World Congress against the Sexual Exploitation of Children and Adolescents by Child Rights Information Network 9:11am 26th Nov, 2008   Rio de Janeiro, Brazil: 25/11/2008    Nearly 3,000 participants from over 125 countries have gathered in Rio de Janeiro today for a three-day United Nations-backed congress to combat the increasing scourge of sexual exploitation of children and adolescents in all its dimensions, ranging from of trafficking, pornography and prostitution to rape and abuse.    “No country or region is immune, and there are no innocent bystanders,” UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) Executive Director Ann M. Veneman said. “Sexual exploitation leaves children with psychological and at times physical scars, and diminishes their hopes of leading a life of dignity.”    World Congress III Against the Sexual Exploitation of Children, co-sponsored by UNICEF, the Brazilian Government, ECPAT, the NGO Group on the CRC and others, will look at sexual exploitation in the family, child marriage, sexual exploitation of child domestic labourers, the commercial sex industry, as well as child pornography and sexual exploitation of children in cyberspace.    Studies indicate an increase in the sexual exploitation of the young. Predators continue to use new tools to target children, including cyberspace and new generation mobile phone technologies, and adults can prey on children in chat rooms and use the Internet to post or download pornography.    Seven years after the last World Congress in Yokohama, Japan, which focused exclusively on commercial sexual exploitation of children, the Brazilian Congress will also discuss strategies for combating non-commercial forms of child sexual exploitation, including the sexual exploitation of children in their homes, by religious leaders, teachers, peacekeepers and armed groups in war zones.    The First World Congress Against Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children took place in Stockholm in 1996, resulting in the ‘Stockholm Declaration and Agenda for Action’, which was adopted by 122 countries. This committed countries to develop strategies and plans of action with agreed-upon guidelines and 161 countries have now signed on.    The driving force behind the third World Congress is to make the global response more emphatic and comprehensive as the problem continues to become more complex in its manifestations and scope.    In a news release UNICEF quote a series of victims recounting their experiences.    “When clients came to the brothel, we tried to lock the doors or hide,” Rumilya (not her real name), a young woman who was trafficked from her native Kyrgyzstan when she was 12-years-old. A UNICEF-supported centre for homeless and vulnerable children helped Rumilya, now 18, when she finally returned to Kyrgyzstan.    “He called me in his room and asked me to scratch his back,” said another girl, a 15-year-old in Liberia. “He held me and lay me down on the bed. I began to shout. He had a knife beside him. He said that if I talked he would kill me.”    “I met a man when I was nine-and-a-half years old. He worked at a nightclub and he took me with him and that’s how it started,” said a third, Ana Maria, 17, a young woman under the care of Casa Alianza, an organisation that helps street children in Guatemala.    Who is organising?    The Government of Brazil, ECPAT International, UNICEF and the NGO Group for the Convention on the Rights of the Child are preparing for the Congress to be held in Rio de Janeiro from 25-28 November 2008. World Congress III is planned to involve participation of governments, civil society, UN, private sector and other key stakeholders from all regions of the world. 3000 participants are expected.    Why organise a World Congress III?    The World Congress III must be considered as an important next step in the continuing effort for realisation of children’s rights which started with the mobilisation for the First World Congress against CSEC coinciding closely with the Convention on the Rights of the Child, followed by the renewed commitment of governments in Yokohama in 2001 at the occasion of the Second World Congress.    The World Congress 2008 is an important opportunity to renew global commitment to combating sexual exploitation of children and to galvanise international will and support for the concrete action required. The Congress helps to maintain the global focus on the specific problem of sexual exploitation of children, allowing stakeholders to analyse, refine, re-tool and recommit to both action agendas for the elimination of CSEC.    The congress also will be an opportunity to assess progress and review emerging trends in order to further develop the long term sustained global action required for realisation of children’s right to protection.    What progress has been made since Yokohama?    Shortly after Yokohama in January 2002, the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography came into force, further refining the protections offered to children under the Convention. The Optional Protocol draws special attention to the criminalisation of these serious violations of children’s rights and emphasises the importance of fostering increased public awareness and international cooperation in efforts to combat them.    