ECPAT International believes in the importance of meaningful youth participation and the significant impact it can bring in facilitating their active role in protecting other children from abuse and exploitation as well as to accelerate their own sense of empowerment as social actors.
The right to participate is enshrined in the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) as well as the Stockholm Declaration and Agenda for Action which came out of the first World Congress against the commercial sexual exploitation of children in Sweden in 1996.
ECPAT International has found that the involvement of child victims and at-risk youth in social action to protect other children from commercial sexual exploitation has acted as a powerful mechanism for recovery and empowerment. The empowerment of these children has enabled them to take on leadership roles within their communities and become positive role models in society, challenging the view of child survivors as only victims.
Youth around the world are building a better society with the support of organisations like ECPAT International and its grass root network members. Read how youth participation can lead to enhanced resiliency of vulnerable children in – Taking their views into account