Press
Release
UNICEF Urges Europe and Central Asia
to Combat Trafficking of Children Into the Sex Trade
GENEVA, 13 November 2001 - The United Nations Children's
Fund, UNICEF, is calling on governments in Europe and
Central Asia to ratify three international instruments
that are vital to efforts to combat trafficking in children,
a growing problem in the region: the 2000 Optional
Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child
on the Sale of Children, Child Prostitution and Child
Pornography; the Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish
Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children,
supplementing the UN Convention against Transnational
Organized Crime (2000); and ILO Convention 182 on the
Worst Forms of Child Labour (1999).
UNICEF Regional Director for Europe, Stephen Woodhouse
said today, "We must not underestimate the use of
international conventions in our work to end the heinous
trade in children for sexual purposes and exploitative
labour. These are not just vague promises; they provide
frameworks that, among other things, smooth out differences
between national laws."
The call for ratification comes one week before the opening
of the European and Central Asian preparatory conference
to the 2nd World Congress against Commercial Sexual Exploitation
of Children (Yokohama, Japan, 17-20 December). This meeting,
to be held in Budapest on 20 and 21 November, will bring
together 52 countries of Europe and Central Asia to discuss
progress since the first World Congress in Stockholm in
1996, to share experiences and lessons learned, and to
develop a regional strategy for accelerated implementation
of the Stockholm Agenda for Action.
It also comes at a time of growing concern about the
number of women and children being moved across the borders
of Western Europe, Central and Eastern Europe (CEE), the
Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) and Baltic States
(all loosely grouped as 'Europe and Central Asia' for
the preparatory meeting). The International Organization
for Migration (IOM) estimates that 175,000 people are
trafficked from Central and Eastern Europe and the CIS
each year - roughly one quarter of the estimated 700,000
to 2 million people trafficked around the world annually.
Many of the countries in the region are in the throes
of transition. Their proximity to societies perceived,
particularly by young people, to offer more stable and
prosperous lifestyles is an important factor in this movement.
Increasingly open borders between Member States of the
European Union facilitate movement into and through Western
Europe.
In the region, too, there exist a number of factors
that increase the vulnerability of children to exploitation:
in Western Europe, a growth in the commercial sex sector
and growing consumerism put pressure on children to earn
money in a situation of unmet demand for commercial sex.
Poverty and discrimination based on gender, ethnicity,
disability and citizenship status are all important vulnerability
factors. In many of the transition countries, high levels
of unemployment, inadequate skills and training for available
employment opportunities, and poor preparation of children
and young people for work and social integration, all
increase pressures on children to seek alternative ways
to earn money for their family or their future. This may
make them more vulnerable to pimps and recruiters seeking
to exploit them in commercial sex work or encourage them
- or indeed force them - to move within the country or
across borders where perceived returns are greater.
In the transition countries, too, the more than one million
children who are growing up in institutions, rather than
with their families, are at particular risk as they exit
unprepared into societies that are equally unprepared
to integrate them.
The Budapest meeting will hear that these disturbing
challenges will nevertheless be met by some positive developments
since the first World Congress in 1996:
- Increased public awareness of commercial sexual exploitation
of children (CSEC), and decreased tolerance of those
who exploit or abuse.
- An increased knowledge base and, importantly, better
and more detailed understanding of both the demand and
supply sides of CSEC.
- Improved effectiveness and professionalism built
on this knowledge base and supported by better information
sharing, good practice formulation, strategic planning
and consultation.
- Better cooperation across borders, within countries
and regions, and among the different sectors involved
in combating this multi-faceted phenomenon: child protection
agencies, governments, intergovernmental bodies, law
enforcement, social services.
- New laws in many countries, including the introduction
of extraterritorial jurisdiction provisions, and some
national plans of action against CSEC.
PROTECTION OF CHILDREN AGAINST SEXUAL EXPLOITATION
Multilateral conference organized by the Council of Europe
in cooperation with UNICEF and the National Institute
of Criminology of Hungary
Venue: Conference Centre, Central European University,
Kerepesi út 87, H-Budapest 1106
Time: Tuesday 20 November, 08.30 - 17.00;
Wednesday 21 November, 09.00 - 17.00
For further information on the Yokohama Congress, preparatory
consultations, 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
For direct contact with UNICEF, please contact:
Hans Olsen,
Geneva Regional Office, tel: +41 22 909 5517, email:
holsen@unicef.org
Wivina Belmonte,
Geneva Regional Office, tel +41 22 909 5509, email:
wbelmonte@unicef.org
Robert Cohen,
CEE, CIS & Baltics Regional Office, tel +41 22 909
5631, email: rcohen@unicef.org
Venus Easwaran,
CEE, CIS & Baltics Reg. Office, tel +41 22 909 5629,
email: veaswaran@unicef.org
Mitchie Topper,
New York, tel +212 303 7910, email: mtopper@unicef.org
For Yokohama press accreditation: http://www.focalpointngo.org/yokohama/pressinfo/accreditation.htm
To Broadcasters: A new B-roll videotape is available
that highlights the commercial sexual exploitation of
children and various programmes to prevent it. This 38-minute
B-roll includes strong material filmed recently in Albania,
the Philippines, Sierra Leone, India and Nicaragua. To
preview scripts and sequences or to order a tape please
visit: http://www.unicef.org/broadcast/brolls/csec
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