ECPAT

In 1990, researchers and activists helped to establish ECPAT (an acronym for End Child Prostitution in Asian Tourism){{cite web |title=ECPAT - End Child Prostitution in Asian Tourism |url=https://knowledge4policy.ec.europa.eu/organisation/ecpat-end-child-prostitution-asian-tourism_en |website=Knowledge for policy |publisher=European Commission |access-date=23 June 2021}} as a three-year campaign to end "sex tourism," with an initial focus on Asia.{{Cite web|url=http://www.ecpat.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/Regional-Overview_Southeast-Asia.pdf|title=Regional Overview of the Sexual Exploitation of Children in Southeast Asia}} As the terms "child prostitution" and "sex tourism" are no longer used in the sector, today the organization goes by its initials ECPAT.{{Cite web|url=http://luxembourgguidelines.org/|title=Home - Terminology Guidelines|website=Terminology Guidelines|language=en-GB|access-date=2018-10-29}} Anti-Slavery International was one of the original supporters, and helped to set up a branch in the UK.{{cite web | title=Our history | website=Anti-Slavery International | url=https://www.antislavery.org/about-us/history/ | access-date=4 December 2020}}

In 1996, in partnership with UNICEF and the NGO Group for the Rights of the Child (now known as Child Rights Connect{{Cite web|url=http://www.childrightsconnect.org/members-partners/|title=members & partners {{!}} Child Rights Connect|website=www.childrightsconnect.org|language=en-US|access-date=2018-03-12}}), ECPAT International co-organised a global world congress against the sexual exploitation of children in Stockholm, Sweden. The congress was hosted by the Government of Sweden, which also played a major role in attracting support and participation from other governments. As a result, ECPAT grew from a regional campaign into a global non-governmental organization.{{cite web|url=http://resources.ecpat.net/worldcongressIII/overview2.php|title=World Congress III|date=2008-11-28|publisher=Resources.ecpat.net|access-date=2015-08-04|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304055701/http://resources.ecpat.net/worldcongressIII/overview2.php|archive-date=4 March 2016|url-status=dead}}

Between 2009 and 2012, ECPAT, in partnership with The Body Shop, helped run the Stop Sex Trafficking of Children and Young People{{Cite news|url=http://www.thebodyshop.com.au/stories/stop-sex-trafficking#.WqYOJ-hubIV|title=Stop Sex Trafficking {{!}} The Body Shop Australia|work=The Body Shop|access-date=2018-03-12|language=en}} campaign, which called on governments to safeguard the rights of children and adolescents to protect them from trafficking for sexual purposes. More than 7 million petition signatures were collected worldwide and presented to government officials around the world and to the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva.

[[File:ECPAT members.svg|thumb|States with one or more organizations that are connected to the ECPAT network

{{legend|#0b6a00|ECPAT group(s) in the state}}

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ECPAT International produces a variety of research and resources for use by its network members, other NGOs, UN agencies, and researchers. These include regular country reports, regional reports and studies on specific forms of child sexual exploitation, such as the sexual exploitation of children in travel and tourism,{{Cite news|url=http://globalstudysectt.org/global-report/|title=Global Report 2016 - globalstudysectt.org|date=2015-02-23|work=globalstudysectt.org|access-date=2018-03-12|language=en-US|archive-date=12 March 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180312144556/http://globalstudysectt.org/global-report/|url-status=dead}} and the online sexual exploitation of children.{{Cite web|url=https://www.interpol.int/content/download/36989/473828/version/1/file/Summary%20-%20Towards%20a%20Global%20Indicator%20on%20Unidentified%20Victims%20in%20Child%20Sexual%20Exploitation%20Material.%20February%202018.pdf|title=Towards a Global Indicator on Unidentified Victims in Online Sexual Exploitation - summary report|access-date=12 March 2018|archive-date=12 March 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180312194225/https://www.interpol.int/content/download/36989/473828/version/1/file/Summary%20-%20Towards%20a%20Global%20Indicator%20on%20Unidentified%20Victims%20in%20Child%20Sexual%20Exploitation%20Material.%20February%202018.pdf|url-status=dead}}

ECPAT is mandated to monitor the commitments of governments around the world and their legal obligations to protect children from sexual exploitation. ECPAT produces regular country monitoring reports{{Cite web|url=http://www.ecpat.org/resources/|title=Resources Archive - ECPAT International|website=ECPAT International|language=en-GB|access-date=2018-03-12}} that are presented to the United Nations in Geneva, to follow up implementation of the Stockholm Agenda for Action (Stockholm, 1996).

