27 November 2008 - Violence CRINMAIL 39: Update from III World Congress
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III World Congress: New online community launched for young activists
A new website for young activists was launched during the III World Congress. StopX is a place for young people who want to contribute to the fight against the sexual exploitation of children and adolescents.
The idea behind it is to be a sort of 'Facebook' for young activists around the world. It is a private website for children only, and is developed on low bandwidth which makes it possible for children accessing the site from slow internet connections to log on.
The site functions as a virtual office and offers information, resources, and media about sexual exploitation, as well as the opportunity to join a community of like-minded youth activists.
Visit the public display site here: http://www.stopx.org
For more information, contact the team from UNICEF Youth Commiittee:
Terra Weiker on [email protected] or Cherif Zouein on [email protected]
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Child Participation at the Congress: Thoughts of a Child Protection Officer
During this third World Congress on Sexual Exploitation, 300 of the 3000 participants are children and young people from about 20 countries. Participants and readers are used to hearing about children's involvement and input into such global meetings, but what happens behind the scenes, how is their involvement organised and what are the challenges organisers and facilitators have to face?
CRIN talks to Rasa Sekulovic, Child Rights Adviser for Plan International in Asia, who is part of the Child Protection Committee for the III World Congress. Rasa was involved in the regional preparatory meeting for children and young people in South East Asia. He has been working on child protection and participation for several years, including during the process of the UN Study on Violence Against Children. Here, he shares some thoughts on the preparations for the Congress, the last days leading up to Rio and questions as to how child participation can really be meaningful.
In the preparation process for the regional meetings, we developed a good practice model of inter-agency coordination, with ECPAT, Save the Children, World Vision and the ILO. We set up a participation working group to draw on previous experiences such as the Violence study process, the Special Session and the second World Congress.
The criteria for children's involvement was that they should be from underprivileged backgrounds or circumstances. Many of the children are also from rural and remote areas and are involved in community based projects. But their participation was not about their personal history but their involvement in preventing, addressing and combating commercial sexual exploitation.
Most of the young people from Asia are themselves survivors of trafficking or commercial sexual exploitation and some of them still live in shelters or protected areas. But it was not necessary to share this, and nobody raised it.
One of the big challenges in preparing for such big events is the amount of information organisers want to share with children. In a way, we have to be careful as we risk invading their space and their own time to share their own experiences.
Another challenge was that we did not know whether they would actually be going to Rio until about five days before. The NGOs involved had allocated money in a common pot for the regional meeting, but did not have the funding for Rio.
All NGOs have to face the legitimate dilemma and decide whether allocating big amounts of money for a few children to attend the Congress is the best way to spend money. And many of us were a little sceptical about previous processes where huge momentum was created but with very little follow up.
Read the full story here: http://www.crin.org/violence/search/closeup.asp?infoID=19102
Contact: [email protected]
Full details about the participation of children and young people is available on the ECPAT website at the following: http://www.ecpat.net/WorldCongressIII/youth.php
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III World Congress: Highlights from panel discussions
President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, during his speech at the opening ceremony for World Congress III against Sexual Exploitation of Children and Adolescents, in Riocentro, called for an end to hypocrisy. “Parents should be aware that giving sex education at home is as important as giving food and shelter”, stated he. The President also emphasised the importance of dealing with this issue in school curricula. “We have to stop the hypocrisy that prevents sexual exploitation from being properly dealt with and fought against,” he said.
Read the full story: http://www.crin.org/violence/search/closeup.asp?infoID=19097
Jim Gamble, senior British Police Officer, said he recognised that the police had not listened and not cooperated, sometimes our enthusiasm for the tactical undermines our commitment ... "I believe that police have radically improved in many parts of the world. I am not going to talk about the Convention, as it's not always new legislation that is needed or that is most likely to effect change, sometime it's new thinking, we need to pause and consider: am I still right?"
He said he believed the statistics were frightening because they are often abused, “What is needed is to shape people's thought process, we need to challenge what we think, how we think and how we engage, it is the only way to make a difference, as much in disagreement as in agreement.”
Rebecca, 16 from Australia, spoke on behalf of 140 young people from 19 countries to offer some recommendations for the participants on the need for protection online aimed at the education system, police and law enforcement agencies, the media and the private sector. “We need a global mechanism to respond to a global problem, no matter where they are in the world. Children are entitled to the same level of protection regardless of the country.
“We present you with a challenge, all of you, to take our recommendations and action them and ensure children are protected from sexual exploitation online”
Yanghee Lee, Chair of the CRC, said the Committee on the Rights of the Child will continue to work with passion and will use the recommendations of this congress, as it has done with the recommendations of the UN Study on Violence against children in dialogues with States parties.
This year's congress must not be another forum for recalling and reaffirming, we must come up with a strategy and strong recommendations that are measurable and time bound. It is time to translate commitments we have undertaken into action. Finally, I urge you to be objective and critically ask: how much longer can we keep our children waiting?
Cindy Kiro is the Children‘s Commissioner New Zealand. Speaking at the panel on integrated cross-sector policies, she explained the role of a children's ombudspersons or Commissioners. She said the role was partly to be a bridge between treaties, conventions, policies and laws and the reality of children. “We are the daily conscience of our countries, but we have also begun to work regionally and internationally”, she explained.
As the UN Study on Violence Against Children suggested, we must strengthen use of networks, including networks of ombudspersons as we can provide resources, advice and support to relationships at international levels. We can bring governmental and non-governmental organisations together, including UN agencies and provide bridge, a conscience and a bridge, while not losing sight of the child.
Press releases and other news are available on the official World Congress website: http://www.iiicongressomundial.net/index.php?id_sistema=2&inicial=2&id_i...
Press conference is held to showcase actions against sexual exploitation during World Congress III. Go to: http://www.iiicongressomundial.net/index.php?id_noticia=268&pg=noticias&...
Specialists discuss the optmization of laws against sexual exploitation. Go to: http://www.iiicongressomundial.net/index.php?id_noticia=271&pg=noticias&...
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NGO Group for the CRC: Children are more than just victims
In addressing the opening of the III World Congress, NGO Group President Lennart Reinius called on all those present to take advantage of the opportunity presented by the event to join with children and adolescents as equals in confronting the challenges of sexual exploitation.
The NGO Group for the Convention on the Rights of the Child is a global network of national and international civil society organisations engaging with and for children to enjoy all their rights, including their right to protection against all forms of abuse and exploitation.
¨Children are not just the victims of sexual exploitation, Mr Reinius said, ¨or the topic of our discussions this week. Rather, they are here to contribute to the solution by sharing their views and expertise on sexual exploitation – in the family, the school, institutions, the community and the workplace¨. He called on Congress participants to act upon the recommendations formulated by children in their meeting preparing for the Congress .
Mr Reinius also emphasised that NGOs have traditionally, more than any other group, worked with children and their families at grassroots level. Many of the NGO Group´s members and partners work close to the problems and the solutions, to make sure that children’s best interests are always taken into account.
Read the full press release: http://www.crin.org/resources/infodetail.asp?id=19101
Click HERE for more news and reports on the III World Congress.
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