General Assembly of ECPAT International, 2-3 December, Paris

The 6th Assembly of ECPAT International took place in Paris on the 2nd and 3rd of December 2014.

The meeting has gathered more than 80 groups coming from 78 countries in order to approve the Strategic Framework 2015-2018. These guidelines will enhance ECPAT’s leading position in the fight against commercial sexual exploitation of children and ensure a better protection of children against these crimes.

6th Assembly logo

 

Beside the challenges ahead, the new Global Study on Sexual Exploitation of Children in Travel and Tourism has been announced and will involve more than 30 countries worldwide. The study will be published in 2016.

 

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Final Conference of the Make-IT-Safe Project

DSC_2947The closing conference of the Make-IT-Safe project took place in Brussels on Novembre 17 & 18!

It gathered young peers, coaches and the ECPAT teams of the 5 participating countries (Austria, Belgium, Germany, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom) in order to share national experiences and to reflect together on the future of the project.

Representatives from the Council of Europe, the European Commission, the Delegate-General for the Rights of the Child of the Belgian French-speaking Community, EU Kids Online and Rutgers WPF have also participated to an interactive session with the youth on the ways to secure online safety.

Participation was the key word during the conference, as the young peers were actively involved in the preparation and in the different sessions.

The two Belgian peer experts were delighted by the experience and the tools that were created in Belgium have had much success !

Final conference summary

Press release Make IT Safe final conference

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25 years of children’s rights but which protection against commercial sexual exploitation?

LogoCRC25At the occasion of the 25th anniversary of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, ECPAT Belgium publishes its Global Monitoring Report on the Status of Action against Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children in Belgium.

In Belgium, the sexual exploitation of children still exists and both foreign-born and Belgian minors are exploited through prostitution, pornography and trafficking.

Despite a robust legal framework and the commitment of the Belgian authorities to end sexual exploitation against children, more can be done to better protect children from these heinous crimes.

ECPAT’s report suggests priority actions urgently needed to proactively advance the national fight against CSEC. These actions include: the adoption of a national plan of action against CSEC; improving the training of front line workers coming into contact with potential CSEC victims; increasing support for victims of sexual exploitation and trafficking; and increasing child and youth participation in the fight against CSEC.

See also our analysis « La Convention pour les droits de l’enfant, 25 ans après : avancées et défis dans la lutte contre l’exploitation sexuelle commerciale des enfants » (in French only) and the Press release.

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ACCOR Belgium signs the Code

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Danielle Van Kerckhoven, administrator and founder of ECPAT Belgique (left) & Caro van Eekelen, Chief Operating Officer à ACCOR Hotel Services BeNeLux (right)

ECPAT Belgium is pleased to announce the signing by ACCOR Belgium of the « Code of Conduct for the protection of children against the sexual commercial exploitation in tourism », an important step on the day before the 25th anniversary of the International Convention for the Rights of the Child. Belgium is therefore to become the 37th country in which the hotel group makes this commitment.

The fight against commercial sexual exploitation of children requires the engagement of  all sectors in contact with the victims or the potential abusers. The ACCOR Group is a major actor of the tourism industry with 3600 hotels all around the world. Working alongside ECPAT International since many years through this Code, ACCOR has decided to enhance its commitment by signing the Code at the Belgian level.

This signature marks the beginning of the implementation of the 6 criteria of the Code in Belgium. Concretely, this symbolic act commits the hotel Group to set up clear procedures to fight sexual commercial exploitation of children and to train its staff on the issue in order to prevent and report the abuse.

From January on and in close collaboration with ECPAT Belgium, all staff will be trained to react when facing a suspicious situation of a case of sexual exploitation of children. « No one should let a child being abused, and it is important that every staff member knows what to do in case of a suspicious  situation » has explained Katlijn Declercq, Vice-Chair of ECPAT International. ACCOR Belgium will also have to provide travelers with information on the possibilities to alert on suspicious cases. The group will raise awareness among its customers to the new I say STOP ! website and disseminate ECPAT’s documentation so that they know what to do when a suspicious situation is occurring.

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Didier Reynders says STOP !

Ariane Couvreur from ECPAT Belgium & Didier Reynders, Belgium's Foreign Affairs MinisterOn November 6, ECPAT Belgium held a press conference for the launch of its website I say STOP ! in the presence of the Foreign Affairs Minister, Didier Reynders.

This tool, a real innovation in the fight against sexual exploitation of children, received general support as well as the  special intervention of the Minister, who has extensively mentioned the importance and the crucial role of the I say STOP website.

M. Reynders was not the only one, many journalists as well as a very motivated collective including all the partners within the Group STOP and some financial sponsors came to the event to support the initiative.

This website is an initiative of the STOP Group, composed of the Police, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Defense, the Ministry of Justice, the Tourist Industry Federation, the Belgian Carriers Federation, Plan Belgium, Child Focus, the Samilia Foundation and ECPAT Belgium. It has been developed by Now.be.

