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Newsletter
386#23/11/2007
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Working together, all of us can bring a prosperous world to the children! HELP THE CHILDREN Electronic Newsletter of the Children's Human Rights Centre of Albania - CRCA / DCI Section ALBANIA Funded by: Olof Palme International Center and SIDA (Swedish International Development Agency)
This Electronic Newsletter is prepared by the Information
and Research Centre for Children's Rights in Albania - IRCCRA.
The Children's Human Rights Centre of Albania - CRCA
is:
IN IN THIS EDITION:
- ALBANIA: COUNCIL OF EUROPE COMMISSIONER HAMMARBERG TO ASSESS HUMAN RIGHTS SITUATION - CHILD PROTECTION ORGANISATIONS WELCOME UN SECRETARY GENERALS STATEMENT ON THE UNs COMMITMENT TO CHILD ONLINE SAFETY AT THE IGF IN RIO - EUROPE: 23 COUNCIL OF EUROPE MEMBER STATES SIGN CONVENTION ON THE PROTECTION OF CHILDREN AGAINST SEXUAL EXPLOITATION AND ABUSE - Overview of the Electronic Newsletter
- ALBANIA: TOURISM OPERATORS SIGN CODE OF CONDUCT AGAINST CHILD SEX TOURISM Tirana 19 November 2007 - Today 22 tour and hotel operators in Albania signed the Code of Conduct for Protection of Children from Sexual Exploitation. The signing ceremony was organised as a joint event of the OSCE presence in Albania with the Ministry of Tourism, Ministry of Interior and the tour operators in the country. The ceremony took place at Tirana Hotel International, a signatory party itself, and was attended by Governmental officials, civil society organisations and tour operators. The signing of the Code of the Conduct was welcomed by the OSCE vice-Ambassador in Tirana, vice-minister of Tourism, the National Anti-Trafficking Coordinator, Representative of OSCE/OCEEA office in Vienna, Representative of WTO Code Secretariat and UNICEF representatives in Albania. This is the first time ever in Albania that tour operators sign the Code of Conduct for Protection of Children from Sexual Exploitation. The process has been accompanied with a national awareness campaign in the borders and tour operators of Albania, preparation of a Training Manual for the Code and awareness materials. In the next few days OSCE will organise training courses for hotel and tour operators that have signed the Code in order to improve the Code implementation in the country.
One of the most sensitive issues that the tourism industry faces
in the last years refers to the phenomenon of commercial sexual exploitation
of children mainly in developing countries, by tourists coming often
from developed countries. The travel and tourism industry did not
remain passive to this social challenge, but responded by cooperating
with a non-governmental organization, ECPAT, in creating Since 1997 and until 2004, the Code developed as a project implemented through national ECPAT groups, with an international Steering Committee financially supported by ECPAT Sweden and working on a voluntary basis. Directly following the successful Code launch in North America, held at the UNICEF headquarters in New York on April 21, 2004, the Code became non-profit organization, formally registered in Sweden with number 802418-2167, established May 5, 2004.
OSCE Presence in Albania, Tirana -ALBANIA: COUNCIL OF EUROPE COMMISSIONER HAMMARBERG TO ASSESS HUMAN RIGHTS SITUATION Tirana, 29.10.2007 - The Council of Europe's Commissioner for Human Rights, Thomas Hammarberg, paid a five-day high-level official visit to Albania to assess the overall human rights situation in the country. Mr Hammarbergs agenda focused on a broad range of issues including the functioning of the judiciary, conditions of detention, torture and ill-treatment, trafficking in human beings, gender equality, Roma and minority rights as well as social and economic rights. “The time has come to move from standard setting to implementation,” Mr. Thomas Hammarberg, the Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights said following his assessment visit to the Republic of Albania. “Important laws are in place and strategies adopted, but all efforts must be focused now on the practical implementation.” During his 6 day high-level official visit, the Commissioner met with the President, the Prime Minister, the Speaker of Parliament and other top representatives of the executive, judicial and legislative branch, to discuss ways how to increase the practical relevance of human rights standards in the everyday life of the Albanian citizens. Visiting Shkodra, Elbasan and Vlora, the Commissioner met with local government decision makers and representatives of national minorities, and conducted on-sight visits to police directorates, pre-trial detention centers, shelters for victims of trafficking, psychiatric hospitals, and an orphanage. “Frequent allegations of police brutality and overcrowding in pre-trial detention centers overshadow recent positive improvements and must be tackled efficiently”, Commissioner Hammarberg noted adding that a message of condemnation should be delivered by the relevant political authority at the highest level. Denouncing shortcomings in the pre-trial detention sector, the Commissioner called for the swift introduction of alternatives to imprisonment as well as of efficient probation services; moreover, a separate and specialized juvenile justice system must be introduced. “To hold minors as young as 14 together with adult detainees is not only inhumane, but also counterproductive”, the Commissioner emphasized. “Impressionable youngsters may be easily influenced by hardened criminals and we’d only get what we’re trying to fight”, he concluded. In addition, more efforts need to be made to effectively integrate the Roma population in society and political life. It is the primary responsibility of the Government to provide support and services to Roma, while engaging the expertise of NGOs. Noting the important role the media plays in