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Tuesday, February 11, 2003
Hearing a voice in the wilderness
By Leticia Suarez-Orendain
Community Force
A venue for advocacy and for children to be heard like a voice in the wilderness is always welcome, more so for survivors of abuse.
To mark Child Sexual Abuse Awareness Week (every second week of February), the Mobile Children’s Advocacy Theater will do a contest on Feb. 15. The focus is on child prostitution, pornography and trafficking for sexual purposes.
It is an effort of End Child Prostitution, Child Pornography, and the Trafficking of Children for Sexual Purposes (Ecpat) Cebu, a non-government organization (NGO), according to Atty. Ani Saguisag, office coordinator.
Ecpat is a global network of organizations and individuals working together to eliminate child abuse.
It encourages the world community to ensure children will enjoy their rights and be safe from all forms of sexual exploitation.
Ecpat was created in 1991 as a campaign to end commercial sexual exploitation of children (CSEC) in Asian tourism by a group of NGOs and concerned individuals.
In 1996, Ecpat recognized that CSEC was a growing global phenomenon during the First World Congress Against Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children in Stockholm, Sweden.
“For the first time the world discussed CSEC. Before, it was always related to tourism but we found that it is not just sex tourism but all forms of child abuse. Ecpat assumed its present meaning, which is a mouthful,” Saguisag quipped.
It decided to widen the work scope to encompass the issues of child pornography and trafficking of children for sexual purposes and to broaden its focus to become an international campaign.
Ecpat International has a worldwide network from Argentina to Luxembourg to Zambia. Ecpat-Cebu was created in 1997.
A member of Stop Abuse of Minors Association (Sama), an umbrella for NGOs with concern for sexually abused children, it is supported by the Terre des Hommes-Netherlands.
Ecpat-Cebu does networking and advocacy, information drive, child participation activities, and research and documentation.
The tag child prostitute is hard to erase, so ‘prostituted children’ is being used. “They are victims of prostitution. We call them survivors; there’s triumph.”
This triumph is found in Child’s Heart, a book of poems written by children undergoing healing process or by “experiential” writers (i.e. a survivor of sexual exploitation). Ecpat International compiled it through its Young People’s Participation Project.
Another child participation lead is Tingog sa Kabataan, a radio show handled by marginalized children.
Program hosts Bernie and Janet said they learned at an exposure trip to Negros that more children outside Cebu listen to Tingog.
“Maybe children in Cebu have more access to other forms of entertainment,” said Charlie Miaco, Ecpat-Cebu advocacy officer.
The Kapisanan ng mga Brodkasters ng Pilipinas chose it as the best weekly children’s show.
“It won the Alay sa Kabataan Awards 2002. It airs over dySS, Sundays, from 10:30-11 a.m. The 18 program handlers are divided into two groups that alternate weekly. They had journalism training.”
Ecpat’s websites, www.childprotection.org.ph and www.ecpat.net, keep the public vigilant against child pornography.
Child Wise Tourism (CWT) is another initiative. It seeks to raise awareness on the protection of children living and working in tourism spots from all kinds of exploitation. Its thrust is to partner with the tourism industry and private sectors in the battle.
Global partners are the World Tourism Organization, International Hotels and Restaurant Association, United Federation of Travel Agents Association, International Federation of Tour Operators, International Air Transportation Association, Child Wise Ecpat-Australia and locally, Department of Tourism (DOT).
It creates and disseminates advocacy materials, and holds trainings or workshops for the tourism sector like the one on Feb. 28 for tourism personnel from 20 countries.
In 2002, Ecpat-Cebu did a research titled “A Review of Ordinances and Resolutions on the Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children in Cebu.”
The conclusion partly reads: The 45 ordinances and resolutions from the different Sanggunians is a reflection of the general concern for the welfare of children. However, with regard to the specific issue on CSEC, the presence of only nine ordinances and resolutions on CSEC reflect the lack of understanding and/or awareness of the gravity of the problem.
Ecpat recommends an intensification of data gathering, consciousness-raising and information campaign on CSEC.
The NGO is not project-based, but Katilingban Alang sa Kaugmaon sa Kabataan (KKK) sa Poblacion community theater in Poblacion, Lapu-Lapu city was formed in 2002 as a result of a trainors’ training. It’s a pilot project.
“The plan was to train then organize people but the barangay health and daycare workers who attended wanted right away to form a people’s organization and have a Securities and Exchange Commission approval! They automatically organized; we didn’t have to mobilize them,” Miaco happily said.
This is the kind of result that Ecpat-Cebu wants to see after it has made its point in the wilderness.
(February 11, 2003 issue)
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