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L’ÉTUDE DU SECRÉTAIRE GÉNÉRAL DE L’ONU RÉVÈLE L’AMPLEUR DE LA VIOLENCE CONTRE LES ENFANTS - 16/10/2006
New York, le 12 octobre 2006 - Beaucoup d’actes de violence perpétrés contre les enfants restent dissimulés et sont souvent approuvés par la société, selon l’étude du Secrétaire général des Nations Unies sur la violence contre les enfants présentée hier à l’Assemblée générale de l’ONU. Pour la première fois, un document unique offre une vue générale de l’ampleur et de l’étendue de la violence contre les enfants partout dans le monde.

La violence contre les enfants comprend la violence physique, la violence psychologique, la discrimination, la négligence et les mauvais traitements. Elle va des abus sexuels subis au foyer jusqu’aux châtiments corporels et humiliants à l’école; de l’usage de lanières et autres instruments pour les attacher aux actes de brutalité commis par les forces de l’ordre, de la maltraitance et la négligence dans les institutions jusqu’à la guerre des gangs dans les rues, de l’infanticide au soi-disant « meurtre d’honneur ».
« La meilleure façon de traiter du problème de la violence contre les enfants est de l’arrêter avant même qu’elle ne se produise », affirme le professeur Paulo Sérgio Pinheiro, l’expert indépendant nommé par le Secrétaire général à la tête de l’étude. « Tout le monde a un rôle à jouer dans cette affaire, mais les Etats doivent en assumer la responsabilité principale. Cela veut dire interdire toutes les formes de violence contre les enfants, où que cette violence se produise et quel qu’en soit l’auteur, et investir dans des programmes de prévention pour traiter de ses causes sous-jacentes. Les individus doivent répondre de leurs actes, mais un cadre juridique solide ne s’occupe pas seulement de sanctions; il s’agit de montrer de manière claire et nette que la société n’acceptera tout simplement pas la violence contre les enfants ».
L’étude, dans laquelle se combinent les approches des droits humains, de la santé publique et de la protection de l’enfance, est centrée sur cinq « cadres » dans lesquels s’exerce la violence : la maison et la famille, les écoles et établissements d’enseignement, les institutions (de soins et judiciaires), le lieu de travail et la communauté.
Les cas d’extrême violence contre les enfants peuvent faire la une de l’actualité, mais l’étude conclut que, pour de nombreux enfants, la violence fait partie de la routine, de leur réalité quotidienne.
Bien que de nombreux cas de violence demeurent cachés ou ne soient pas signalés – et que les chiffres sous-estiment donc souvent l’ampleur du problème - les statistiques du rapport dressent un portrait stupéfiant. Par exemple :
• L’Organisation Mondiale de la Santé (OMS) estime qu’en 2002, quelque 53 000 enfants de 0 à 17 ans ont été victimes d’un homicide;
• Selon les dernières estimations de l’Organisation Internationale du Travail (OIT), 5,7 millions d’enfants étaient contraints aux travaux forcés ou à la servitude pour dette, 1,8 million à la prostitution et à la pornographie, et 1,2 million étaient victimes de la traite en 2000 ;
• Dans 16 pays en développement étudiés dans le cadre d’une enquête mondiale sur la santé menée en milieu scolaire, le pourcentage d’enfants d’âge scolaire qui ont indiqué qu’ils avaient été l’objet d’intimidations verbales ou physiques pendant les 30 jours précédents allait de 20 à 65 pour cent;
• Selon l’étude, les enfants incarcérés sont souvent victimes d’actes de violence perpétrés par le personnel, parfois comme forme de contrôle ou de châtiment, souvent pour des infractions mineures. Dans 77 pays, les châtiments corporels et autres punitions violentes sont acceptés comme mesures disciplinaires ayant force de loi dans les institutions pénales.
Bien que les conséquences puissent varier en fonction de la nature et de la sévérité des violences infligées, les répercussions à court et à long terme sont souvent graves et préjudiciables. Les blessures physiques, affectives et psychologiques causées par des actes de violence peuvent avoir de graves conséquences sur le développement d’un enfant, sa santé et sa capacité d’apprentissage. Des études ont montré qu’un enfant qui a subi des violences dans son enfance risquait plus d’adopter des comportements à risque pour la santé, comme le tabagisme, l’abus d’alcool et de drogue, l’inactivité physique et de devenir obèse. Ces comportements eux-mêmes contribuent à certaines des causes principales de maladie et de mort comme le cancer, la dépression, le suicide et les troubles cardio-vasculaires.
« Quel que soit le lieu où se produisent ces violences, la famille, l’école, la communauté, les institutions ou le lieu de travail, les agents de santé sont en première ligne pour combattre la violence contre les enfants », affirme Anders Nordström, Directeur général par intérim de l’OMS. « Nous devons contribuer à prévenir ces actes de violence et nous assurer que là où ils se produisent, les enfants reçoivent les meilleurs soins possibles pour en atténuer les effets. Les Etats devraient poursuivre des politiques et programmes qui ont fait leurs preuves pour combattre les facteurs à l’origine de cette violence et veiller à ce que des ressources adéquates soient affectées à la lutte contre leurs causes sous-jacentes, tout en surveillant le résultat de ces efforts. »
« La violence contre les enfants est une violation de leurs droits humains, une réalité troublante de nos sociétés », affirme Louise Arbour, Haut-Commissaire des Nations Unies aux droits de l’homme. « Elle ne peut jamais se justifier, que ce soit pour des raisons disciplinaires ou par tradition culturelle. Il n’existe pas de niveau de violence « raisonnable » qui soit acceptable. La violence contre les enfants légalisée dans un certain contexte crée un risque de tolérance de la violence contre les enfants au niveau général ».
« La violence a un effet durable non seulement sur les enfants et leurs familles, mais aussi sur les communautés et les nations », affirme la Directrice générale de l’UNICEF Ann M. Veneman. « Nous nous félicitons de cette étude globale sur l’impact de la violence contre les enfants ».
Le rapport de l’Assemblée générale recommande un vaste ensemble de mesures à adopter pour empêcher la violence contre les enfants et y réagir dans tous les cadres où elle se produit. Douze recommandations capitales traitent de secteurs comme les stratégies et systèmes nationaux, la collecte de données et la définition des responsabilités.
Au niveau mondial, le rapport recommande qu’un Représentant spécial chargé de la question de la violence contre les enfants soit nommé pour un mandat initial de quatre ans, avec pour mission d’être un militant de haut niveau qui encouragera la prévention et l’élimination de toutes les violences contre les enfants et la coopération et le suivi dans ce domaine.