Press articles from Metro and Libre Belgique
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New website “I say STOP !”

ECPAT Belgium is proud to announce the launch of its new website “I say STOP!” on November 6th in the presence of the Minister of Foreign Affairs, M. Didier Reynders.

More than a news platform, this website is to become a real tool to fight sexual exploitation of children. Among other things, it will allow Belgian travelers or tourism professionals working abroad to easily alert on sexual abuses of children that they could witness.

i-say-stop

But this new tool will benefit from even more potential ! Five actions, like the five fingers of the “I say STOP !” hand are to be offered to anyone willing to act against violations of the rights of the child : I report, I intervene, I testify, I support and I relay.

“I say STOP !” will take over, with innovative form and content, the old website “Stop Child Prostitution” and is directly mentioned on the pioneering European alert platform www.reportchildsextourism.eu.

This website is an initiative of the STOP Group, composed of the Police, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Defense, the Ministry of Justice, the Tourist Industry Federation, the Belgian Carriers Federation, Plan Belgium, Child Focus, the Samilia Foundation and ECPAT Belgium. It has been developed by Now.be.

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4th EU Civil Society Platform Against Trafficking in Human Beings (21-22 October)

On 21-22 October, ECPAT Belgium attended the EU Civil Society Platform Against Trafficking in Human Beings in Brussels. The aim of the meeting was to make public the last three reports from the European Commission and to prepare civil society recommendations for the next EU Commission Strategy post-2016. The two-days seminar was introduced by speeches from Member States representatives who declared themselves eager to take a stronger stand against trafficking in human beings.
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The Commission presented the Mid-term report on how the European Commission implemented the EU strategy towards the Eradication of Trafficking in Human Beings 2012-2016.

The Commission also presented a second statistical report on trafficking in human beings in the European Union. Key findings list more than 30 000 victims in the 28 EU countries between 2010 and 2012, of which 80% were female & 69% were trafficked for sexual exploitation and including over 1 000 trafficked children.

The civil society organisations worked also together to make a list of recommendations on a wide spectrum of areas to update and improve European legislation as for after 2016.

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Train the Trainer and Regional Consultation, 8-11 October, Freiburg

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In the framework of the Don’t Look Away project, ECPAT Belgium has participated to Train the Trainer meeting organised by ECPAT Germany in Freiburg (8-10 October). The aim of the meeting was for the ECPAT groups to learn new methodologies in order to train the private sector on the issue of child sexual exploitation.

The seminar was particularly useful, as ECPAT Belgium is preparing training sessions for the staff of the ACCOR hotels, on how to detect and deal with cases of sexual exploitation committed by their clients within their structure.

 

Participants of the ToT and Western Europe Regional Consultation

Participants of the ToT and Western Europe Regional Consultation

 

In the perspective of the ECPAT International General Assembly (December 2014), the Western Europe Regional Consultation was held also in Freiburg (10-11 October), gathering all ECPAT groups coming from the Western part of Europe. The aim of the meeting was to set up the priorities and strategies of the region for the 3 years to come.

 

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Recommandations du réseau EU Kids Online

Le réseau EU Kids Online vient de publier les résultats d’une enquête menée de 2011 à 2014, au sein des 28 pays membres de l’Union européenne et portant sur les expériences et pratiques des enfants en ligne. Il apparaît que 38% des 9-12 ans ont un profil sur un ou plusieurs réseaux sociaux, bien que cela soit interdit avant 13 ans. Cependant, seulement la moitié d’entre eux seraient capables de changer leurs paramètres de confidentialité ! Encore plus alarmant, 30% d’entre eux auraient également été en contact avec une personne qu’ils ne connaissaient pas.

 

Final recommendations for policy

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

EU Kids Online propose une série de recommandations qu’ECPAT Belgique soutient totalement et met en oeuvre dans sont projet Make-IT-Safe. L’accent doit être mis sur l’éducation des enfants entre eux et sur l’apprentissage d’un comportement proactif vis à vis des dangers, effaçant leurs messages ou bloquant les contacts indésirables, afin de sécuriser leurs informations personnelles. En parallèle, le rapport recommande de porter l’attention aux enfants sur l’importance d’agir lorsqu’ils sont témoins d’intimidations sur Internet.

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Brochure for parents to discuss online safety with their child

In the framework of the Make-IT-Safe project, the ECPAT groups have created a leaflet for parents. It contains some practical advice for parents in order to discuss the online behaviour of their child. Open communication, social media, online image, etc. are among the topics to be found in the two-page brochure.

 

Brochure parents Make-IT-Safe

Beside being very simple and concrete, the innovative aspect of the brochure is that it exists in numerous languages: French, Dutch, German, Serbo-Croatian, Arabic, Turkish, Romanian, Russian, Bengali, Hindi, Punjabi, Urdu and Vietnamese.

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