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“.
Copyright ECPAT Belgique « Stop à l’exploitation sexuelle commerciale des enfants »
3,000 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.