The ECPAT network currently consists of 104 member organisations in 93 countries. These include independent civil society organisations, grassroots NGOs and coalitions of NGOs focused on a range of child rights violations.

The Code is a set of protocols that tourism operators may sign up to, in order to ensure that their businesses do not facilitate or encourage the sexual exploitation of children by travelers and tourists. The Code was developed by ECPAT Sweden in 1996 and is promoted through the international ECPAT network. Today, more than 350 tour operators, hotels, airlines and other travel businesses across 42 countries have become members, including some of the biggest tourism companies in the world.{{cite web |url=http://www.thecode.org/ |title=Home |website=thecode.org}}{{cite web|author=Ms. Anne van der TuukAbang Africa Travel |url=http://www.thecode.org/about/history/ |title=History |publisher=The Code |date=2013-11-21 |access-date=2014-01-22}}{{cite news|url=http://www.cnn.com/2012/02/29/travel/hotel-sex-trafficking/|title=Fighting sex trafficking in hotels, one room at a time|publisher=CNN|first=Katia|last=Hetter}}

ECPAT International works with law enforcement partners, such as INTERPOL, to prevent the online sexual exploitation of children. It engages with other child rights organisations, for example, through the Internet Governance Forum, and is a member of the Virtual Global Taskforce{{cite web|url=http://www.virtualglobaltaskforce.com/who-we-are/industry-partners/|title=Private Sector Partners|work=virtualglobaltaskforce.com|access-date=4 August 2015|archive-date=6 September 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150906221801/http://www.virtualglobaltaskforce.com/who-we-are/industry-partners/|url-status=dead}} and the European Financial Coalition against Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children Online. ECPAT is also part of the International Telecommunication Union´s Child Online Protection initiative.{{cite web|url=http://www.itu.int/en/cop/Pages/civil-society.aspx |title=Working Together|work=ITU|access-date=4 August 2015}} ECPAT has signed agreements with the International Association of Internet Hotlines,{{cite web|url=http://www.inhopefoundation.org/news/8-news-press/15-ecpat-international-and-the-inhope-foundation-cooperate-in-the-fight-against-child-sexual-abuse-material|title=ECPAT International and the INHOPE Foundation cooperate in the fight against child sexual abuse material|work=inhopefoundation.org|access-date=4 August 2015|archive-date=3 March 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303224650/http://www.inhopefoundation.org/news/8-news-press/15-ecpat-international-and-the-inhope-foundation-cooperate-in-the-fight-against-child-sexual-abuse-material|url-status=dead}} the Internet Watch Foundation and Child Helpline International.{{Cite web |url=http://www.childhelplineinternational.org/resources/news/mou-asia-pacfic/ |title=CHI - Child Helpline International |access-date=28 July 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140228113101/http://www.childhelplineinternational.org/resources/news/mou-asia-pacfic/ |archive-date=28 February 2014 |url-status=dead }}

ECPAT advocates for the ratification of international and regional legal instruments such as the Optional Protocol on the Sale of Children, Child Prostitution and Child Pornography, and the Council of Europe Convention on the Protection of Children against Sexual Exploitation and Sexual Abuse (Lanzarote convention).

