ECPAT USA

Our Documentary has been Nominated!

max — Mon, 14 May 2012 17:25:18 +0000

What I Have Been Through Is Not Who I Am has been nominated for an award in the FILManthropy 2012 Film Festival in Santa Monica, California. The FILManthropy Festival is a unique philanthropic film festival that honors the film makers who use film as a medium to help make the world a better place, celebrates their work, and raises funds for the causes and organizations that they are passionate about and that are touched on in the films.
To find out more about the festival or purchase tickets please click here.

Minnesota Lodging Association Highlights the Code and Corporate Commitments to Fight Human Trafficking

Michelle — Mon, 14 May 2012 15:34:22 +0000

Mary Smith, the Marketing & Communications Manager for the Minnesota Lodging Association interviewed Private Sector Project Coordinator, Michelle Guelbart, about the movement in the hotel industry to identify and address instances of human trafficking.
Also in the article are signs hotel staff can look out for, resources, statistics, and information about the Tourism Child-Protection Code of Conduct.

Check out the PDF of the front-page article here: Industry Fights Human Trafficking

Supporters: To learn more about what you can do to promote the Code visit: http://ecpatusa.org/take-action/promote-the-code/
Hotel Personnel: To learn more about the Code and it’s implementation visit: http://ecpatusa.org/what-we-do/the-code/

Volunteer Position Available

max — Fri, 11 May 2012 18:36:17 +0000

Tassatag© Luggage Tags are fair- trade luggage tags that helps you spot your luggage more easily and support the mission of ECPAT-USA to protect every child’s human right to grow up free from sex trafficking. Those who attach Tassatags to their bags become visual reminders that they are part of the movement to combat child sex trafficking. ECPAT-USA seeks a creative marketing and business development volunteer with an interest in social justice to plan and carry out marketing and sales activities to develop the sales of Tassatags as part of the mission of ECPAT-USA. Included in the job responsibilities are the following activities:
1) Develop a list of prospective customers, both commercial and non-profit;
2) Develop ideas for, plan and carry out direct marketing activities through phone calls, visits and online, working with a volunteer designer/advertising professional.
3) Respond to and follow up sales inquiries.
4) Work with the Executive Director and board members of ECPAT-USA to create and put in place an order fulfillment processes.
5) Work with ECPAT-USA to incorporate Tassatag sales and marketing with ECPAT-USA programs and mission.

For more information about Tassatag please visit their website by clicking here

To apply for this volunteer position, please email ECPAT@ecpatusa.org with your resume and a cover letter telling us of your interest and how much time you would have available to work on this project.

Investors Call for Steps to Eliminate Sex Trafficking at London Olympics

max — Wed, 09 May 2012 14:53:14 +0000

The Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility (ICCR), other sponsors of the games, and travel partners are calling for public involvement in making sure that the 2012 Olympic Games are free of the blight of Sex Trafficking.

Click here to read the entire article at Social Funds.

Click here to see the ICCR’s website on the issue.

NPR’s Marketplace asks- Hotel Workers: The First Line of Defense Against Sex Trafficking?

Michelle — Fri, 27 Apr 2012 16:15:17 +0000

This Wednesday NPR’s Marketplace explored the American hotel industry’s role in fighting child sex trafficking. Carol Smolenski, ECPAT-USA’s Executive Director explained that sexually exploited girls are often forced to work out of or in hotels, some never leaving the confined walls of the room. In response, the hotel industry began implementing the ECPAT Tourism Child-Protection Code of Conduct, a set of business principles that guides companies in their efforts to protect children.

The story goes on to interview Nix Conference and Meeting Management, a recent signatory to the Code. They spoke of their groundbreaking and unconventional work in engaging local properties in the fight against commercial sexual exploitation on their properties. Kimberly Ritter showed NPR how she literally identifies hotel properties in the background of online classified ads selling young girls, proving to general managers that sex trafficking does in fact happen at their hotels.

