonesia
On 4-5 November 2011, National Coalition against CSEC, Affiliate ECPAT
group in Indonesia, organized The Regional Seminar on Combating Child
Sexual Exploitation: Legal Framework and International Cooperation held
in Bali, Indonesia. To view the report, please click here.
Meeting with a Delegation from the Swedish Parliament in
Bangkok
On 10 January, ECPAT Secretariat met with Members of the
Swedish Parliament representing the Moderaterna party (Conservative party
– currently in majority) on their visit to Bangkok and Vietnam. The
parliamentarians already had substantial knowledge about ECPAT’s work in
Sweden and took this opportunity to learn more about the ECPAT network’s
actions and approaches in addressing issues such as child sex tourism,
child trafficking for sexual purposes, and child pornography/child abuse
images at the international level, with specific cases from Southeast
Asia. In addition, the Secretariat highlighted the importance of the
continuous support received by ECPAT International from the Swedish
Development Agency (SIDA) to conduct its programmes and projects to
prevent and combat CSEC. The delegation also expressed appreciation for
the ECPAT network’s dedication and work through the years on the issue of
commercial sexual exploitation of children.
ECPAT USA launches video about the lack of adequate child
sex trafficking laws in the U.S.
Children under 18 years old who are sold in the commercial
sex industry should be offered protection and a way out of the life of
prostitution in the United States. This is the message of the new
21-minute documentary released today by ECPAT-USA and WITNESS. In the
documentary Katrina tells the story of being lured into the sex industry
while still a teen, and the abuse she suffered from a trafficker who had
kept her in that life. Her compelling and emotional story takes us from
Atlanta to New York City to Atlanta again, from desperation to recovery
and success. Her story illustrates the failure of the criminal justice
system to help these youth. The documentary brings together a diverse set
of experts from juvenile justice, law enforcement, child rights, and
service providers to speak about the traumatic effects of commercial
sexual exploitation of children. They make the case that arresting
children is not the right approach for ensuring their recovery from the
trauma of prostitution. The video was created to educate public policy
makers, especially state legislators, about the best way to help children
involved in the sex trade and ask them to make changes on behalf of these
youth. Legislative reform measures and new approaches, recommended in the
film, can shift our collective responsive from a punitive one to a
restorative one. The video can be watched here.
Row for Freedom
The Row for Freedom team will be attempting to break two world-records;
to become the first female crew to row across the Atlantic Ocean and to
do so in the fastest time ever recorded. Their mission is to raise
worldwide awareness for the issue of child slavery and human trafficking.
The team has already gained a great deal of media attention and support
from the likes of Bear Grylls, Sir Steve Redgrave, Dame Kelly Holmes and
UK Prime Minister David Cameron.
Row For Freedom is aiming to raise over £1m for two charities, ECPAT UK
and the A21 Campaign
Debbie Beadle from ECPAT UK is one of the crew members of
their boat The Guardian. Despite many problems, she and her companions
are still going and well over two thirds of the way across. You can see
their progress on the web link here
Fundación Renacer continues their excellent work on The Code
of Conduct in Colombia
Since 2006, Fundación Renacer, ECPAT National Group in Colombia, has been
working to support The Code and working with the tourism industry in
Colombia. Beginning with just one hotel in Bogota [El Campin Hotel],
they have continued to certify 54 tourism operators in the city of
Cartagena de Indias during the period of August 2009 – June 2010 through
funding by the Canadian government. In addition, through a partnership
with UNICEF and the District Institute of Tourism, they have signed 8
additional hotels in 2011 and currently have 10 other hotels in the
process of joining The Code. Another success is the signing of an
agreement with COTELCO, a national union of hotels, to expand the reach
of The Code in 10 additional towns. Fundación Renacer has been
conducting this great work under a strategy called, ‘Building a
Protective Environment’ that not only involves tourism service provides
but expanding to state officials and police to create a network with the
focus to assist victims, reinforcing their rights, and prosecuting
offenders.
Youth conference “Child and youth participation in combating
CSEC” in Kiev, Ukraine
On December 2, 2011, a Youth conference “Child and youth participation in
combating CSEC was organised in Kiev, Ukraine. A representative of
Ukraine’s Ombudsman on child rights, the vice-president of La Strada, ECPAT
Affiliate group in Ukraine, the ECPAT Regional Associate for CIS Region,
as well as close to 100 children and youth took part in the event. The
program of the conference included three sections that were devoted to
topics related to CSEC: Internet safety, child sex-tourism and gender
equality. In addition, the signature petition of The Body Shop – ECPAT
‘Stop Sex Trafficking of Children & Young People’ Campaign in Ukraine
was handed over to the Representative of Ombudsman on child rights.
 
National Child Advisory Council on Violence against Children
set up in Togo
On December 29, 2011 the Minister of Child Protection and Social Affairs
officially presided to the ceremony of the establishment of the National
Child Advisory Councilin Togo.
Prior to this ceremony, 25 children from the five regions of Togo
benefited from a three-day training workshop on child related issues and
leadership concept. The process was sponsored by Plan Togo in
collaboration with its partners among which was WAO –Afrique, the
affiliated ECPAT group in the country. The council will not only be the
speaker of Togo on behalf of children on decision making but will also
participate in and support actions against violence against children in
the country.
  
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Ukraine Team
On 3-4 of December 2011, a Training for Peer Supporters on child rights
advocacy and gender equality was conducted in Kiev, Ukraine. During the
first day, trainers of the NGO “School of Equal opportunities” conducted
a training on gender equality. The second day was devoted to child rights
advocacy. The Training program ended with cultural and entertainment
events.
 
Togo team:
From 20 to 23rd December 2011, le Centre de Couture Saint Joseph managed
by Catholic Sisters, College Saint Albert le Grand School and CREje
center implemented ECPAT YPP micro projects.
At Démadéli, a village situated near Atakpamé on the national road Lomé –
Dapaong and a transit place for trucks coming from Brukina Faso, a
neighboring country of Togo, Centre
de Couture Saint Joseph’s YPP club sensitized the
population of Démadéli on CSEC and especially on child trafficking and
early marriage through sketches, presentations and ‘Kamou’ dance.
  
At College Saint Albert le Grand,
peer supporters chose media to promote YPP and also to spread the
messages of the fight against CSEC.
 
CREje
Four peer supporters of CREje center and their supervising teacher held a
debate on Vigopotence radio on YPP related themes.
The final activity of CREje on YPP was on public awareness raising on
CSEC consisting of sketch storytelling and reciting of poems.
  
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