From 27 to 29 June 2011, the ECPAT Secretariat and ECPAT Belgium co-organized a Europe and CIS Regional Network Resource Exchange (RNRE) meeting. The meeting was hosted by ECPAT Belgium in Brussels. During the three day meeting, ECPAT groups shared experience and best practices relating to their ongoing programmes and projects addressing CSEC such as the development of hotlines focusing on child sex tourism, legal reforms, the development of financial coalitions against child pornography, the ECPAT – The Body Shop campaign, strategies aiming at engaging Parlementarians in campaigns as well as the provision of direct support and skill development to children victims of CSEC. Youth activists from Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Russia and Ukraine presented various initiatives they have been undertaking to prevent and combat sexual exploitation of children within the framework of the Global Youth Participation Project (YPP). They also showcased activities carried out with youth groups to promote the ECPAT – The Body Shop campaign against child trafficking and to collect petitions. During the regional meeting, ECPAT groups had an opportunity to strengthen their knowledge and capacities in the Human Rights Council and the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) as well as on the methods to write UPR submissions. The RNRE also provided ECPAT groups with an opportunity to contribute to the development of the new ECPAT Strategic Directions that will be adopted during the ECPAT International Assembly (November 2011). An open forum Discussion facilitated by the Members of the Board for the Region provided an excellent platform for the groups to identify key priorities for the regional network as well as to improve the circulation of information among the members of the network. Participants to the RNRE were actively involved in an event organized by ECPAT and The Body Shop on June 28th at the European Commission Headquarters in Brussels during which Kathleen Speake from ECPAT and Christopher Davis from The Body Shop symbolically handed over to EU Commissioner for Home Affairs, Cecilia Malmström, 2.3 millions petitions signed by EU citizens urging their governments to do more to stop child trafficking. Please click here to access the presentations

On 1 August, CCF Moldova will open a Children’s Hotline, in partnership with the Children's Ombudsman office in Moldova. This is the first service of this type in the country and will focus on child protection, as well as education, health, legal status and other issues that children want to discuss with the Children's Ombudsman. The toll free service will be available countrywide, open 12 hours a day, 5 days a week and located in the Ombudsman's office. Two legal counsellors will answer the phone, and record children into a call register and a database. Besides serving as a tool to communicate with children and intervene in cases of emergency and/or refer the cases to specialised services - the reports and complaints will give both CCF and the Children's Ombudsperson the evidence to improve legislation and lobby for changes.

On 9-11 July, a train-the-trainers session as part of the “Offenders Beware!” project with the collaboration of five ECPAT member groups in Europe (ECPAT Austria, ECPAT Germany, ECPAT Italy, ECPAT Netherlands and the Tartu Child Support Centre in Estonia), was held at the Am Spiegeln Seminar Centre in Vienna. Twenty participants from seven European countries were taught a range of theoretical and practical training methodologies by the training moderators, Chris Beddoe (ECPAT UK) and Mechtild Maurer (ECPAT Germany). The ECPAT Programme Officer for Combating Child Sex tourism presented initial feedback and comments received from field use of the training resource kit, “Protecting Children from Sexual Exploitation in Tourism.”

On 9 July, OSCE (The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe) Mission to Moldova hosted a round table on the “Efforts to Combat Child Pornography in the Republic of Moldova,” organised as an initiative of the Network of National Organizations fighting against child prostitution and trafficking. At the event, CCF Moldova gave a presentation on the regional overview of “Child Sexual Abuse Images through the Use of Information and Communication Technologies,” supported by ECPAT International, and La Strada Moldova discussed cases of the online abuse of children in Moldova. The plenary discussions focused on steps to solve the problem in the country and improving the legislation of article 208/1 on child pornography, and awareness raising campaigns. Participants of the round table agreed to gather again in September to discuss the progress in fighting the problem and to establish new objectives.

On 6-7 July, the 11th EU-NGO Forum on Human Rights was hosted in Stockholm by the Swedish Government, which this month assumed Presidency of the European Union (EU). ECPAT was represented at the Forum by ECPAT International’s Executive Director Carmen Madrinan and other ECPAT members, including two board members from Costa Rica and Pakistan. Member organisations from Nepal, Uganda, Cambodia and Gambia also took part. Other participants at the Forum included national NGOs from around the world, international experts including the CRC Chair, the Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights, the new Special Representative on Violence against Children and members of the EU Working Party on Human Rights. At the Forum, the 30th anniversary of Sweden’s enactment of a law banning corporal punishment of children and the 20th anniversary of the adoption of the Convention on the Rights of the Child were commemorated. Deliberations at the Forum focused on measures for advancing child rights agendas, particularly to promote universal legal prohibition of corporal punishment, and to strengthen systems of protection for children in armed conflict and crisis situations. A special discussion on implementation of the EU guidelines on the Rights of the Child also took place, examining mechanisms for better mainstreaming of obligations under the guidelines into other policies and programs, highlighting useful existing measures and structures for this purpose as well as proposing others, such as use of informal platforms and improvement of linkages for a more effective pragmatic response. An important recommendation of the forum was for an EU Special Representative on Child Rights to be created.