Stop Sex Trafficking Campaign
In August 2009, The Body Shop Ireland and ECPAT global began a three-year global campaign entitled: Stop Sex Trafficking of Children and Young People. The three aims of the campaign are to raise awareness of the 1.2 million children trafficked globally on an annual basis, influence the Irish Government to implement stricter anti-trafficking policies and legislation, and empower ordinary people to make a difference. The campaign began with the Alliance helping to launch the The Body Shop’s Soft Hands, Kind Heart hand cream. The hand cream went on sale in 12 stores throughout Ireland for €5.95 (£3.45 donated directly to campaigns and prevention projects against child trafficking in Ireland). This has proved a great success, with over €30,000 raised to date.The campaign continues in 2010 with the launch of a global petition and Country Progress Card at Dublin’s Grafton Street branch of The Body Shop on 8 July 2010. The campaign calls on every concerned person in Ireland to show their solidarity, by tracing their hand as part of a petition in their local Body Shop store. Celebrity supporters across the world include: Twilight’s Robert Pattinson, Sienna Miller, Sir Ben Kingsley, Yoko Ono, Joanna Lumley, Mark Ronson, Joely Richardson, Denise van Outen, and Pixie Lott. The petition looks for the support of people in Ireland calling for Government to:
- Identify child victims and enforce laws to prosecute child traffickers;
- Provide child victims with the support they need to escape their traffickers and rebuild their lives;
- Implement the Irish Government’s National Action Plan to Prevent and Combat Trafficking in Human Beings 2009-2012; and
- Ratify the Optional Protocol to the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child on the Sale of Children, Child Prostitution and Child Pornography.
The Country Progress Card [Ireland] by ECPAT assesses the Irish State’s progress in stopping sex trafficking of children and young people to Ireland. ECPAT reviewed the progress, and issued progress cards, for a selection of countries around the world, and Ireland was amongst half the countries identified as having made ‘some progress’.
The issue of trafficking and missing children has been raised regularly in Ireland by the Ombudsman for Children, the Special Rapporteur on Child Protection, opposition politicians and NGOs. Since 2000, over 500 children in the care of the state have gone missing. A shocking 90% remain missing, and it is feared that many may have been trafficked. Ireland is considered, primarily, a destination for child trafficking, but also as a transit point for children trafficked to the UK and, increasingly, the border crossing between Northern Ireland and the Republic is being used, as well as the Ireland‐Wales ferry crossings.
The ECPAT progress card calls on Ireland to combat trafficking by taking measures in the following areas:- Community‐Based Prevention Measures on Child Trafficking
- National Legal Framework Harmonisation with International Standards
- Specialised Support Services for Child Victims of Trafficking
For more information:
