ECPAT-USA Hosts UN CSW Panel on How To Protect Vulnerable Children
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the cornerstone document of the United Nations, enshrines the belief that human rights are universal. The landmark Convention on the Rights of the Child reinforces that all children have the right to a safe and healthy childhood free from discrimination. Yet every day, everywhere children are being abused, exploited, marginalized, and subjected to violence.
ECPAT-USA has for nearly 30 years been the leading organization advocating for the prevention of the commercial sexual exploitation of children in the United States. ECPAT-USA has worked with Congress to adopt laws to protect children from sexual predators and to strengthen services for child survivors. ECPAT-USA has advised state judicial and law enforcement entities on best practices in ensuring child victims of sexual exploitation are appropriately served in our legal system. Further, ECPAT-USA has created programs for schools to assist students in developing healthy relationships between girls and boys and to build an understanding of techniques that sexual predators may employ.
Child traffickers often seek to lure children into their activities by exploiting real or perceived factors in their lives. In parallel to this year’s UN Commission on the Status of Women, ECPAT-USA organized a panel that explored some of the situations of marginalization that put children at risk and some effective programs to ensure that no child will be left behind. The event was moderated by ECPAT-USA CEO Lori L. Cohen and featured Cornelius Williams, Associate Director and Global Chief of Child Protection, UNICEF’s Programme Division; Christian Toala, Director of Educational Initiatives, ECPAT-USA; Alena Letski, Project Manager, Interregional Center for Women’s Support; Christine Stark, ECPAT-USA’s Survivors’ Council; and Glafira Samotoi, Youth Advocate.