AT NATIONAL LEVEL
ECPAT Belgium regularly shares its expertise on various occasions in Belgium. ECPAT has, for example, organized an event at the French-speaking Brussels Parliament to raise awareness among parliamentarians on the issue of child trafficking in Belgium. Professionals came to testify: police officers, magistrates, reception centers for survivors of trafficking, national rapporteur on trafficking… A conclusion was reached: it is a priority to improve the detection and protection of survivors. Parliamentarians have committed to implementing the concrete recommendations made that day.
ECPAT Belgium is also a member of several national coalitions: the Coordination of NGOs for the rights of the child, the Kinderrechtencoalitie and the Platform for the rights of the child in development cooperation.
AT EUROPEAN LEVEL
ECPAT Belgium acts as the European office of ECPAT International and regularly takes part in European meetings, consultations, or other events. ECPAT is also a member of several European platforms such as the EU Civil Society Platform against Trafficking in Human Beings or the Initiative for Children in Migration.
Coordinated by Terre des Hommes, the Mario project aims to improve the level of protection of migrant children from and in Europe against exploitation and trafficking. ECPAT Belgium is responsible for European advocacy, consisting in particular of monitoring and influencing European policies concerning migrant children.
“Together against Sexual Exploitation of Children” is the result of a collaboration with Missing Children Europe and eNACSO, during which ECPAT Belgium conducted research on the implementation of the “European Directive on combating the sexual abuse and sexual exploitation of children and child pornography” in the 27 Member States of the European Union.
AT INTERNATIONAL LEVEL
Between 2010 and 2014, ECPAT Belgium supported research, advocacy, and awareness projects around the world, notably in Romania, Colombia, and Senegal.
The purpose of the “Preventing Trafficking in Women and Children” was to raise the awareness of the beneficiaries of ACSIS (Romanian NGO working with single mothers) on the realities of trafficking, through workshops and manuals.
The “Golondrina” project began with awareness campaigns in Colombian schools (in Santafe, Candelaria and San Cristobal) to prevent child sexual abuse. Following the success of the campaign (2100 students and 380 teachers were sensitized), the project turned to local governments to make them include prevention of child sexual exploitation in their development programs.
In partnership with the Senegalese NGO Action, Jeunesse, Environment, ECPAT Belgium mapped child sexual exploitation in Dakar using a methodology putting children at the center of the research process (from data collection to development of concrete solutions through problem identification and data analysis).
