Parents Against Injustice

ECPAT UK E-News Bulletin September 2010

Campaigning with The Body Shop against child trafficking
Working with young people
First UK Anti-Slavery Day - date confirmed!
Monitoring travelling sex offenders
Take action now

Campaigning with The Body Shop against child trafficking

Since July 2009, ECPAT UK and The Body Shop have been engaged in a joint campaign against child trafficking, which has seen much success and has
raised awareness of the issue of child trafficking across a whole new
range of supporters. The Body Shop stores across the UK are selling a
special campaign product ‘Soft Hands Kind Heart’ hand cream. The newly
released handy sized tube (50ml, RRP £3.50) has proved very popular
with The Body Shop customers and makes a great gift. For each sale,
£2.06 comes directly to ECPAT UK to help fund our crucial work to
combat child trafficking. You can buy a tube or two of the hand cream
at any Body Shop store nationwide or online.

One year on, ECPAT UK and The Body Shop have launched a petition in the UK calling on the Government to provide better care and protection for
child victims of trafficking, specifically to introduce a system of
guardianship for child victims of trafficking. This petition has
received over 350,000 signatures so far in the UK. This is an amazing
achievement in such a short time, but we still need more signatures to
really make our voices heard.

If you have not signed the petition yet, you can do so here. It only takes a few seconds! Help us by promoting the petition through your social networking sites such as Facebook or Twitter. You can also take action by downloading petition forms from the ECPAT UK website and collecting signatures from your friends, families and colleagues.

Working with young people

Funds raised from the sale of The Body Shop ‘Soft Hands, Kind Heart’ hand cream have enabled ECPAT UK to extend our Youth Participation
programme. This includes a Youth Panel which allows young people to
give their input on ECPAT UK activities and a Youth Group, which
provides support and social activities for child victims of trafficking.

Recently ECPAT UK Youth Programme Coordinator, Debbie Beadle, accompanied a group of young people, including a member of the Youth Group, on a
Youth Exchange to Serbia. The project taught the young people how to
spread their message through methods such as puppet theatre, mask work,
forum theatre and circus arts. The skills were shared with the ECPAT UK
Youth Group and have been used in their activities raising awareness
about child exploitation. Young people have also been engaged in The
Body Shop campaign, in activities including joining the march on
Parliament for the petition launch (pictured), drawing their handprints
and receiving makeovers in the Body Shop stores.

First UK Anti-Slavery Day - date confirmed!

From the start of 2010, ECPAT UK worked closely on the Anti-Slavery Bill which former MP Anthony Steen introduced as a Private Members Bill.
Just before the General Election in early May, the Anti-Slavery Day
Bill received Royal Assent and passed into law. Now, Prime Minister
David Cameron has announced that the new UK Anti-Slavery Day will be
marked annually on 18th October, which coincides with European Anti-Trafficking Day.

The aim of Anti-Slavery Day is to acknowledge that modern-day slavery exists and that millions of men, women and children continue to be
victims of the modern-day slave trade, to raise awareness of human
trafficking and exploitation and to encourage people to be proactive in
the fight against it. ECPAT UK is planning a special event for
Anti-Slavery Day as part of our campaign with The Body Shop. Please
check our website www.ecpat.org.uk nearer the time for further details.

Monitoring Travelling Sex Offenders

ECPAT UK continues to raise awareness and campaign against the sexual exploitation of children by UK nationals who travel abroad. Recent
cases in the media have underlined our concerns that serious gaps in
legislation are allowing these offenders to sexually exploit children
overseas with impunity. In light of the recent case of UK national
James Connor, arrested in Romania on 22nd August 2010 on suspicion of
sexually abusing children, ECPAT UK is calling on the Home Secretary to
undertake an immediate review of current sex offender legislation. A
review is essential to identify the gaps which allow British sex
offenders to abuse children overseas, in particular those individuals
who are already known to the UK authorities. Prior to his arrest in
Romania, James Connor was known to the UK police and was arrested in
1995 in connection with offences against children.

ECPAT UK is currently gathering information and evidence that identifies gaps in legislation and opportunities to strengthen law enforcement on the
protection of children from British sex offenders who travel abroad. We
will use this information to lobby government to improve implementation
of the laws, providing better protection for children everywhere.

Click here to read BBC article on James Connor's arrest in Romania.

Take action now!

Contact your MP - As we mentioned in our last e-news bulletin, to coincide with the launch of the petition, the Chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group
on Human Trafficking, Peter Bone MP, tabled an Early Day Motion (EDM)*
in Parliament calling on the Government to introduce a system of
guardianship for child victims of trafficking.

The more signatures MPs the EDM receives, the more likely key decision-makers in the Government will take notice and take action to protect child
victims of trafficking. That is where our supporters come in! If you
have not already done so, please contact your MP
to ask him/her to sign the EDM. On Monday 6 September MPs return to
Westminster for two weeks before heading off again for the party
conference season. During these two weeks ECPAT UK would like many more
MPs to sign EDM 513, so please contact your MP today!

*An Early Day Motion (EDM) is a formal motion submitted for debate in the House of Commons; very few EDMs are actually debated. Instead, they are
used to publicise the views of individual MPs, draw attention to
specific events or campaigns, and to demonstrate the extent of
parliamentary support for a particular cause or point of view.

Fundraise for ECPAT UK - You can make a difference by holding a fundraising event for ECPAT UK! Whether you are an individual, or a team, whether you want to run a
marathon or have a sponsored silence, all funds raised make a vital
difference to our ability to campaign and lobby government to protect
children from exploitation in the UK and overseas. We wish them good
luck!

This month, a team from LexisNexis International are raising money by trekking, cycling and canoeing for the ‘9 lakes in 9 hours’ challenge in the Lake District. Also, our very own ECPAT UK
staff member Debbie Beadle continues her ‘30 Challenges before 30’. She
has already done 25 challenges and will complete the 30th on her 30th
birthday at the end of October. To sponsor Debbie, please go to www.justgiving.com/Debbie-Beadle

If you are interested in raising money for ECPAT UK, you can set up your own fundraising page at www.justgiving.com/ecpatuk

Make a regular donation - To help us on a regular basis, you can become an ECPAT UK Supporter and receive a biannual newsletter, subscription to our e-news list
providing regular campaign updates and a copy of our latest report.
Please fill in our Supporter Application Form and post back to us together with your donation.

Value-media.

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