Region's governments urged to push through tough new measures on child prostitution, trafficking and online sexual exploitation

Despite some progress in recent years in addressing the problem of sexual exploitation of children in Europe and Central Asia, much more needs to be done to address the issue. This includes identifying child victims and providing appropriate support for their recovery and reintegration, closer cooperation between services and among countries in the region and tougher enforcement of the laws to address the demand for sexual exploitation of children. These were the key messages heard at the “Europe and Central Asia Regional Preparatory Meeting for the World Congress III against Sexual Exploitation of Children & Adolescents” – a two-day meeting held to feed recommendations to an upcoming world congress on sexual exploitation of children, reads a communique by the International Labor Organization (ILO), quoted by Info-Prim Neo. Hundreds of experts, government officials and activists from around the region attended the meeting, which was held at the ILO Conference Centre in Geneva, Switzerland which ended with recommendations specific to Europe and Central Asia on how to end the scourge of sexual exploitation of children. Mr. Geir Myrstad of the ILO reminded those present that the ILO Worst Forms of Child Labour Convention No. 182 calls on all ILO member States to undertake immediate and effective measures to prohibit commercial sexual exploitation of children, including child prostitution, pornography, and trafficking, and that under the ILO Global Action Plan on child labour the 182 member States of the ILO have committed themselves to eliminate commercial sexual exploitation of children by 2016. “Progress has been made – particularly with the recent development of the Council of Europe Convention on protecting children from sexual abuse and exploitation - but the fact is that Europe and Central Asia continue to see large numbers of children exploited, so enforcement of these legal instruments is essential” said Mark Capaldi, Deputy Director of ECPAT International, an NGO focused on ending child prostitution, pornography and trafficking. The World Congress III against Sexual Exploitation of Children and Adolescents will be held in Rio de Janeiro from 25-28 November. More than 3,000 participants comprised of governments, civil society, international organisations, private sector, children and young people are expected to attend this global forum convened to map out the actions that have to be taken to combat the sexual exploitation of children.