Their Future Is In Our Hands

Their Future Is In Our Hands

The Body Shop Launches The Second Stage Of Their Campaign To Stop The Sexual Exploitation Of Children And Young People In New Zealand And Around The World

You may think that New Zealanders are not offenders in the child sex trade but looking at our sexual abuse statistics*, 76% of sexual crimes are committed against children 16 years and younger. 40% of these sexual crimes were against children 11 years and younger, indicating there is a high demand for child sex in New Zealand.

The Body Shop and ECPAT Child ALERT NZ have launched the second stage of their three year campaign to ‘stop the sexual exploitation of children and young people in New Zealand and around the world’.

Inspired by their founder Anita Roddick and her commitment and passion for justice, The Body Shop is proud to continue the fight against human trafficking, bringing awareness of this modern-day slave trade to world leaders and the global community. Working in partnership with ECPAT International this campaign aims to inspire long term change, to stop the unimaginable abuse that affects an estimated 1.8 million children and young people**. ECPAT International – which stands for End Child Prostitution, Child Pornography and the Trafficking of Children for Sexual Purposes - is a global network made up of independent grassroots organisations, working in 74 countries to combat child exploitation.

ECPAT Child ALERT, a member of the ECPAT International global network and The Body Shop New Zealand’s local campaign partner, works in many ways to ensure New Zealand’s children are adequately protected from sexual abuse wherever they may be. They believe in a world where children can enjoy their fundamental rights free and safe from all forms of sexual exploitation.

To assist in this objective and as part of this campaign, The Body Shop has launched a ‘Soft Hands, Kind Heart’ Hand Cream RRP $10.00 with all profits ($7.00) from every purchase of the hand cream being donated to ECPAT Child ALERT (available in-store now).

The focus of The Body Shop/ ECPAT Child ALERT campaign in this second year is to bring to the attention of New Zealanders the need for everyone to join in the fight against sexual exploitation of children.

During the last twelve months a global survey and analysis has been undertaken of what progress has been made by each country. Countries have been ranked according to their performance to prevent the sexual exploitation of children. New Zealand is among 56% of countries that have made “some progress”, however it falls short of being graded in the top tier of demonstrating “notable progress “. The Report draws attention to several factors that need further action by New Zealand to match countries such as Taiwan, Denmark and the United Kingdom.

Each country has identified areas of improvement and action required will be calling for the Human Rights Council at the United Nations Conference in 2011 to put pressure on governments of these countries to create change now.

New Zealand has yet to ratify the Optional Protocol however 131 countries have already done so. The Optional Protocol is a United Nations document to stop child postitution, child trafficking and child pornography and was established to provide definitions for the offences of the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography. To ratify the Optional Protocol is New Zealand’s primary call to action.

All branches of The Body Shop have a petition that concerned New Zealanders can sign to join a global movement towards preventing the sexual exploitation of children. Already at the beginning of the campaign over 200,000 signatures have been recorded globally and they continue to flow in.

Also available at all branches of The Body Shop are ECPAT Child ALERT brochures inviting people to enlist as a partner to find out more about the risks faced by our children.

Human trafficking is the third largest illegal industry in terms of income (third only to arms and drugs) and is the fastest growing criminal industry worldwide.

1.8 million children and young people are exploited in the global sex trade though this figure is thought to be much higher due to the underground dealings of the traffickers.

Human trafficking exists in every continent, region and country.

In regards to Child Trafficking, given its location within the Asia Pacific region New Zealand is primarily considered a ‘destination’ country.

It is estimated that every day illegal child pornography sites receive up to 50,000 clicks from computer users within New Zealand.