ECPAT International and the United Nations Interregional Crime and Justice Research Institute (UNICRI) organised a conference at the SIOI office in Rome to present the outcomes of the joint Action Programme against Trafficking in Minors for Sexual Purposes. The project, which extended over two years, combined interventions which included strengthening law, data collection and monitoring of law enforcement, enhancing prevention and providing effective victim assistance in Costa Rica, Thailand and Ukraine. All countries featured similar issues in terms of child trafficking for sexual purposes: origin, transit and destination countries with significant sub-regional and internal trafficking problems.

The Action Programme therefore provided an important avenue for facilitating collaboration, exchange and learning from each others work, among the participating organizations. The event attracted media interest, with articles appearing in La Repubblica, one of the key newspapers in Italy, and coverage given by Rai TV and others.

The conference featured the Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, a representative of the Italian Cooperation (the donor), the Ambassadors of Costa Rica and Ukraine, and the directors of UNICRI and ECPAT International. Paniamor (Costa Rica), FACE (Thailand) and La Strada (Ukraine) presented the results from their countries, answered questions and discussed strategies to tackle child trafficking for sexual purposes. Conference participants included representatives from government institutions, UN agencies, national and international NGOs, press and students.

The event attracted significant attention from the media and provided an opportunity to distribute a booklet on the Action Programme developed by UNICRI, in collaboration with ECPAT International and local partners.

ECPAT International also held meetings with Mr. Rimondo Cocco and Ms. Paola Viero of the Ministry of External Affairs, as well as the Under Secretary of State, Mr. De Santo, to discuss ECPAT work globally and give recognition for the support received from the Italian Government for initiatives such as post-tsunami work on Protecting Children from Sexual Exploitation in Emergencies, as well as the UNICRI project. In addition EI met with Emanuela Moroli, Oria Gargano and other specialists of the organization Differenza Donna, one of the leading NGOs providing direct assistance to trafficking victims.

ECPAT International’s Combating Child Trafficking Programme also conducts trainings for the ECPAT network and all relevant stake holders, such as UN agencies, NGOs, and governments, on the issue of child trafficking for sexual purposes. Trainings vary depending on the participants and the specific focus of each training is tailored, covering a wide variety of subjects, such as the links of child trafficking for sexual purposes to other manifestations of commercial sexual exploitation of children or specialised assistance and support to child victims of trafficking. ECPAT European Law Enforcement Group’s Training Guide on Child Trafficking for Sexual Purposes is available for download at the resource centre section of our website.

ECPAT International’s Combating Child Trafficking Programme provide supports the ECPAT network and private sector partners in collaborations to ensure successful partnerships. In Southeast Asia, the programme supports to the UNIAP COMMIT Process in the Greater Mekong Sub-region by active participation at meetings, events and providing inputs for reports, policy drafts and working documents regarding child trafficking and the commercial sexual exploitation of children.

ECPAT International’s Combating Child Trafficking Programme documents the good practices of the ECPAT network and our partners, new information on the issue of child trafficking and knowledge learned from the implementation of our work, such as research on child trafficking in a particular region or country. Then, information materials and publications are produced, such as publications on the latest emerging trends relating to child trafficking or its linkages to the other manifestations of commercial sexual exploitation of children. The programme then distributes these materials and publications to the ECPAT network, our partners, relevant stakeholders (UN agencies and governments) and to the general public to increase awareness on the issue of child trafficking. Many of our publications and information materials are available for download in the resource centre section of this website.