Fight against impunity of transnational child sex offenders

Twenty years ago, Belgium passed a law facilitating the prosecution of transnational child sex offenders before Belgian courts. This tool reflects the willingness to take strong action against those who were called “child sex tourists” but what is the real impact of this law?

How many offenders have been prosecuted?
What were the successes and challenges of the legal procedures?
And finally, is one law, only, sufficient?

These are some of the many elements discussed in this study which seeks to be accessible to both the general public and professionals (translation in English available soon)

Big success for the campaign I Say Stop!

The campaign I Say Stop has been “truckvertised” on Belgian roads for 8 weeks.

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28,859 Km have been covered across Belgium mainly on Brussels ring road.

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After 8 weeks, 271,000 people have been reached and are now more aware of the issue of child sexual exploitation.

I see, I react!

 

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Copyright ECPAT Belgique « Stop à l’exploitation sexuelle commerciale des enfants »

First European Day on the protection of children against sexual exploitation and sexual abuse

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The 18th of November marks the first European Day on the protection of children against sexual exploitation and sexual abuse initiated by the Council of Europe.

On this occasion, the Council of Europe produced an awareness-raising movie made by children for children.

During the last 3 years, ECPAT groups haven been collaborating on the project “Don’t Look Away” to raise awareness among travellers on child sexual exploitation in tourism and to encourage them to report sexual abuse.

ECPAT Belgium, which has been fighting against child sexual exploitation for 25 years, welcomes this initiative of the new European Day.

Copyright ECPAT Belgique « Stop à l’exploitation sexuelle commerciale des enfants »

ECPAT Statement on Refugee crisis in Europe and rights of children

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Recent crises and war in several countries, including Syria, Afghanistan and Eritrea among others, have led to tens of thousands of refugees arriving in the European Union via southern Europe and across the Mediterranean Sea. Among them are a significant number of children, some of whom are separated from their families. ECPAT International released a statement signed by 12 members to the attention of European institutions to strengthen the protection of these particularly vulnerable children.

Copyright ECPAT Belgique « Stop à l’exploitation sexuelle commerciale des enfants »

“Don’t Look Away” final conference in Paris

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On the 13th and 14th of October, ECPAT Belgium attended the Don’t Look Away project’s final conference organized by ECPAT France. Around 100 experts from child rights NGO’s, the tourism sector and law enforcement agencies gathered in Paris to discuss how to better protect children from sexual exploitation in travel and tourism.

Copyright ECPAT Belgique « Stop à l’exploitation sexuelle commerciale des enfants »

Unaccompanied Foreign Minors in Belgium : a Predictible Human Tragedy?

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Capture d’écran 2015-10-22 à 15.54.383,000 to 3,500 unaccompanied foreign minors (UFM) entered the Belgian territory in 2015. In 2014, they were 1,700. An estimate given during the press conference of the Platform Minors in exile on the 21th of October. “The UFM tend to be younger and younger” explained Katja Fournier, coordinator of the Platform Minors in exile. These children, coming mainly from Afghanistan, Syria, Iraq and Somalia, are often exploited and tortured along their road to Europe. However, on the 9th of October, only 16 places remained in Fedasil reception centers. The Platform estimates that 120 to 150 new places by month are needed by the end of 2015 to take care of these children. The need for political actions is urgent, regarding the risk of exposing these children to new exploitations: forced labour, mendacity, prostitution, etc.

Copyright ECPAT Belgique « Stop à l’exploitation sexuelle commerciale des enfants »

The Eurostat’s report on human trafficking is online!

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Eurostat published the 2015 edition of the report on statistics on human trafficking in the European Union, covering the period 2010-2012. Where do the identified victims of trafficking come from? And the traffickers? What form of exploitation are the most common? 19% of identified victims are children. 55% of identified victims are under 24 and 69% are sexually exploited. Belgium is no exception, being in the top five of the EU countries where the traffickers come from.

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These figures show the urgent need of better protection for children against trafficking. At the occasion of the EU Anti-trafficking day (18th of October), the Council of Europe recalled that governments must act to prevent and combat child trafficking.

Copyright ECPAT Belgique « Stop à l’exploitation sexuelle commerciale des enfants »

Norwegian Journalists Uncovered Belgium Child Pornography Website

150,000 is the number of visits by month for this file sharing website. It was revealed and taken offline last August thanks to Norwegian journalists 10 years after its creation. During their investigation, the journalists identified 95,000 downloads including 500 from Belgian computers. Belgian prosecutors are trying to track down the Webmaster and users of this site. A bad news that shows us how much the fight against commercial sexual exploitation online is important.

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Copyright ECPAT Belgique « Stop à l’exploitation sexuelle commerciale des enfants »

The new UN’s Global Goals : a commitment to fight commercial sexual exploitation of children!

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Today, Heads of State gathered for the United Nations Sustainable Development Summit in New York comitted to the 17 Sustainable Development Goals(SGDs).

These new goals include the promise to take immediate and effective measures to eradicate the worst forms of child labour by 2025, which includes commercial sexual exploitation of children.

These SGDs, which replace the Millenium Developpment Goals of 2000, are a great opportunity to reinforce our advocacy work towards Belgian and European authorities.

Link to the the press release.

Copyright ECPAT Belgique « Stop à l’exploitation sexuelle commerciale des enfants »

First training sessions of ACCOR staff by ECPAT Belgium !

Following the Code of Conduct’s signature by ACCOR Belgium in 2014, the staff must be trained to prevent sexual exploitation of children.

The 8th , 22d and 29th  of  September, ECPAT Belgium conducted training sessions for ACCOR’s managers in order to help their staff to detect and act against child prostitution within their hotels.

Participants raised relevant questions about procedures and the identification of victims. Given the success of this initiative, other trainings will be organized next year.

Copyright ECPAT Belgique « Stop à l’exploitation sexuelle commerciale des enfants »