Other interviewees include Sister Patty Johnson from the Sisters of St. Joseph, Noelle Collins U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Missouri, Katie Rhoades Executive Director of Healing Action Network, and Molly Hackett of Nix Conference and Meeting Management, who mentioned that after their company facilitated the Code signing of the Millennium Hotel St. Louis, a sex trafficker tweeted that exploiters should go elsewhere because the Millennium was not a safe-haven for their abuse.

Check out the full story, including full audio: http://www.marketplace.org/topics/business/hotels-urged-help-fight-sex-trafficking

To get more involved with the ECPAT Code, visit: http://ecpatusa.org/take-action/promote-the-code

ECPAT-USA’s Alternative Report

max — Fri, 27 Apr 2012 16:02:10 +0000

The U.S. government periodically reports to the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) on its work to implement the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the Sale of Children, Child Prostitution and Child Pornography (OPSC). After reviewing the most recent report, ECPAT-USA organized a collaborative effort of NGOs, service providers and advocates who are working on the ground with and for sexually exploited children in the United States into completing an alternative report to the U.S. government’s own position on its implementation of the Optional Protocol.
The U.S. government report was long and detailed so the Alternative Report confines itself to critiquing those issues that its contributors felt are most critical and about which we are most knowledgeable. It does not cover areas that we believe the U.S. is performing adequately or about which we have insufficient information to provide significant comment.
The Alternative Report identifies gaps both in the U.S. government report itself and in actions the U.S. has taken to implement the OPSC. Recognizing the inherent challenges of the task, this report points out the obstacles and comments on where the U.S. government can do better to ensure that children are protected from the violations covered by the OPSC. We also want to note that two years have passed since the U.S. submitted its periodic report and that more has been done in that time. We acknowledge this progress.
Click here to read the entire report

Developments in the Village Voice Media Battle

max — Wed, 25 Apr 2012 21:49:04 +0000

Today Ana Morse, president of the ECPAT-USA board of directors, gave testimony to the New York City Council Committee on Women’s Issues concerning Backpage and the $26.7 million dollars in advertising revenue it generates annually for Village Voice Media from prostitution alone.

Recently, Nicolas Kristof has been writing op-eds about children sold for sex on-line through Backpage. His latest article can be found by clicking here, and the Huffington Post’s supporting article can be found by clicking here. These articles have not been written in a vacuum, they are emblematic of the media battle still being waged between people that are against child sex trafficking and the Village Voice. For those that haven’t been following, this current melee was set off by a series of op-eds Mr. Kristof had written giving detailed accounts of how young girls were being sold on Backpage. Mr. Kristof’s articles have lead to a call for the Village Voice to end its role in child sex trafficking through Backpage, signed by 19 US Senators on March 23rd, 2012. and a Nightline expose on the website

John Buffalo Mailer, son of Norman Mailer, one of the co-Founder of Village Voice, protested outside the Village offices. asking them to take down their adult classified ads to help stop the sex trafficking of children. But Nicolas Kristof wasn’t the first to get into a brawl with the Village Voice over the issue of Backpage. The Village Voice tried to take on Ashton Kutcher during his campaign “Real Men Don’t Buy Sex”. It seems fairly innocuous, even down-right helpful, that a celebrity would lend his star power to the fight against sex trafficking and spread awareness of prostituted children. Even if it were just the issue of men shouldn’t solicit prostitutes in general, be they adults or children, that’s a downright wholesome message that should be welcome in the public discourse. Let’s not forget that prostitution is illegal in virtually every part of the country, so an alternate title for his campaign could have been “Real Men Don’t Break the Law”.

The oddity is the vitriol the Village Voice reserves for people who point out that Backpage is used by traffickers to sell children for sex. Yes, it is an adult classified ad website that is intended only for mutually consenting adults, but it has clearly developed into something else and has created the unintended consequence of being a website for sex traffickers to sell children. While there are two sides of the argument to the former issue, about what mutually consenting adults can and should be able to do, there can only be one side to the latter issue, that Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children (CSEC) is wrong, and that it is something we should all be able to agree with openly and publicly. Also, just to repeat, prostitution is still illegal for adults outside of a few of Nevada’s counties, and even there the sex takes place within a brothel and is not, to our knowledge, an on-line delivery service, so we at ECPAT-USA are having a difficult time understanding the Village Voice’s side of this media kerfuffle.