ECPAT-USA has been criticised for its lobbying for Stop Enabling Sex Traffickers Act, which has been described by Vox as a law intended to "curb online sex work" while allegedly making consensual sex work less safe.{{cite web|url=https://www.vox.com/culture/2018/4/13/17172762/fosta-sesta-backpage-230-internet-freedom|title=A new law intended to curb sex trafficking threatens the future of the internet as we know it|first=Aja|last=Romano|date=July 2, 2018|via=www.vox.com}} ECPAT-USA has claimed that at least 100,000 children in the U.S. are commercially sexually exploited, based on reports which used data from 1990 and which have been criticised by social scientists as inaccurate. The Washington Post claimed that the figure was "conjured out of thin air, based on old data from a largely discredited report."{{cite news |last=Kessler |first=Glenn |date=September 2, 2015 |title=The fishy claim that '100,000 children' in the United States are in the sex trade|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/fact-checker/wp/2015/09/02/the-fishy-claim-that-100000-children-in-the-united-states-are-in-the-sex-trade/ |newspaper=The Washington Post |access-date=September 28, 2021}} ECPAT-USA attempted to justify their use of the figure by citing a NISMART report that claimed that there are 1.7 million child runaway incidents each year, and that their figure was conservative, despite the report stating that only 1,700 of the 1.7 million children were engaged in the sex trade, and that more than three-quarters of children were away from home for less than a week, leaving only a very small window for sex trafficking.{{cite magazine |date=June 4, 2018 |title=Sex Workers Are Protesting FOSTA/SESTA Across the Country |url=https://www.vice.com/en/article/sex-workers-are-protesting-fostasesta-across-the-country/ |magazine=Vice |access-date=September 28, 2021}} ECPAT-USA subsequently agreed "to stop using the figure".

ECPAT-USA has responded to criticism against SESTA, describing legal sex workers as a "very small segment of society that enters sex work with their eyes wide open, and in the absence of coercion".{{Cite web|url=https://www.ecpatusa.org/blog/2018/4/19/facts-and-myths-about-sesta|title=Facts and Myths About SESTA|website=ECPAT-USA|date=19 April 2018 |language=en-US|access-date=2019-03-03}} However, since the law came into effect, sex workers have suffered increasing threats of violence, harassment and pimping. Online communities which provide support to sex workers, such as finding shelter or food, issuing warnings about potentially violent clients and providing know-your-rights training, were shut down, putting sex workers in danger. In the past, authorities have used such platforms to track traffickers, and fear that closing them has driven traffickers underground.{{Cite web|url=https://www.cnbc.com/2018/07/27/online-sex-ads-are-disappearing-due-to-anti-trafficking-law.html|title=Online sex ads are disappearing due to anti-trafficking law, but is that a good thing?|last=Cohn|first=Scott|date=2018-07-27|website=CNBC|language=en|access-date=2019-03-03}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.vice.com/en/article/fosta-sesta-sex-work-and-trafficking/|title=Pimps Are Preying on Sex Workers Pushed Off the Web Because of FOSTA-SESTA|last1=Lunau|first1=Kate|last2=Cole|first2=Samantha|date=2018-04-30|website=Motherboard|language=en-US|access-date=2019-03-03}}

• The 1998 Thorolf Rafto Memorial Prize for Human Rights
• The 2012 Asia Democracy and Human Rights Award
• The 2012 Gold Standard Award for NGO engagement for the Stop Sex Trafficking of Children campaign
• The 2013 Conrad N. Hilton Humanitarian Prize{{cite web|url=http://www.hiltonfoundation.org/ecpat-international-awarded-1-5-million-hilton-humanitarian-prize|title=ECPAT International Receives $1.5 Million Hilton Humanitarian Prize - Press release|author=Marc Moorghen|work=hiltonfoundation.org|access-date=4 August 2015|archive-date=2 September 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150902222602/http://www.hiltonfoundation.org/ecpat-international-awarded-1-5-million-hilton-humanitarian-prize|url-status=dead}}
• The 2017 INTERPOL Crimes Against Children Award{{Cite news|url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-global-trafficking-award/anti-trafficking-group-wins-interpol-award-for-child-sexual-exploitation-fight-idUSKBN1DH2EP|title=Anti-trafficking group wins Interpol award for child sexual...|date=17 November 2017|work=Reuters|access-date=2018-03-12}}

{{Reflist}}

• {{Official website|http://www.ecpat.org}}
• [http://www.beyondborders.org/ Beyond Borders], representative NGO of ECPAT

{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2019}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:ECPAT}}

Category:Organizations established in 1990

Category:Children's rights organizations

Category:Child welfare organizations

Category:International non-profit organizations

Category:Human rights organizations based in Thailand

Category:Organizations that combat human trafficking

Category:Child-related organizations in Thailand

Category:1990 establishments in Thailand

Category:Anti–child pornography organizations

Category:Organizations based in Bangkok