Amazon Tours, Inc.
Signing of the Code of Conduct for the Protection of Children from
Sexual Exploitation in Travel and Tourism

INVITATION
Date: Monday, September 15, 2008, 12:15-1:00 p.m**
Place: Church Center for the UN 10th floor
777 UN Plaza (corner of First Ave. and 44th Street) New York City

Speakers:
H.E. Ambassador Maria Luiza Ribeiro Viotti (invited)
Frederico Silva da Costa, Brazil National Secretary for Tourism Development
Phil Marsteller, CEO, Amazon Tours
Carol Smolenski, Executive Director, ECPAT-USA
Representative of UNICEF (invited)
Representative of the U.S. State Department

Amazon Tours was started by CEO Phil Marsteller 1992 in the heart of the greatest peacock bass fishery on earth: the Amazon Rainforest. Its properties include the luxurious Rio Negro Lodge, the remote Rio Araca Lodge and the Amazon Queen II. Amazon Tours boasts over 8,000 satisfied clients and seven International Game Fishing Association world records. Download more information.

Cause of the Week Human Trafficking - Time Out New York / Issue 676 : Sep 11–17, 2008

JFK International Airport is one of the largest human-trafficking hubs in the nation. Each year, thousands of children pass through its gates, winding up as cheap laborers or victims of sexual exploitation. “We assume it doesn’t happen here and that’s a problem,” says Max Mayer, administrator of End Child Prostitution, Child Pornography and Trafficking of Children for Sexual Purposes (ecpatusa.org). So do something! Read more>>

ECPAT-USA Youth Committee conducts outreach in Union Square in New York with a mural they designed and painted to raise awareness about trafficking and sex tourism

The ECPAT-USA Youth Committee came into existence in the Spring of 2007 with the creation of a youth-led Educational Outreach Project. The Committee of New York City youth, ages 15 to 18, held an event in New York City’s Union Square in May displaying a mural about child sexual exploitation designed and painted by them to fight child trafficking and raise awareness. They answered questions about the mural and asked passers-by to sign a petition in the form of postcards addressed to the CEOs of US hotel chains asking them to sign the Code of Conduct for the Protection of Children from Sexual Exploitation in Travel and Tourism.

The Youth Committee is continuing its efforts this semester. Discussions are underway about holding developing a video about children’s rights and planning for youth participation at the Third World Congress to be held in Brazil in 2008.
For more information contact us.

Outreach:  The ECPAT-USA Youth Committee is currently completing another mural and will soon be conducting outreach in New York City parks.  Click here for a picture of the latest work.

Survey: The ECPAT-USA Youth Committee designed and carried out a survey to measure what young people in New York City know about their rights to be protected from sexual exploitation. The results of the survey were presented to the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child. Click here to read the results

The Safe Harbor for Exploited Children Act by The New York Juvenile Justice Coalition
FACTS & FAQ’S

We urge the Legislature to enact the Safe Harbor for Exploited Children Act (Bill A.5258, sponsored by Assembly Member William Scarborough and S.3175 sponsored by Senator Dale Volker) which would create a continuum of services to meet the needs of New York’s sexually exploited children. Despite the fact that, under New York Law, children under the age of 17 cannot consent to sex, children as young as 11 and 12 are routinely charges and incarcerated for prostitution. New York State needs to stop treating exploited children like criminals and provide them with services and safe houses – not jail cells.
Here are answers to some frequently asked questions (FAQ’s) about the Safe Harbor Act:

Why is it important not to prosecute sexually exploited young people?

Experts agree that prosecuting sexually exploited children re-traumatizes them and makes the process of leaving the streets more difficult. In fact, both federal and international law recognize sexually exploited young people as victims. Sexually exploited children already suffer violence and abuse at the hands of their adult pimps and johns – prosecuting them as criminals compounds that abuse and just doesn’t make sense.

Don’t we need to hold sexually exploited children in secure facilities in order to protect them?

No. Incarcerating sexually exploited young people is not necessary to protect them or provide services. The Safe Harbor for Exploited Children’s Act would create a range of services, including crisis intervention and short-term and long-term safe houses that will be specifically designed to meet the needs of sexually exploited children. Experience has shown that when their needs are met in a caring and supportive environment, sexually exploited children are much less likely to return to the streets.

