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Former Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children sends a special message to ECPAT

Posted on Jun 2, 2020

In celebration of our 30th anniversary, former Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, Maud De Boer-Buquicchio sent us a special message. She congratulated us on always having the courage to speak out openly about the issue of sexual exploitation of children and praised our analysis and insightful suggestions on how to stop these horrible crimes. We thank you for your kind words Maud, and will continue to work alongside you in the fight to end child sexual exploitation!

Here’s her full message.


This year, ECPAT celebrates 30 years of its existence. Created in parallel to the adoption of the Optional Protocols to the Convention on the Rights of the Child (OPSC),which also celebrates its 20th anniversary this year, it has picked up the challenge to provide the indispensable civil society arm for its implementation.

It was created by a few visionaries, who had the courage to speak out openly about the sexual exploitation of children and call a spade a spade. This was contrary to a prevailing culture of silence, whether it was to protect the reputation of the family or due to the absence of reporting channels for the victims, exacerbated by the hidden nature of the crime.

ECPAT was created by visionaries, who had the courage to speak out about sexual exploitation of children.

The organisation is what it is thanks to the strong and committed leadership of women and men thanks to whom children are being heard and protected. ECPAT always speaks up, analyses and offers solutions that are often ahead of the curve in identifying emerging manifestations of these abject crimes.

Thanks to the strong and committed leadership of ECPAT, children are being heard and protected.

And in particular to its field presence, ECPAT was a reliable partner and strong ally and the support provided to me as UN Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children was more than precious.

May your work continue to benefit all the children in the world.

In gratitude,

Maud de Boer-Buquicchio


Help celebrate our anniversary by joining our fundraiser, and get us on our way to the next 30 years of protecting children!

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Learn more about ECPAT’s 30-year history.

The ECPAT Network reaches 100 countries!

A message from the Special Representative on Violence against Children in honour of our anniversary