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Unaccompanied foreign minor in Belgium: What are you rights ?

In the framework of the ReACT project, ECPAT Belgium produced a video and a folder to inform unaccompanied foreign minors on their rights in Belgium (access to a guardian, to a doctor, residence permit, etc). These tools provide necessary information in a language that is simple, clear and concise. They were translated into 13 languages: French, English, Dutch, German, Arabic, Vietnamese, Chinese, Albanian, Romanian, Bulgarian, Pashto, Farsi, and Pidgin-English.

ReACT leaflet EN

 

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ECPAT Belgium at the Council of Europe

On the 1st of March, ECPAT Belgium was invited to the Council of Europe to present its ReACT European report “Better support, better protection” to the 47 States Parties. This report includes numerous recommendations to help lawyers and guardians to better identify and take care of child victims of trafficking.

This session was also an opportunity to present the ReACT video and folder created for children in order to inform them about their rights.These tools were received very positively and were incorporated as a good practice in the recent report of the Council of Europe “Protecting children affected by the refugee crisis from sexual exploitation and sexual abuse“.

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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.

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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.

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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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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.

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The 18th of November becomes the European Day on the Protection of Children against Sexual Exploitation and Sexual Abuse!

The 18th of November 2015 will mark the first European Day on the Protection of Children against Sexual Exploitation and Sexual Abuse. Save the date and join us in the fight against commercial sexual exploitation of children!

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The purpose of the European Day, initiated by the Council of Europe, is to raise public awareness and to open the discussion on the protection of children against sexual exploitation and abuse.

It will also offer the occasion to promote the Lanzarote Convention, a unique legally binding instrument for the criminalization of all forms of sexual abuse of children.

This Day is meant for children, parents, educators, decision-makers, NGO, etc. and for anybody that’s touched by  the protection of children.

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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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Les dirigeants de la communauté internationale disent «oui» pour les enfants

Du 8 au 10 mai, au total, plus de 7 000 personnes ont pris part à la conférence internationale sur les enfants la plus importante organisée depuis plus de 10 ans. A l’époque, les nations du monde entier s’étaient elles-mêmes engagées à réaliser une série d’objectifs visant à améliorer la situation des enfants et des jeunes.

La Session extraordinaire a marqué un tournant historique : c’était la première réunion de ce genre consacrée exclusivement aux enfants et pour la première fois, des jeunes faisaient partie des délégations officielles. La Session a été convoquée pour examiner les progrès accomplis depuis le Sommet mondial pour les enfants de 1990 et pour renouveler les engagements du monde en faveur des droits des enfants.

Près de 70 chefs d’État et/ou de gouvernement, des premiers ministres ou leurs adjoints, et de nombreuses délégations gouvernementales de haut niveau se sont rendus à New York pour prendre part à la Session. Les jeunes représentants de quatre gouvernements ont pris la parole devant l’Assemblée générale au nom de leurs pays respectifs (Pays-Bas, Norvège, Suisse et Togo).

En outre, la Session extraordinaire a profité de la présence d’une palette extraordinaire de dirigeants de la société civile, notamment des ONG, d’associations culturelles, universitaires, religieuses, groupes d’entreprises et de personnalités éminentes, telles que Nelson Mandela et Bill Gates.

Pour en savoir plus

 

Source: UNICEF

 

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