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

30 Years of Fighting Child Sexual Exploitation

ECPAT International’s Annual Report July 2019 – June 2020
By ECPAT International
IN Annual Report
October 27th, 2020

Read The Story

ECPAT International is the leading global network of child rights organisations working to end the sexual exploitation of children online, through trafficking, prostitution, child marriage and in travel and tourism.

We are advocating for change by putting the crime of child sexual exploitation onto global, regional and national agendas. Supported by the voices of victims and survivors, we create and share research and knowledge on all forms of child sexual exploitation in the world. We challenge legal frameworks and provide recommendations to inform decisions and guide actions aimed at protecting children from sexual exploitation. We strive to give child victims and survivors a voice, and have supported and trained staff in the travel and tourism sector. We do this because we believe that concerted action can change the lives of children.

Here is this year’s Annual Report, highlighting ECPAT’s accomplishments from July 2019 to June 2020.

So Much to be Proud of

During the celebration of our 30th anniversary in May this year, we not only looked back and reflected on past achievements, but we considered the challenges and opportunities that also lie ahead of us. With many changes happening throughout the world, including the enormous impact of the covid-19 pandemic on virtually all aspects of our lives, we cannot afford to delay our work — it is truly not a time to rest as children today are even more vulnerable to the different forms of sexual exploitation.

An important part of our year has been, and continues to be, influenced by the ongoing pandemic. It has affected ECPAT, our members, partners and the environment in which we operate. Though we are still navigating through the many unpredictabilities, I am proud to share that ECPAT has still accomplished so much this past year, thanks to the hard work and dedication of our staff, network members and so many of you.

A special thanks to our donors and supporters—without you, we would not have been able to do much of our work. Your encouragement has made it possible for us to continue fighting our important fight.

Last but not least, and on behalf of the entire ECPAT team, I hope you stay healthy and safe. Our work over the past several months has shown that positive change is possible, but also that we need to step up our efforts and work collaboratively to make the world a safer place for our children.

Robbert van den Berg

Executive Director, ECPAT International

Learn more about our work
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A moment to mark and remember, but not a time to rest…

To honour our 30 years, we have looked back on the story of how we came to be. Together with our partners, we looked back at our incredible journey—starting as a small group of activists in Asia working to stop tourists from sexually exploiting children, to being the leading organisation fighting these crimes with members in over 100 countries.

Today, we pause to remember and celebrate our successes, but we cannot rest until every child is living a life free from sexual abuse and exploitation.

Learn more about ECPAT’s story!

Growing the ECPAT Network

We gained 13 new members in the ECPAT network this year, expanding our global representation to eight new countries! We are currently present in 103 countries through our 121 members.

A major goal of the ECPAT network is to ensure that we are the leading network on all different aspects of the sexual exploitation of children. To ensure this, we have developed a system to map the work our members do, as well as the different manifestations of child sexual abuse and exploitation they may specialise in. By understanding the scope of their work, we can identify strengths and gaps to continue to grow our expertise where it is most needed.

See where we work

Member spotlight: ECPAT Philippines is giving back to their communities

Our members have been quick to adjust their work to ensure they can carry on despite the limitations during covid-19. As many people are struggling to cope with the consequences of the pandemic, members have adapted their work to support their communities and help with relief operations. In the Philippines, for example, young women and children living at a care home run by ECPAT Philippines have gathered to sew cloth masks to distribute to those that need them most.

Despite some of the challenges that came with the covid-19 pandemic, ECPAT International maintained and built on our reputation as an important global player in the fight to stop the sexual exploitation of children. I am proud of our team’s hard work, commitment and passion as we were able to achieve so much within just one year.

– Robbert van den Berg, Executive Director

Member Stories

Internship Programme

ECPAT International’s Internship Programme is a unique opportunity for recent graduates and young professionals to learn about the organisation and gain practical training and skills in the fields of child protection, advocacy and research. Our interns come from all over the globe and have diverse backgrounds—such as communications, design, fundraising and human rights research, just to name a few. Unfortunately, it has been paused to accommodate the pandemic. However, we are happy that we could turn this situation around by keeping the valuable perspectives and contributions from our former interns through home-based consultancies. 🌟

It has been a privilege and an honour to Intern for ECPAT International. I’ve learnt so much in six months and the experience I’ve gained is so unique to the organisation.

– Freddie Nickolds, Former Research Intern

Financials and Major Donations

We saw yet another year of support from our donors, and their generosity has made it possible to continue our important work to protect children from sexual exploitation. Thank you.

What’s coming up 2021?

  • ECPAT’s new advocacy campaign investigating how encryption can impact children’s safety online in Europe.
  • Thanks to a generous grant from The Fund to End Violence Against Children, we are partnering with INTERPOL and the UNICEF Office of Research – Innocenti to assess the context, threat and children’s perspectives of online child sexual exploitation and abuse in 14 countries in Southeast Asia and Eastern and Southern Africa. Data collection and analysis is well underway, and reports for each of the 14 counties and two regional reports are expected to launch in late 2021.
  • Through case data of victims of trafficking collected by our network members, the ECPAT Trafficking Programme will launch a map showcasing trafficking routes used when exploiting children, as well as the profile of victims.

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