ECPAT - Australia

ECPAT Australia is a coalition of
agencies and individuals who are
committed to ending CSEC. It’s
objectives include increasing public
education and lobbying government
and
non-government agencies for more
effective prevention and intervention
strategies.

Activities in 1999:

Work in the Pacific: In
January ,ECPAT
Australia delivered a keynote
address
on CSEC at the Solomon Islands
first “Child Protection Conference”
and
in March/April 1999, ECPAT Australia
conducted training and workshops in
Samoa on the Prevention of the
Commercial Sexual Exploitation of
Children.
Child Wise Tourism: In March,ECPAT
Australia launched the “Child Wise
Tourism Training Programme”. This
three-
month project, funded by AusAid was
piloted in Thailand, Vietnam, and
Cambodia. In August, ECPAT
Australia
presented the outcomes of the
training
programme to the International
Tourism
Asia (ITA) travel trade conference in
Hong Kong.
Over the last year, ECPAT Australia
has
given lectures to over 20 tourism
schools and training colleges around
Australia focusing on child sex
tourism
issues and preventative strategies
from
a tourism industry perspective.
ECPAT Australia has been monitoring
cases of Australians prosecuted for
sexual crimes against children
overseas.
ECPAT Australia has been a founding
and
ongoing member of the Steering
Group
that is overseeing the development
of
Australia’s National Plan to eliminate
CSEC. The framework for the
Australian
National Plan of Action will be
completed in 2000.
“Choose with Care” training
programme:
ECPAT Australia is developing a
training programme to accompany
its “Choose with Care” handbook for
guidance in recruiting staff in
organisations working with children.
ECPAT Australia delivered the
training
in Nepal, Bangladesh and
Switzerland.
In August ,ECPAT Australia
launched “Protecting Children
Everywhere”. This campaign
consisted
of three television advertisements
which were aired nationally as
community service announcements.
The
advertisements were made by a
group of
independent film makers as a
donation
to the work of ECPAT.
ECPAT Australia won the ACFOA (The
Australian Council for Overseas Aid)
Human Rights Award in 1999.
Planned activities in 2000:
ECPAT Australia will expand
the “Child
Wise Tourism” training programme
into
Cambodia, Indonesia and the
Philippines.
ECPAT Australia will introduce “Out of
Line” consisting of an educational
website, a hotline to report child
pornography sites and a national
educational programme on safe use
of
the Internet.
End Child Prostitution, Child Pornography and the Trafficking of Children for Sexual PurposesECPAT