| ..Press
Release................................
UNESCAP News Services |
Date 11
November 2004
Press Release No: G/30/2004
JOINT MEDIA RELEASE: ECPAT INTERNATIONAL, UNESCAP, UNICEF
DELEGATES AGREE TO STRENGTHEN EFFORTS
TO REDUCE DEMAND FOR COMMERCIAL SEXUAL EXPLOITATION OF CHILDREN
Representatives from more than 20 countries
meet in Bangkok to report on their governments’ progress
toward commitments made at the 2001 East Asia and Pacific Regional
Consultation against Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children
Bangkok (United Nations Information Services)
– At a three-day meeting in Bangkok, which concluded yesterday,
representatives from more than 20 countries in East Asia and
the Pacific agreed to strengthen efforts to reduce demand for
the commercial sexual exploitation of children.
From 8-10 November, delegates from government
and civil society as well as young people reported on a raft
of new measures and improvements to existing interventions designed
to protect children from commercial sexual exploitation, assist
victims and punish exploiters. They noted that while progress
had been made, the region also confronted challenges such as
new technology, new victims and new exploiters, as well as the
spread of HIV/AIDS and greater global integration.
At the meeting, participants committed themselves
to addressing the behaviours, beliefs and attitudes that drive
male demand for commercial sexual exploitation of children.
This includes mores such as virginity-seeking and child marriage
with a bride price. They also recognized that until demand is
reduced, the supply of children will continue and they called
for more men to join the fight to end this inhumane violation
of young lives.
The meeting was organized by an Inter-Agency Group
comprising End Child Prostitution, Child Pornography and Trafficking
of Children for Sexual Purposes (ECPAT) International, the United
Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific
(UNESCAP) and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF),
in cooperation with the governments of Italy, Japan and Thailand
and the NGO Group on the Convention for the Rights of the Child,
represented by the Save the Children Alliance.
Participants also considered strategies to stop
the exponential rise in the supply and demand of child pornography
over the internet. New technologies, including the internet,
digital cameras and mobile phones, have increased the spread
of child pornography, the demand for it and the risk for children
of sexual exploitation.
National laws have not kept pace with these trends.
Most countries in the region do not have laws that refer specifically
to child pornography, and few criminalize its mere possession.
This means that the end user of child pornography is not regarded
as a criminal, or is subject only to minimal penalties, even
though consumers of child pornography further the abuse and
exploitation of more children because their demand fuels the
incentive to make it.
Other efforts discussed included the world’s
first multi-country Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) against
trafficking, which was signed by ministers from Cambodia, China,
Lao PDR, Myanmar, Thailand and Viet Nam on 29 October in Yangon,
Myanmar. The MoU covers the prevention of trafficking; the repatriation,
rehabilitation and sensitive treatment of victims; and the extradition
and prosecution of exploiters.
Several other agreements are being negotiated
between governments in the region, and the Bangkok meeting resulted
in the initiation of positive discussions between Indonesia
and Malaysia concerning potential cross-border arrangements
on trafficking.
Action has also been taken to address the prostitution
of children within their home countries. Community-based projects
in the Philippines and Thailand, for example, have empowered
local people, including children, to resist exploitation through
greater awareness of child rights and the methods of exploiters.
Local monitoring systems mean that members of the community
can report abuse, while local officials have been trained to
respond with greater sensitivity and effectiveness.
Despite this progress, a lack of reliable data
remains a major hindrance to the implementation of well-targeted
and effective measures to stop the commercial sexual exploitation
of children. New research designed to address this shortcoming
and better support the need for monitoring was also presented
and discussed at the meeting.
In Lao PDR, an unprecedented government study
released last month found child trafficking for commercial sexual
exploitation in all 17 provinces covered. Interviews with 253
victims (of whom 60 per cent were girls between the ages of
12 and 18), their families and other key informants found that
regional economic disparities, a lack of opportunity at home
and the negative influence of the media all contribute to vulnerability.
In the Pacific Islands, ongoing research is revealing
growing problems of commercial sexual exploitation. In the Solomon
Islands, for example, girls are still forced into early marriages
and recent violence has led to a surge in child rapes and in
boys and girls being forced into prostitution for economic survival.
Child marriage is also a major problem in Papua New Guinea,
and is a basis of demand for internal trafficking of children.
This research is being complemented by the CSECInfo
database – a state-of-the-art information management system
that collects the data necessary for monitoring the commitments
being reviewed this week – which was developed by the
Inter-Agency Group.
Young people were active throughout the meeting.
The youth delegation presented statements assessing the situation
of commercial sexual exploitation of their peers and multi-level
efforts to address the problem. They expressed support for various
actions, but they also identified many problems and gaps, and
urged action to address them. In particular, they stressed that
high-level policy decisions, such as cross-border agreements,
require greater awareness raising and concrete action at the
grassroots level in order to ensure positive change.
Delegates included representatives from Australia,
Cambodia, China, Fiji, Indonesia, Japan, Kiribati, the Republic
of Korea, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Mongolia, Myanmar, New Zealand,
Papua New Guinea, the Philippines, Samoa, the Solomon Islands,
Thailand, Timor Leste, Vanuatu and Viet Nam.
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