A propos de l’étude du Secrétaire général des Nations Unies sur la violence contre les enfants
En 2001, l’Assemblée générale a demandé au Secrétaire général de se livrer à « une étude approfondie de la question de la violence contre les enfants ». Le professeur Paulo Sérgio Pinheiro, expert indépendant, a été par la suite nommé à la tête de cette étude, en collaboration avec le Haut Commissariat aux droits de l’homme, le Fonds des Nations Unies pour l’enfance (UNICEF) et l’Organisation mondiale de la Santé (OMS).

En Belgique
La Belgique a été fortement impliquée dans tout le processus de préparation de cette Etude, en répondant au questionnaire envoyé au gouvernement en 2004, en participant à la Consultation régionale des pays d’Europe et d’Asie centrale en juillet 2005 (Ljubljana) et en finançant une partie de l’Etude. Les organisations de défense des droits de l’enfant ont également suivi de près tout le processus de préparation et de suivi de l’Etude des Nations Unies sur la violence à l’égard des enfants. UNICEF Belgique en collaboration avec le Délégué Général aux droits de l’enfant, la Kinderrechtencommissaris organiseront une conférence sur la violence à l’égard des enfants en décembre 2006. D’autres experts en matière de droits de l’enfant tels que la Coordination des ONG pour les droits de l’enfant, la Kinderrechtencoalitie Vlaanderen et l’Association pour les Nations Unies accorderont également leur collaboration lors de cette conférence.