The reason why so many people are calling for Backpage to be shut down is because the Village Voice has not taken the time or effort to effectively police itself, and the real police don’t have the resources to do it for them. The Village Voice has attacked anyone who has criticized them and released article after article in an attempt to minimize and get its readership to ignore the serious problem of prostituted children. They claim to have dedicated staff screening the ads for minors and say they’re working hand in hand with law enforcement when infringements of its honor code are found, but some law enforcement agencies say they’ve received no help in prosecuting cases where Backpage was used to facilitate the commercial sexual exploitation of a child. As for their self-policing efforts, you have a handful of people physically checking the 16,000 – 19,000 personal ads added every month. While they do forward about 400 ads a month to law enforcement, hand checking internet pages is not an effective method this day in age. They have called for support of Senate Bill 596, which addresses the sorely needed funding for shelters, counseling, and rehabilitation for the victims of CSEC, but that’s the equivalent of supporting legislation to compensate drowning victims rather than legislation that supports more lifeguards. Yes, victims of a crime need support, but only when implemented in tandem with greater prevention and enforcement can it be truly effective, otherwise we’ll just continue to spend more and more money on treating more and more victims. We have to address the issue of CSEC head on by dealing with websites like Backpage that facilitate the trafficking of children, and we applaud people like Ashton Kutcher and Nicolas Kristof who are at least trying to do something about the problem.

Real Men Get Their Facts Straight: Ashton and Demi and Sex Trafficking, June 29, 2011, Village Voice
Ashton’s Twitter feed, published by Business Insider, June 30, 2011
Ashton Kutcher Attacks Village Voice in Late Night Twitter Tantrum, June 30, 2011, Village Voice
Ashton Kutcher and the Problem of Underage Prostitutes, July 1, 2011, Village Voice
How Pimps Use the Web to Sell Girls, January 26th, 2012, New York Times
Where Pimps Peddle Their Goods, March 18th, 2012, New York Times
What Nick Kristof Got Wrong: Village Voice Media Responds, March 21st, 2012, Village Voice
Responding to the Village Voice on Sex Trafficking, March 21st, 2012, New York Times
Norman Mailer’s Son Protests Outside the Village Voice, March 29th, 2012, New York Magazine
Financiers and Sex Trafficking, March 31st, 2012, New York Times
Change.org Petition to Tell Village Voice Media to Stop Child Sex Trafficking on Backpage.com
Girls Sold for Sex Online, Backpage.com Defends Decision to Keep Ads Up, April 24, 2012, ABC News
Click here to read Ana Morse’s Testimony

Kimberly Ritter Aims to Stop Child Sex Trafficking

max — Wed, 25 Apr 2012 13:51:29 +0000

Kimberly Ritter of Nix Conference and Meeting Management, a recent signatory to the Tourism Child-Protection Code of Conduct, will be one of 10 honorees at the 57th Women of Achievement Awards for her work to end child sex trafficking in hotels.

Click here to read the entire article

CNN Mexico Interviews Camelia Tepelus of The Code

max — Mon, 23 Apr 2012 19:32:21 +0000

ECPAT-USA’s Camelia Tepelus talks to CNN Mexico’s Lucia Navarro regarding the prevalence of children being involved in sex tourism, factors that lead children to be susceptible, and ways that the tourism industry can better equip themselves to combat this horrific crime. She outlines the six steps of the Code and highlights the both necessity and increased willingness of large corporations to enter into a partnership with ECPAT-USA against this terrible phenomenon.

click here to watch the entire interview. (It’s in Spanish)

News Alert

max — Fri, 30 Mar 2012 19:33:25 +0000

Countries worldwide are failing to properly protect children from sex trafficking, a global child protection network said in a report on Thursday, urging governments to ratify U.N. protocols on the issue and give victims more support.

Click here to read the full article