Doesn’t the juvenile justice system provide the services sexually exploited children need?

No. Juvenile facilities on both the state and local level are not equipped to meet the urgent and very specific service needs of sexually exploited young people. It is estimated that 80 to 90 percent of exploited children have been sexually abused. Two-thirds to three- quarters of exploited children experience mental health problems such as post-traumatic stress disorder. The Office of Children and Family Services (OCFS), which operates the placement facilities for juvenile delinquents, has no programs to address the very specific social and emotional needs of sexually exploited children.

If sexually exploited children aren’t put through the juvenile justice system what will we do with them?

The Safe Harbor Act recognizes that sexually exploited children need and deserve the protection of the Family Court. The Court can require that sexually exploited children receive services by determining them to be “persons in need of supervision” (PINS). The Act would amend the Family Court Act regarding PINS cases to specifically incorporate sexually exploited children. The Act would also create a range of specialized, community-based programs designed to help children recover from the trauma of sexual exploitation and abuse.

Will this bill legalize prostitution?

No. The Safe Harbor Act simply recognizes that the sexual exploitation of children is a child welfare issue, not a criminal justice issue. Law enforcement resources are better spent targeting the root causes of sexual exploitation – the pimps and johns who are too often left out on the street to continue the cycle of abuse.

Won’t the services created by this legislation cost a lot of money?

No. The money that New York State currently spends to incarcerate sexually exploited children in the juvenile system and to house them in other social service settings can be re-directed to cover the cost of the more specialized services created by the Safe Harbor Act. Given that the cost of incarcerating one young person in an OCFS facility is approximately $125,000 a year, the money the state would save by diverting children from prison should be more than enough to provide funding for community-based services.

Mean Streets: NY Teens Caught in the Sex Trade
Wednesday, May 28th, 6:30 pm
Advertised in places like Craigslist, sex with kids is a thriving part of the NYC sex trade. Every year, girls as young as 12 are sexually exploited by pimps and johns, and they face a system ill-equipped to provide the services needed to help them reclaim their young lives. This disproportionately affects African-American girls, as well as gay and transgender runaways. Join us for a documentary film screening and community for um on changing laws, policies, and attitudes about teen sexual exploitation.

The documentary, "Teen Prostitution; Sex Workers or Victims?" was produced by National Geographic and is part of the Oxygen network's "Who Cares About Girls" documentary series. Speakers on the panel include Patti Binder, Deputy Director of Girls Educational & Mentoring Services (GEMS), Lori B. Iskowitz, Senior Trial Counsel, Assistant Deputy Borough Chief in the Family Court Division of the NYC Law Department, Katherine Mullen, Attorney at Legal Aid Society Juvenile Justice Division, Jo Rees, Deputy Executive Director of Friends of Island Academy, and Lise Zumwalt, Producer of the film. The discussion will by moderated by NOW-NYC President, Sonia Ossorio.

LGBT Center | 208 W. 13th St. @ 7th Ave. | To RSVP: www.nownyc.org or call 212.627.9895 (Space is limited!) $10 suggested donation. Sponsored by NOW-NYC and the New York State Anti-Trafficking Coalition www.stophumantraffickingny.org

February 19, 2008
Op-Ed Columnist The New York Times
The Wrong Target
By BOB HERBERT

A New York City police detective and his girlfriend have been accused of kidnapping and forcing a 13-year-old girl into prostitution.

According to the Queens district attorney’s office, the detective, Wayne Taylor, and the girlfriend, Zalika Brown, would parade the girl at parties and other places where adult men had gathered and force her to have sex with them for money — $40 for oral sex, $80 for intercourse.

The child was an investment. The couple allegedly told her that she had been purchased for $500 — purchased, like the slaves of old, only this time for use as a prostitute.

Read the entire article, Click Here.

The sex tourism dilemma: Most onlookers do nothing
Global code aims to protect children from sexual exploitation
Jan 17, 2008 04:30 AM by Leslie Garrett Special to the Star

Years ago in Phuket, Thailand, friends and I spent part of one evening sitting at an outdoor bar watching a paunchy, middle-aged English-speaking Caucasian man flirt with and caress a petite Thai girl. It was hard to gauge her age but her mannerisms seemed self-conscious and young.

Read the entire article, Click Here.