Pour toutes informations complémentaires sur l’Etude :
UNICEF Belgique, Maud Dominicy, 02/230.59.70, mdominicy@unicef.be
June Kane, Attachée de presse, Etude du Secrétaire général de l’ONU sur la violence contre les enfants : 1-917-640-0184. Après le 14 octobre, composer le +41 79 695 64 88.
HCDH : José Díaz, porte-parole (Genève) : +41 22 917 9242; Renata Sivacolundhu, chargée de l’information, Siège de l’ONU : +1 212 963 2932.
UNICEF : Karen Dukess (NY) : 1-212-326-7910. kdukess@unicef.org.
OMS : Laura Sminkey, Agent technique, plaidoyer et communication : +41 79 249 3520

Autres organisations actives dans le domaine des droits de l’enfant en Belgique :

Délégué général aux droits de l’enfant, Claude Lelièvre, 02/223.36.99.

La Coordination des ONG pour les droits de l’enfant, Frédérique Van Houcke, 02/209.61.60.

Kinderrechtencommissariaat, Ankie Vandeckerckhove, 02/552.98.00.

Kinderrechtencoalitie Vlaanderen, Jef Geboers, 09/225.90.25.

URL et accès vidéo : télécharger sur : www.thenewsmarket.com/unicef.

make-IT-safe - 20/04/2005
make-IT-safe is a global campaign to make IT safe for children and young people everywhere.

Our goal is to get the IT industry and governments to take responsibility for making online and interactive technologies safe for children and young people.

The make-IT-safe campaign unites children’s groups in 67 countries led by ECPAT International and the Children’s Charities Coalition for Internet Safety.

Support make-IT-safe – sign our online petition and lobby IT companies, government and media.

      What does make-IT-safe want?

We are lobbying IT leaders to create a global child protection body to set and implement global industry standards, research safety technologies and fund a global educational campaign.

We also call on governments to adopt IT child protection policies to ensure industry responsibility, to enable international legal co-operation against online child abuse, and to provide care and protection for children abused or exposed to harmful images and messages online.

      Why do we need to make-IT-safe?

Children and young people are leading users of the internet, chat rooms, web cams, peer2peer, mobile phones and electronic games - at home, at school, at internet cafés, everywhere.

These technologies bring great benefits, and great risks – risks of sexual exploitation and child pornography, and exposure to sexual predators as well as to damaging images or messages.

Some IT companies and governments are working to protect children and young people online. But it’s not enough. The proof is there every day in our courts, the news and in thousands upon thousands of injured children. That must change.

Parents, educators and children’s groups all have their part to play. But only the IT industry and governments can deliver the technological, legal and financial resources needed to ensure the safety of children and young people online and in interactive technologies. The make-IT-safe campaign is dedicated to ensuring they do so.

Tsunami Emergency Information - 11/01/2005
Tsunami Emergency Information

Campagne d'information 'Stop à la prostitution enfantine' - 22/09/2004
Le 30 septembre 2004, au Palais d'Egmont de Bruxelles, sera donné le coup d'envoi d'une nouvelle campagne d'information nationale contre l'exploitation sexuelle des enfants. Cette campagne, qui sera menée sous le nom "Stop à la prostitution enfantine" a été réalisée sous l'impulsion de ECPAT Belgique et de la Police Fédérale, en collaboration avec Child Focus et quelques entreprises des secteurs privé et public.

La campagne a pour but d'inciter la population à ôter ses oeillères et à dénoncer, partout et toujours, les faits de maltraitance enfantine - ce, malgré l'impression parfois ressentie lors d'un séjour à l'étranger que la prostitution des enfants est tacitement acceptée ou qu'elle cadre dans la tradition locale.

