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ECPAT UK is holding a conference today to mark the 20 year anniversary of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child - ‘The UK and child exploitation: Where in the world are we?’. We are delighted that our partners in this event are leading criminal barrister chambers 3 Raymond Buildings the Metropolitan Police’s ‘Operation Golf’ a part EC funded ‘Joint Investigation Team’ investigating Romanian Roma organised crime networks which traffick children for the purposes of begging and street crime. We hope that by bringing together police, lawyers and policy makers to learn from each other we can make a meaningful difference in our efforts to protect children from exploitation. Upholding children’s right to protection has become ever more complex in the 21st century. Cheaper international travel, new technology and diminishing borders have resulted in new threats to children and have increased the need for legislation and policy that extends beyond national boundaries. The UK has a good track record in legislation that allows for the prosecution of those that exploit and abuse children in complex circumstances where borders have been crossed. The Sex Offenders Act (1997) introduced the concept of extraterritorial law for those that travelled abroad to sexually abuse children. This was substantially updated in the Sexual Offences Act (2003) and again with recent changes in the Policing and Crime Act 2009 which completed its passage through Parliament last week. The trafficking of children for sexual exploitation was also recognised in law for the first time in the Sexual Offences Act (2003) and was then followed by the criminalisation of trafficking for labour exploitation in the Asylum and Immigration (Treatment of Claimants etc) Act (2004). However, legislation in itself is not enough to guarantee the protection of children and requires professionals to work together in environments that may not be familiar. The successful prosecution of offenders and the protection of child witnesses often requires both formal and informal cooperation across borders, at times with non-traditional partners. We hope that this conference will provide greater understanding of what legal tools and opportunities are available to professionals who are committed to the protection of children across borders, whether that be the trafficking of children into the UK or the sexual abuse of children by British nationals who travel abroad. The campaign to stop the trafficking of children requires the skills and knowledge of many groups of people. ECPAT UK has been campaigning against the sexual exploitation of children for over 15 years and has been responsible for ground breaking research and a number of successful campaigns to bring about new laws and policies to protect children who have been trafficked into the UK. ENDS PRESS CONTACT Notes to the editor The UNCRC is the most widely ratified international human rights instrument. The UK signed the UNCRC in 1990, it was ratified in late 1991 and came into force in the UK on 15th January 1992. Significantly for this conference the UK ratified the Optional Protocol to the UNCRC on the Sale of Children, Child Prostitution and Child Pornography earlier this year. ECPAT UK (End Child Prostitution, Child Pornography and Trafficking of Children for Sexual Purposes) is a leading UK children’s rights organisation. ECPAT UK works with the highest levels of government but also reaches out to practitioners and those working directly with children through research, training and capacity building.
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