UNICEF & Partners Announce the 2nd World Congress
Against Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children

Who: In partnership with UNICEF, ECPAT International and the NGO Group for the Convention on the Rights of the Child, the Government of Japan has called on governments, non-governmental and intergovernmental agencies, young people, researchers and academics, and the world's media to assemble for The 2nd World Congress against Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children (CSEC).

What: The 2nd World Congress aims to take stock of progress in implementing the Stockholm Agenda for Action, adopted in 1996 at the first World Congress against Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children, and to promote a global exchange of experiences and new knowledge in the area of commercial sexual exploitation of children.

When: 17th- 20th December, 2001

Where: Yokohama, Japan

Why: Five years after the first World Congress (Stockholm 1996), children all over the world are still being sold into sexual slavery.

Action has been taken on many fronts:

• There have been changes in laws, new programmes to protect children and support for those who have been exploited.
• Training, awareness raising and advocacy have increased understanding of the issue and mobilised players in many sectors.

But the problem has shifted and developed:

• As more people, including children and young people, have moved to escape poverty and conflict, or just to look for a better life, there has been a growth in trafficking of children for sexual purposes.
• Protection has worked in some areas, but demand has shifted to seek out new areas of supply.
• The rapid increase in technology has allowed more abusers and potential abusers to join in the exploitation and has increased potential profits for exploiters, drawing in organised crime syndicates and criminal groups.
• The spread of HIV/AIDS has made more children vulnerable to exploitation and has added a new dimension to the health risks faced by exploited children, further challenging those who work to help them rebuild their lives when they escape abuse.

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For further information on the Congress and story/interview opportunities on issues relating to CSEC, contact the Congress Media Advisor on:

E-mail: yokomedia@pleasehelp.co.uk
Tel: +41 22 328 27 85 (outside office hours: +41 79 695 64 88)
fax: +41 22 329 03 10

Congress website: www.focalpointngo.org/yokohama/

All four Congress co-organisers can be reached via the Media Advisor. However, for direct contact with UNICEF, please contact:

Wivina Belmonte, Geneva, tel: + 41 22 909 5509, email: wbelmonte@unicef.org
Hans Olsen, UNICEF Geneva, tel: +41 22 909 5517, email: holsen@unicef.org
Mitchie Topper, UNICEF New York, tel: +1 212 303 7910, e-mail: mtopper@unicef.org

Note: This is the first in a series of media releases to be issued in the run-up to the Congress. Each will deal with one aspect of commercial sexual exploitation of children.

For press accreditation, please go to the following website. Please apply before 10 November 2001: www.focalpointngo.org/yokohama/pressinfo/accreditation.htm

To Broadcasters:

A new videotape (B-roll and PSAs) on children who are sexually exploited for commercial purposes is now available. This 38-minute B-roll includes strong material filmed recently in Albania, the Philippines and Sierra Leone (this sequence was filmed for UNICEF by the highly acclaimed Sierra Leonean filmmaker, Sorious Samura), as well as visuals from India and Nicaragua. To preview scripts and sequences go to:
http://www.unicef.org/broadcast/brolls/csec

The 5 PSAs are available on a separate tape which can be previewed and ordered at http://www.unicef.org/psa/