La campagne ne s'adresse pas seulement au touriste, mais aussi à toute personne qui, pour des raisons professionnelles, séjourne à l'étranger durant des périodes plus ou moins longues. En tant qu'hôte de ce lancement, le Ministre des Affaires étrangères Karel De Gucht souhaite mettre l'accent sur l'engagement et la détermination de son Département dans cette campagne.

www.stopprostitutionenfantine.be

Joint East West Research on Trafficking in Children for Sexual Purposes in Europe: The Sending Countries - 21/04/2004
ECPAT Europe Law Enforcement Group Programme against Trafficking in Children for sexual purposes in Europe

Edited by Muireann O’Briain, Anke van den Borne, Theo Noten


This report is the second part of a study undertaken by the ECPAT Europe Law Enforcement Group into trafficking in children for sexual purposes in Europe. The Group is coordinated by ECPAT Netherlands/Defence for Children International-Section The Netherlands. The first part of the research (‘Trafficking I’), published in 2001, had concluded that there was a need for further research in the Eastern European countries of origin, and for such research to be carried out in collaboration with partners in those countries.
Focusing on legislation, law enforcement, co-operation and prevention, and the care facilities available to child victims, these current research results are intended to indicate the formulation of specific policy recommendations, as well as to share practical ideas for prevention, training and cooperation.
The research has been co-financed by the STOP II programme of the European Commission as well as by the Oak Foundation.

International Legal Framework
Great attention is being paid worldwide to the problem of trafficking in human beings, including children as a special category of victims, and in Europe in particular very concrete measures are being taken to combat it. The ultimate global international legal instrument is the Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children, supplementing the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organised Crime. The Convention and Protocol are already in force, although adopted only in the year 2000. The extremely rapid rate of ratification demonstrates the worldwide political concern about the powers of organised criminal groups and the levels of crime associated with migration. Under the Protocol children are considered as victims of trafficking once they were recruited, transported, transferred, harboured or received for the purposes of exploitation. Another relevant instrument is the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography (OP) which contains measures designed to protect the rights and interests of child victims of trafficking.
In the European context, a Council Framework Decision on Combating Trafficking in Human Beings will ultimately lead to the approximation of the criminal laws of the member states concerning trafficking in human beings. The focus of the European Commission is to tackle, through legislative means, those who engage in trafficking in human beings and the economic exploitation of migrants, including children.

Results of Trafficking I: Focus on Western Europe
The Report of Trafficking I had concluded that trafficking of minors for sexual purposes occurred within Western Europe, but that more in-depth research is needed to prevent and combat the phenomenon. Where it was possible to get information about the ages of minors from Eastern European countries involved in prostitution, they were mostly between the ages of 15 and 18, but children as young as ten years of age had also been found. In several of the researched countries it was found that the girls who had come from Eastern Europe to the west had been tricked by false promises of work or marriage, or had fallen in love with the person who ultimately forced them into prostitution. Force and blackmail were common methods used to keep the victims under control. Asylum procedures were found to have been used to gain entry for and access to trafficked minors in several Western European countries. The involvement of organised criminal groups was found to vary from complex international networks to small criminal groups or even families.

Trafficking II: Joint East West Research, the Sending Countries
This second part of the project is based on a ‘twinning’ concept of cooperation, between so-called ‘sending’ and ‘receiving’ countries. The Western European partners were the same countries and organisations as had been involved in Trafficking I. The Eastern European partners were chosen for their previous experience in research on similar subjects, or for their work on child protection in their countries. The research teams and their methodologies are set out in the report. The following partner countries have been involved:
Albania – UK
Belarus – Belgium
Czech Republic – Germany
Estonia – Finland
Moldova – Italy
Romania – France
Russia – Norway
Ukraine – The Netherlands


