Sola Ogundipe
2 December 2008
HUNDREDS of adolescents from developing countries are in Brazil to participate in the World Congress III against Sexual Exploitation of Children. The young people, are working directly with international organizations and governments to help shape future strategies for combating child sexual exploitation.
They are among the nearly 3,000 delegates at the World Congress as a critical effort in promoting long-term participation in government, civil society, and private sector initiatives.
The support was given by Brazilian organization Viração, UNICEF, Save the Children and others. One of the innovative tools they used to help them communicate with each other in preparing for the World Congress has been www.stopx.org, a website that was created by UNICEF to enable young people meet on-line, discuss the problem of sexual exploitation in their different regions, and decide on actions to take in fighting the problem.
Said Terra Weikel of UNICEF:
"The adolescents have come to Rio from all over the world, and stopx.org has helped them to really share their experiences and different perspectives and come together without being in the same room.
"Through stopx.org they have been able to focus their energies and develop concrete recommen-dations we hope will be taken on board by the governments and international organizations here in Rio."
Some of the recommendations that the adolescents are presenting to other delegates during the Congress include:
Harmonising laws on trafficking among countries to ensure victims of trafficking can receive the same protection regardless of where they find themselves.
That children being trafficked or sold into the sex trade are treated as victims and are not criminalized, and ensuring there are specialized services to treat children who have been sexually exploited.
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