THE WORK OF ECPAT-USA
(End Child Prostitution, Child Pornography and Trafficking of
Children for Sexual Purposes.)
By Carol Smolenski
ECPAT-USA started out in 1991 as a committee to support the international campaign in Asia focused on stopping child sex tourists from the U.S. The US campaign: 1) lobbied for the passage of extraterritoriality legislation; 2) sought partnerships with the travel industry; and 3) raised public awareness since few people in the U.S. had heard of child sex tourism or trafficking. In 1996 ECPAT-USA changed its name and mission to reflect the broader mission of ECPAT groups all over the world. As an outgrowth of the First World Congress Against Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children, it expanded its works to include child trafficking.
Child sex tourism. Since 1996, ECPAT-USA has advocated for the U.S. government to enforce its extraterritoriality legislation which was originally passed in 1994. The Department of Justice investigated cases but found that problems in the law made it difficult to make cases against sex tourists. ECPAT-USA and partner groups sought legislative changes to make it easier to prosecute sex tourists. In 2003, an improved extraterritoriality law was passed and dozens of American sex tourists have been investigated and charged under the new law.
ECPAT-USA has promoted the Code of Conduct for the Protection of Children from Sexual Exploitation in Travel and Tourism with the U.S. travel industry. It has also produced and distributed brochures and other information for the travel industry.
In 2004, with the help of Queen Sylvia of Sweden and the U.S. State Department, Carlson Companies, one of the largest travel companies in the U.S., signed the Code at a high profile event in New York. It was a major step in obtaining the commitment of the industry to end child sex tourism. Unfortunately, no other major US companies have joined since then. Nevertheless, ECPAT-USA has had success in getting travel companies in Cancun, Mexico and in Belize to sign the Code of Conduct and work with ECPAT to end child sex tourism.
Child trafficking. In 2000, the federal government passed landmark anti-trafficking legislation: the Trafficking Victims Protection Act. It provides for serious penalties for traffickers, protection of victims (including services and immigration protection), and prevention. ECPAT-USA, with a partner organization IOFA (International Organization For Adolescents), ran an anti-trafficking project called the Community Response to Trafficking Project in New York. The project included outreach into at-risk communities, training, and the establishment of a city-wide Working Group to create a law enforcement/service provider framework for prosecuting traffickers and helping victims. The Working Group was so successful it became the model for Department of Justice-funded projects around the country.
The Trafficking Victims Protection Act (TVPA) has led to the discovery of many trafficking victims and prosecutions of traffickers. Certain gaps in the law have emerged however. One is the problem of identifying child victims of trafficking. Since the law was passed, only about 65 child trafficking victims have been certified despite estimates of thousands of children trafficked to the U.S. each year.
Another gap is the lack of attention to American children who are trafficked by pimps around the country. ECPAT-USA issued a report about these children in 2005, called “Who Is There to Help Us?” American children who are sexually exploited are frequently viewed as “bad kids” and criminals, instead of being seen as a victim, through sympathetic eyes. The report pointed out that children who are abused at home, some as young as 11 years old, are particularly vulnerable to pimps who groom them and convince them that their only worth is in their ability to sell sex. The report helped lead to the passage of new legislation in January 2006 (the reauthorization of the TVPA) that for the first time extended assistance to American victims of human trafficking, not just those from abroad. ECPAT-USA is now seeking to ensure that American children receive protection and the assistance they need to escape sexual exploitation. ECPAT-USA is currently working on creating model state legislation.
Carol Smolenski, the Executive Director and one of the founders of ECPAT-USA, has been working in the field of children’s rights for fifteen years. She has served as liaison to the United Nations for both the Christian Children’s Fund and Defense for Children International chairing the children’s rights caucus for the United Nations Conference on Human Settlements in Istanbul, Turkey, in 1996. She is also former co-chair of the NGO Committee on UNICEF Working Group on the Rights of the Child. She was on the NGO Steering Committee for the U.N. General Assembly Special Session on Children in 2002.
At ECPAT-USA Carol oversaw the development of the first research project on child trafficking to New York City and two other research projects about commercial sexual exploitation of children. She was the Project Director for the New York City Community Response to Trafficking Project in New York, a multi-faceted ground breaking project to inform communities at risk for human trafficking about the federal anti-trafficking law and help obtain better protections for victims. The Project specialized in working with grassroots community groups and in facilitating relationships between community organizations and criminal justice agents.
She has spoken at numerous conferences and has presented testimony in venues ranging from the New York City Council to the United States Congress to the United Nations.
Carol has a Bachelors degree from Rutgers University, a Masters Degree in Urban Planning from Hunter College..