Research Results

General Situation
The research results show that there are many similarities between the Eastern European project countries in terms of their political, social and economic situations, all of which affect the issue of trafficking in minors for sexual purposes. In every country poverty and unemployment have seriously increased in the last ten years, due to the political changes in the region, and the resulting economic instability. The main risk group is teenagers, from 13 to 18, the majority of those trafficked being in the age group of 15 to 17 years. When poverty affects families, many social problems arise that have adverse effects on young people. The reports mention alcoholism, single-parent families, drug abuse, sexual abuse and domestic violence as alienating factors. Children born into or living in situations of social and economic poverty tend to drop-out of school, to leave home and live on the streets, to migrate from rural areas to towns and cities.
Many people, and especially young people, are migrating, because of the lack of opportunities for them in their own countries. The fall of the ‘Iron Curtain’ and the links with countries of the European Union have opened up both borders and travel opportunities, and at the same time the increasing gap between rich and poor, the growth of international organised crime, and indifference, ignorance and possible corruption among officials, provide their own incentives or opportunities. Some of the researched countries have experienced migration of young people both into and out of the country to service the sex industry. Other countries see mostly the emigration of their young populations to service the sex industry and labour markets abroad. A combination of economic and political factors at home creates the climate in which young people want to emigrate, including low pay, insecurity of employment, and the inadequacy of the educational systems to respond to the labour market. Low levels of community and parental involvement with young people and negative perceptions among young people about their futures in their own country are also important ‘push’ factors. But lack of information about foreign travel, and about the risks related to migration, endanger children. The search for adventure, idealised notions about living abroad, and success stories from those who return from abroad encourage risk-taking. Very importantly, the reports note the risks to children who may have migrated normally with their families or voluntarily on their own, but who end up in foreign countries without any protections, and become extremely vulnerable to exploitation.
In-country migration, where young people move from rural areas to towns and cities and end up in prostitution, is mentioned in several reports.
A description of national responses from the project countries shows that in six countries researched there is a state programme to combat trafficking in human beings, including children. But in two countries there are no current national plans to combat trafficking.

The Demand Factor
On the whole, the demand for minors as sexual partners appears to reflect opportunism on the part of clients to a large supply of vulnerable young people, rather than a demand for underage sex. However some specific demand for young children is mentioned in the Romanian report which describes the demand for young boys in Western European countries, and the Moldovan research mentions the sale of virgin girls. Some reports emphasise the use of young children in the making of pornography as a growing feature of sexual exploitation of minors in their countries. The demand that emerges from the reports includes foreign tourists (Czech Republic, Estonia, Russia), UN peacekeepers (Moldova), the military (Russia), paedophiles (Czech Republic, Russia), and of course the domestic market. Traffickers accept any transaction that brings profits, and take into account not only the demand from the destination countries but also the fact that children do not know their rights and cannot protect themselves as well as adults. The fact that girls are under age does not seem to be relevant to a client, but for a trafficker young people are more easily influenced and controlled (by violence or other means).

Numbers of Children Involved
No country could provide reliable statistics on the number of children trafficked into, within, or out from their country, which is inherent in the secret and criminal nature of the problem. Numbers mentioned in the different country reports vary from a few to several hundreds. The most reliable figures quoted are provided by the International Organization for Migration. However, even the IOM figures have to be understood as representing only those victims who have been identified and offered a process of return to their own countries. Only occasionally is the percentage of minors among the total number of returnees known. IOM estimates on the percentage of child victims among the victim population differ widely and range from 6-7% for Belarus to 30% for Moldova. There is also evidence that trafficked adults were trafficked when they were underage.
It is clear, however, that the young people who do fall victim to traffickers and exploiters are very harshly treated, and that the traffic of young people needs to be addressed separately within the overall problem of trafficking in human beings. Specific case studies from the project countries are detailed throughout the report.
The reports tend to show that many young people simply fall into the hands of traffickers in pursuit of a better life and through their own vulnerability. There are no figures available for minors who leave their countries unaccompanied, but there is information that large numbers of unaccompanied minors fall prey to sexual exploitation in destination countries. Prevention strategies are therefore needed in sending and destination countries.

Sending, Transit, and Destination Countries
All Eastern European countries of the project appear to be receiving, transit or destination countries for trafficked minors, the extent of the problem being directly related to the economic situation in the country. Traditional migration routes, and traditional forms of transport, are used, including cars, trains, and buses. The travel will be made to look as normal and ‘legal’ as possible, using stolen, altered or forged documents. Traffickers usually take the easiest routes, through regular border crossings, but also ‘green routes’ through forests and areas not patrolled by border guards. Minors are not only trafficked to Western Europe but also to Central and Southern Europe, including Turkey. Even Asia and the Middle East were mentioned by several countries as destination countries. Because of the easy visa regime between the CIS countries, a lot of child trafficking takes place within those countries. In-country trafficking is common from rural areas with high unemployment to towns and cities.