a democratic society, the Commissioner highlighted the general trend towards full decriminalization of defamation in the media sector in Europe. “The continuing climate of informality and corruption – be it real or perceived – threatens to undermine the entire justice system”, the Commissioner concluded. The Commissioner’s mission report will evaluate the priority areas of rule of law, conditions of detention and treatment, non-discrimination, child rights, the fight against trafficking in human beings and the situation in the media sector, and make practical recommendations. * * * The Commissioner for Human Rights is an independent, non-judicial institution within the Council of Europe (CoE), mandated to promote awareness of, and respect for, human rights in the 47 member States of the CoE. Elected by the Parliamentary Assembly of the CoE, the present Commissioner, Mr Thomas Hammarberg, took up his function on 1 April 2006. For further information regarding the Commissioners activities, please visit www.commissioner.coe.int -CHILD PROTECTION ORGANISATIONS WELCOME UN SECRETARY GENERALS STATEMENT ON THE UNs COMMITMENT TO CHILD ONLINE SAFETY AT THE IGF IN RIO Representatives from leading Child Protection organisations
meeting at the Internet Governance Forum (IGF) in Rio today welcomed
the commitment expressed by the UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon at
the inaugural session of the second IGF, for a strong focus on child
protection online at the Forum. * The Council of Europe Session on Child Protection Online -EUROPE: 23 COUNCIL OF EUROPE MEMBER STATES SIGN CONVENTION ON THE PROTECTION OF CHILDREN AGAINST SEXUAL EXPLOITATION AND ABUSE Lanzarote (Spain), 25.10.2007 Twenty-three Council of Europe member states today signed the Convention on the Protection of Children against Sexual Exploitation and Sexual Abuse (CETS n 201), which represents a major step in the prevention of sexual offences against children, the prosecution of perpetrators and the protection of victims. Maud de Boer-Buquicchio, Deputy Secretary General of the Council of Europe, said: The new convention can make a real difference in the protection of children but it must enter into force. She expressed satisfaction at the number of signatures on the first day and encouraged other countries, be they members of the Council of Europe or not, to follow suit as soon as possible. Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Lithuania, Moldova, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, San Marino, Serbia, Slovenia, Sweden, the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia and Turkey signed the convention at the beginning of the 28th Conference of the European Ministers of Justice which is being held on 25-26 October in Lanzarote. The convention will enter into force once it has been ratified by five states. For the first time, an international treaty criminalises sexual abuse, an offence which is usually carried out by people known to the victims sometimes within the family and is one of the most damaging for children. Preventive measures outlined in the convention include the screening, recruitment and training of people working in contact with children, making children aware of the risks and teaching them to protect themselves, as well as monitoring measures for offenders and potential offenders. The convention also establishes programmes to support victims, encourages people to report suspected sexual exploitation and abuse, and sets up telephone and internet helplines for children. It also ensures that certain types of conduct are classified as criminal offences, such as engaging in sexual activities with a child below the legal age and child prostitution and pornography. The convention also criminalises the use of the new technologies the internet in particular to sexually harm or abuse children, for example by "grooming, an increasingly worrying phenomenon of children being sexually harmed after meeting adults they have previously encountered in internet chat rooms or game sites. With the aim of combating child sex tourism, the convention establishes that individuals can be prosecuted for some offences even when the act is committed abroad. The new legal tool also ensures that child victims are protected
during judicial proceedings, for example with regard to their identity
and privacy.
Overview of Electronic Newsletter This Electronic Newsletter is prepared by the Information and Research Centre for Children's Rights in Albania - IRCCRA on behalf of the Children's Human Rights Centre of Albania - CRCA / Defence for Children International - Albanian Section. More than 450 NGO's, international organisations and agencies, state bodies, donors, individuals, and other partners of CRCA - IRCCRA receive this Electronic Newsletter. If you would like to publish your news, reports, announcements, invitations, or other documents concerning children rights, youth rights, women and human rights, please contact with IRCCRA. If you wish to subscribe or un-subscribe from the mailing list please e-mail to: irccra@crca.org.al All readers are permitted and encouraged to copy and distribute all or any part of this electronic publication, provided that proper attribution is given to the Children's Human Rights Centre of Albania - CRCA. No part of this electronic publication may be sold in any form. The opinions expressed in this E-newsletter do not necessarily represent the policies or opinions of the Children's Human Rights Centre of Albania (CRCA), Information and Research Centre for Children's Rights in Albania (IRCCRA), or those of Olof Palme International Center or SIDA (Swedish International Development Agency). Children's Human Rights Centre of Albania - CRCA =============================================================== Information & Research Centre for Children's Rights in Albania
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