[ecpat & the body shop 'stop sex trafficking of children ... - Ecpat France

2. PROGRESS REPORT FOR YEAR ONE
A. CAMPAIGN AWARENESS RAISING ACTIVITIES
Raising awareness among the public on social issues is a key goal of the campaign partnership which unites the partners’
experiences of implementing campaigns within their respective sectors. ECPAT began its work launching a campaign
against the prostitution of children in Asian tourism in the early 1990’s and has been advocating among world leaders and
relevant stakeholders on the issue of commercial sexual exploitation of children keeping the commitment for action to
combat these violations alive and visible in the global agenda through the processes that has led to three World
Congress, including the most recent one at the close of 2008. The ECPAT network has extensive experience in concrete
work against child trafficking for sexual purposes and on advocacy.
The Body Shop runs its’ business based on the premise that the company can be both profitable and also work towards
positive social and environmental changes. With more than 2,500 stores in 64 countries, The Body Shop has
demonstrated from past campaigns (such as banning animal testing and raising awareness and inspiring legislative
against domestic violence) that they can reach millions of customers to engage them on important social and
environmental issues. The ‘Stop Sex Trafficking of Children and Young People Campaign’ aims to raise awareness and
inspire people to take action to create lasting positive outcomes in preventing child trafficking and the sexual exploitation
of children.
The ECPAT and The Body Shop ‘Stop Sex Trafficking of Children
and Young People Campaign’ launched in August 2009 with
the release of the campaign base‐line report in Bangkok,
Thailand. The report, Their Protection is in Our Hands – the
State of Global Child Trafficking for Sexual Purposes 1 ,
reiterates that the trafficking of children and young people for
sexual purposes in many countries is increasing and
governments need to do more to tackle the problems and
protect children and young people. Key findings of the report
include: the current global recession is increasing children’s
vulnerability towards being trafficked; increase of
internal/domestic trafficking of children within their own
country; the existence of demand and lucrative profits will
continue to generate sex trafficking of children; traffickers are
likely to come from the same ethnic/national background as victims; and a list of factors that heightens child trafficking.
A key note speaker at the launch was Ms Najat M'jid Maalla, UN‐Special Rapporteur on the sale of children, child
prostitution and child pornography, who committed to sharing the Report’s findings with the Committee on the Rights of
the Child and other UN Rapporteurs and expressed her commitment to continue to support the campaign. The launch
was attended by over 100 media and representatives of NGOs, UN agencies and government partners working to
promote children’s rights, and resulted in 30 international and national media reports 2 . The campaign will be
implemented in 43 countries where ECPAT member groups or partners together with the local The Body Shop markets, as
well as in other countries where supporting organizations are interested to extend the message and work of the
campaign.
Following the global launch of the campaign, the local partners implementing the campaign hosted their own national
launches to kick start the awareness raising activities and the sales of the specially created ‘Soft Hands Kind Heart Hand
Cream’ sold with all profits donated to campaign; there were over 25 national launches. As the goal of year one of the
1 The official campaign base‐line report, Their Protection is in Our Hands ‐ The State of Global Child Trafficking for Sexual Purposes, is available for free
at: http://www.ecpat.net/EI/Publications/Trafficking/Full_Report_Global_Child_Trafficking_for_Sexual_Purposes.pdf
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A recorded version of the press conference at the campaign’s launch can be viewed at www.ustream.tv/channel/ecpat‐thebodyshop.
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