The Trafficking Chain
Recruitment of young people happens on the streets, and also via the Internet and sometimes advertisements in magazines and newspapers, with offers of highly-paid work and easy money in another country. Girls who have been trafficked mostly end up in prostitution. But children are not only trafficked for sexual purposes. The younger ones especially seem to be used for begging and manual labour, such as agricultural work. Minors are often lured into a trafficking operation with their apparent consent, but they will have been misled about the job they will do, and their working conditions. Children are also misled with offers to study abroad or to marry a foreigner. Children’s homes can be fertile recruiting grounds for traffickers. The ‘loverboy’ syndrome, noticed particularly in Belarus, Estonia and The Netherlands, is another ruse whereby girls are seduced first and then sexually exploited and coerced into prostitution. Even the sale of children, by parents or relatives, is common. Simple abduction of a minor rarely happens. Frequently the recruiters are previous victims (described in the Russian report as ‘second wave’ victims), who are either sent back to their country as recruiters, or set up in business for themselves. Violence is rarely used until the young person is completely under the control of the trafficker, and his/her documentation has been confiscated, but violence is then usual as a means of intimidation. Drug and alcohol addiction are commonly used to ensure compliant behaviour. Children work under harsh circumstances, servicing many clients, and living in difficult conditions. Victims first have to pay back the travel and other expenses to the traffickers. After the debt is repaid, victims can be re-sold, and the same cycle starts all over.

Legislation, Law Enforcement and Organised Criminality
Most countries have adopted legislative changes in recent years incorporating anti-trafficking provisions. Despite a dedication in the countries of Eastern Europe to combat trafficking in human beings, the legislative environment to protect children from trafficking remains weak in all of the Eastern European countries studied, with the exception of Romania. In some countries the current legislation should be adequate to prosecute traffickers, but others say that their legislation is inoperable. The reports from Belarus, the Czech Republic, Moldova, Russia and Ukraine all comment on the failure of the governments to even recognize that there is a problem of trafficking in children, so there is a lack of urgency towards legislative reform.
On the other hand, considerable progress has been made since the Trafficking I project in the ratification by states of the relevant international instruments (the Trafficking Protocol and the OP to the CRC), which together with the EU Council Framework Decision, are leading steadily towards harmonised legislation including a common definition of trafficking and equivalent penalties.
Incidents of child trafficking are frequently prosecuted under provisions that cover procuring, kidnapping, abduction, or rape. Law enforcement is a problem everywhere, and there are hardly any successful prosecutions detailed. Penalties tend to be severe for cases of proven trafficking, but mild where the prosecutions are pursued under other provisions such as procurement.
Little information was available on the involvement of organised crime in the trafficking of children. Some reports concluded that it would be a mistake to exaggerate the importance of organized crime in relation to child trafficking. It appears that in many cases, the traffickers are the families themselves, or are small-time criminals. While it is therefore important not to assume that trafficking is always the work of organized criminal gangs, it should be recalled that many children do fall into the hands of such gangs, and suffer terrible consequences.

Child Care and Protection: Prevention, Rehabilitation, Repatriation
Prevention projects are described in the reports. Most of these projects deal with public awareness campaigns directed towards the general public, government officials and professionals, as well as specific risk groups. Some schools include information in the teaching curriculum, or train young people as peer communicators. Telephone hotlines are another way in which people can get information on the risks of trafficking, and about the help that is available to victims.
There is a serious lack of rehabilitation programmes offering psychological, social, medical and legal assistance. Most programmes are not specific to children, and not even specific to victims trafficked for sexual purposes. The same applies to shelters; the provision of shelter accommodation to victims of trafficking is usually by organisations already servicing the needs of women suffering from domestic violence. Most of the research reports complained that even if the resources were there to provide services to returned trafficked minors, there are no trained personnel to do the work. IOM plays an important role in voluntary repatriation in most of the countries, and has worked for younger as well as adult victims, but repatriation programmes are generally not specific to children. There are no repatriation programmes in Estonia, Russia or Ukraine.

