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Event Detail

Protecting Children: The Battle Against Child Pornography and Other Forms of Sexual Exploitation

Date: September 27, 2006

Venue Information

Event Details

COMMISSION ON SECURITY AND COOPERATION IN EUROPE

U.S. HELSINKI COMMISSION
COMMISSION HEARING NOTICE

Witnesses

Panel 1
U.S. Government witnesses pending confirmation

Panel 2 

1. Linda Smith, Founder and Executive Director, Shared Hope International

2. Carol Smolenski, Executive Director, ECPAT-USA

3. Mohamed Mattar, Executive Director, The Protection Project of Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies

4. Ernie Allen, President and Chief Executive Officer, National Center for Missing and Exploited Children International Center for Missing and Exploited Children

The Helsinki Commission will hold a hearing on Wednesday, September 27th, 2006 at 2pm,  focusing on the outcomes of the U.S. Mid-term Review on the Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children (CSEC) in America. The Mid-Term Review, undertaken by Shared Hope International, ECPAT-USA and The Protection Project at The Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) assessed efforts taken by the U.S. Government and civil society to combat commercial sexual exploitation of children. The findings from the Mid-Term Review will be presented at the 3rd World Congress on the Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children in 2007.

Panelists participating in the hearing will include U.S. experts from the four main commercial sexual exploitation arenas, including child sex tourism, child prostitution, child pornography and child sex trafficking, with an added focus on supply and demand of children. Panelists will highlight the shifting trends of child commercial sexual exploitation, including the developing role of technology in these crimes. The testimony is also expected to include a discussion of demand, the proliferation of child pornography, cooperation between civil society and law enforcement, development of legislation, and resources needed to combat these forms of child abuse and exploitation.

This hearing will also provide momentum in the lead up to the December 2006 OSCE Ministerial Council in Brussels, Belgium. At this meeting, the Foreign Ministers of the 56 participating States will consider a Belgian, French and U.S.-proposed initiative designed to promote greater attention to the protection of children's' rights, and strengthen legal provisions to combat child pornography.