A few months later, in May 2002, the UN General Assembly held a Special Session on Children, attended by over 400 children from more than 150 countries and involving the widest possible range of civil society organisations. The outcome document of the Session, ‘A World Fit for Children’, presented a strong agenda focused on four priorities that included “protecting children against abuse, exploitation and violence.” The document laid out specific strategies and actions to achieve its stated goals, and committed world leaders to completing the unfinished agenda of the 1990 World Summit for Children, and to achieving other goals and objectives, particularly those of the Millennium Declaration.    The September 2005 World Summit brought together more than 170 Heads of State and Government to tackle pressing global issues such as ending poverty, promoting human rights, fighting terrorism and helping countries recover from deadly conflict. The resolution adopted by the UN General Assembly refers to children involved in and affected by armed conflict and other forms of violence, including sexual abuse and exploitation and trafficking, and “supports cooperation policies aimed at strengthening national capacities to improve the situation of those children and to assist in their rehabilitation and reintegration into society.    In 2006 a global study on violence against children was presented to the UN General Assembly. The report, prepared by independent expert Paolo Sérgio Pinheiro, is the first comprehensive, global analysis conducted by the UN that deals with all forms of violence against children in its different settings. The study concludes that violence against children is a global phenomenon that should be prevented and indicates that the sexual exploitation of children and adolescents is increasing.    It provides 12 overarching recommendations that are complemented by additional recommendations specific to each of the settings where violence against children occurs.    More recently, just ahead of their June 2007 meeting, the G-8 (Group of Eight) ministers issued a strong declaration against child pornography and made a commitment to “ensuring the implementation and effectiveness of...laws relating to child pornography, and to taking steps to update and improve those laws when necessary and where appropriate."    And most recently, in 2008, the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and its Optional Protocol came into force. The Convention pays specific attention to the rights of the millions of children with disabilities around the world. Its protections will empower and enable children with disabilities, making them less vulnerable to violence, abuse and exploitation.    At regional level, progresses have also been made:    In Europe for instance new regional instruments to protect children have been adopted such as the Council of Europe Convention on Cybercrime (2001), the Council of Europe Convention on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings (2005), the Council of Europe Convention on the Protection of Children against Sexual Exploitation and Sexual Abuse (2007), the Council of the European Union Framework Decision of 22 December 2003 on Combating the Sexual Exploitation of Children and child pornography.    In Asia in 2004, by signing a landmark memorandum, the six nations of the Greater Mekong Region committed themselves to joint actions to end child trafficking. The same year saw the North American launch of the Code of Conduct for the protection of children from sexual exploitation in travel and tourism by ECPAT, the World Trade Organisation and UNICEF.    As seen several global gatherings have specifically addressed the issue, while others have discussed measures that address the factors contributing to sexual exploitation of children and adolescents, such as poverty and economic disparities, lack of quality education, migration, and gender and other forms of discrimination. Important treaties have been adopted to protect children, and existing legislation has been strengthened in many countries.    Despite these very positive steps children and adolescents continue to be at risk of being trafficked for sexual exploitation through labour, domestic servitude, begging, criminal activities and for other exploitative purposes. Children and adolescents are also exploited through travel and tourism. There is growing evidence of criminal activity related to the trafficking of children for sexual purposes, exploitation by tourists and travelers, and a proliferation of child abuse imagery and Internet- related crimes. Programmes to combat the exploitation of children remain fragmented and in many cases not well funded.    The Third World Congress against Sexual Exploitation of Children and Adolescents will seek to mobilise and better coordinate the actions of governments, civil society, communities and adolescents to generate understanding of new challenges, share strategies and set goals for action against the sexual exploitation of children and adolescents. Visit the related web page
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