Public Awareness and Media
Everywhere the media is a powerful source of information and plays a very important role in its dissemination. However, information on trafficking is frequently distorted, sensationalised and prejudiced towards victims. This general attitude makes the reintegration of young victims, and their psychological recovery, more difficult.

Multi Stakeholder Cooperation
The importance of all parties working together to combat trafficking was underlined in several country reports; especially important is the cooperation between the state agencies, international organisations and NGOs. States do not always take responsibility for the problem; most programmes are carried out by voluntary organizations. A problem for NGOs is the project based nature of the work, and their dependence on funding, which leads to problems with sustainability and continuity.
A state programme, such as a National Plan of Action, that sets out the responsibilities and obligations of the different agencies dealing with trafficking is very important in combating the problem. Example of collaborative working can be found in Albania, Belarus, Moldova, and Romania where government departments, international agencies and NGOs have common strategies and shared programmes to combat trafficking.


Western European Updates
In the course of the current project, those countries that had participated in Trafficking I agreed to provide a report detailing events since that report was published at the end of 2001. The updates all show an increase in awareness on the issue of trafficking, including trafficking in minors, in Western European countries, and a movement towards harmonised anti-trafficking legislation. Several countries noticed that there is now less use of asylum procedures to gain entry of young people into western European countries. On the negative side, the reports also all show a continuing absence of data collection, continuing difficulties with age identification, and a lack of social services for the care of trafficked child victims.

Conclusions
The Report concludes that there is a general failure to recognize the specific rights of children to protection from sexual exploitation, both within their national systems, and as a separate category of victims of human trafficking. The international obligations of states requires them to implement special protections for children to prevent them from becoming victims and to rescue and protect them after they have fallen into the hands of traffickers. The numbers of young people affected seem not to be so high as to make the problem unmanageable, and it therefore should be given priority in national anti-trafficking measures and in measures for the return, recovery and reintegration of child victims.

Recommendations
1. Child protection mechanisms must be made effective at national level in every country.
2. Anti-trafficking programmes must have specific measures to combat trafficking of minors.
3. Children must be given priority in national judicial systems. Legislation to combat trafficking must match the standards of the agreed international instruments. Where children are concerned, even discretionary provisions of the instruments should be fully implemented.
4. In-country trafficking must be criminalized.
5. The purchase of sexual services from minors should be made a criminal offence in every country of the region.
6. The special vulnerability of children in the investigation of trafficking offences must be recognized by law enforcement agencies.
7. Witness Protection for Child Victims must be institutionalized in the countries of the region.
8. A Counter-Trafficking Steering Group, with specialised sub-groups, including NGOs, along the lines of the UK model should be considered for every country.
9. Migration Policies should be examined in every country and reviewed to cover the current needs of young people for safe migration.
10. All countries should research the extent and nature of child sexual exploitation in their domestic context.
11. Common data registration systems specific to trafficked, exploited and missing minors should be developed for all the European countries.
12. National services available to child victims should be mapped, and the information made available to all the services that come in contact with trafficked minors.
13. Education for Prevention programmes should become part of the curricula in primary and secondary schools in all the Eastern European project countries. Social assistance and support must be available to children at risk.
14. Collaboration between child-centred NGOs and the NGOs working for women should increase. A coalition against trafficking of minors between East and West Europe (like the coalition against child soldiers) could be a body through which this networking could function
15. NGOs should use the Offices of the UN Special Rapporteur and the OSCE Representative as common reference points to which to supply information about child trafficking.
16. Awareness-raising must continue in the region, and be further developed to target a wide range of risk groups and professionals.
17. Information and training should be prioritized by each country for those involved in combating trafficking.
18. Efforts must be made to sensitise the media to the protection of children, based on existing guidelines.
19. The expansion of Hotlines/Helplines to provide information services to trafficked victims should be encouraged.
20. Programmes for shelter, rehabilitation and reintegration of children should be expanded and developed, with a multidisciplinary approach and a legal component.
21. Repatriation programmes should be developed that are targeted specifically at children.
22. Core funding to the not-for-profit sector providing protection for children should be recognized as necessary to enable NGOs to care on a long-term basis for trafficked and exploited minor victims.


