Public Opinion is Clear: Urgent Legislation Required to Protect Children from Sexual Exploitation! Read the story

About us

Our campaign has evolved into the world’s largest influencing network fully dedicated to ending the sexual exploitation of children, with a membership of 125 civil society organisations in 104 countries.

How it began

ECPAT’s global campaign to end child sexual exploitation was launched in May 1990 when a small group of concerned individuals gathered in Chiang Mai in Northern Thailand. Organisations from across the globe heard this call to action and joined hands to provide support to combat this heinous problem. Since then, ECPAT has worked to better understand the web of child sexual exploitation through research and pushed for the critical systemic and social changes necessary to eliminate this scourge together with governments, intergovernmental institutions, the private sector, civil society and the general public, including children themselves. ECPAT has organized and co-sponsored three Global Congresses (Stockholm 1996, Yokohama 2001 and Rio De Janeiro 2008) which has firmly placed the issue of child sexual exploitation on the agendas of global leaders and decision-makers.  

Read more about our global membership

Our Secretariat

ECPAT is supported by an international secretariat to uncover and share new information on the ever-evolving battle to combat child sexual exploitation, providing a platform for exchange and knowledge transfer amongst the membership, facilitating the development of joint strategies, coordinating our collective effort, and maximizing our impacts.  

The ECPAT Secretariat is based in Bangkok, where we are grateful and proud to host some of the most experienced experts in the field of child protection, for research, programming, communications and network coordination.  

Get to know our team

ECPAT’s mandate is to end the sexual exploitation of children. We look at this problem in all its settings, including child sexual exploitation through prostitution; trafficking; early and forced marriage of children, online and in the context of travel and tourism. We work to better understand the problem through research while pushing for the critical systemic and social changes necessary to end the sexual exploitation of children with governments, intergovernmental institutions, the private sector, civil society, and the general public, including with the children themselves.

Violence against children, including sexual exploitation and abuse, affects an estimated one billion children worldwide and ECPAT’s research has concluded that no country or region is ‘immune’. Sexual violence against children is a growing and increasingly complex crime. It happens to children from all socioeconomic groups, of all educational levels, across all ethnic and cultural groups, and in every geographic region.

To end these crimes, knowledge, and evidence must be of the highest possible quality to inform our decisions and guide targeted action and activities. ECPAT continues to conduct primary research, as well as bringing together information from various sectors and countries around the world, to form a reliable and professional range of academic sources. 

ECPAT also offers information for children tunderstand their rights, gain access justice, and find medical, psychological, and social support services in case they are affected by sexual exploitation and abuse. We connect adult survivors of child sexual abuse and exploitation to work together to heal as a global community of advocates. 

SEE OUR ROADMAP TO END THE SEXUAL EXPLOITATION OF CHILDREN

This strategic framework outlines what needs to be done to make progress towards a world where all children are free from sexual exploitation.

2021 – 2025
ECPAT International Strategic Framework

Available: English, French, Spanish, Russian