The report Joint East West Trafficking Research on Trafficking in Children for Sexual Purposes in Europe: The Sending Countries is published in cooperation with ECPAT Netherlands and Defence for Children International The Netherlands. The report is co-financed by the STOP II programme of the European Commision ,Brussels and the OAK Foundation, Geneva.
To order this publication or for more information on the project, you can contact mr. Theo Noten or ms. Anke van den Borne.

ECPAT Netherlands, P.O. Box 75297, 1070 AG Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Tel: + 31 20 4203771, fax: + 31 20 4203832, Email: info@ecpat.nl, Website: www.ecpat.nl

LACK OF PROTECTION FOR CHILDREN FROM SEXUAL EXPLOITATION AND TRAFFICKING IN CENTRAL AND EASTERN EUROPE - 22/03/2004
"Prostituted and trafficked children in Central and Eastern Europe generally are seen as engaging in anti-social behaviour and not as victims of exploitation. Minor victims are very harshly treated by traffickers and exploiters, but there is no specific protection within the legislation and in the law enforcement system and there are no specific provisions for care, recovery and repatriation. Therefore minors should be given priority in anti-trafficking measures." These are the main conclusions of the ECPAT Europe Law enforcement Group, coordinated by ECPAT Netherlands, in its report ‘Joint East West Research on Trafficking in Minors for Sexual Purposes in Europe: the Sending Countries’. This European research is presented at the meeting of the Stability Pact Taskforce on Trafficking in Human Beings on 24 March 2004 in Belgrade.

The Joint East West Research is a follow up of the report on receiving countries in Western Europe published in 2001. The focus in the report is on eight Central and Eastern European countries: Albania, Belarus, Czech Republic, Estonia, Moldova, Romania, Russia and Ukraine. Updates were provided on the situation in eight western European countries: Belgium, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, The Netherlands, Norway and United Kingdom.
No country could provide reliable statistics on the number of children trafficked into, within, or out of their country. Numbers mentioned in the different country reports vary from a few to several hundreds. The research shows an increase in awareness on trafficking in minors and a movement towards harmonised anti-trafficking legislation in Western Europe. Most countries in Central and Eastern Europe have adopted anti-trafficking provisions in their legislation. But protection for children is weak and there is a serious lack of specific recovery programmes.
The most important recommendations from ECPAT to improve the situation of minors are:
• Protect children in the countries of origin. Give children priority in legislation and law enforcement; criminalize the purchase of sexual services from minors and in-country trafficking; make criminal investigations of trafficking and sexual exploitation child focused.
• All countries should research the extent and nature of child sexual exploitation in their domestic context. Common data registration systems should be developed in Europe specific to trafficked, exploited and missing minors.
• Awareness-raising, education and training must target a range of risk groups as well as professionals in combating trafficking. Media must be sensitised to the protection of children.
• Encourage the expansion of Help Lines as well as specific programmes for shelter, recovery and repatriation. A child rights based approach should be the basis for such programmes.
• Promote and enhance anti-trafficking multi stakeholder cooperation of government, international agencies and NGOs.

The research was co-funded by the European Commission’s STOP II program and the Oak foundation.


For more information: contact mr.Theo Noten project coordinator or ms. Anke van den Borne, research coordinator: ECPAT the Netherlands tel: + 31 20 4203771 Email: info@ecpat.nl.

Campagne UNICEF contre la traite des enfants - 19/11/2003
Chaque année 1,2 million d'enfants, filles et garçons, sont victimes de la traite. Ils sont exploités loins de chez eux pour leur force de travail, leur corps ou leur affection.
L'UNICEF agit dans les pays d'origine et de destination de ces enfants.
UNICEF Belgique s'engage dans la lutte contre cette violation extrême des droits de l'enfant et lance une campagne nationale de pétition : www.unicef.be/traitedesenfants


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