ICYO – Youth Information  December 2007             

  (E-Newsletter from network of youth organizations in India)

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= 

ICYO - Platform of 356 Youth Organizations in India.       

ICYO - India’s largest network of urban and rural youth.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= 

Young People in South Asia

Demand Better Protection from

Trafficking & Sexual Exploitation

 

Young people from Nepal, Bangladesh and India today called on their governments to better protect children from commercial sexual exploitation [CSE] and trafficking.

 

Following a three-day regional consultation of the Youth Partnership Project South Asia [YPP] held in Katmandu, vulnerable children and survivors of trafficking presented their own recommendations to Nepal’s Foreign Minister, Ms. Sahana Pradhan.

 

Ten youth representatives then presented their recommendations to the Prime Minister of Nepal at State House. The Prime Minister was keen to see a regional coordination mechanism in place to ensure that the recommendations are implemented and also made a commitment to contact the Prime Minister’s of India and Bangladesh and to follow-up with his own Ministers.

 

As well as calling on the government to ensure that existing laws on trafficking are upheld and perpetrators punished, the young delegates asked for new legislation and called upon religious leaders from all faiths to work with them on this issue.

 

Shompa, a 15-year-old YPP peer supporter from Bangladesh, says: ‘Today is a very important day for us. We have been discussing these recommendations for a long time and we feel we are experts on these issues. Now we want the people in power in all three countries [Bangladesh, Nepal and India] to listen – but more importantly – act on what we say.’

 

Research suggests that the number of children and young people who are trafficked and exploited for sexual and commercial purposes is growing, with estimates as high as 350,000 in India, 40,000 in Nepal and 29,000 in Bangladesh.

 

The YPP is a unique initiative, which is managed by ECPAT [End Child Prostitution, Child Pornography and the Trafficking of Children for Sexual Purposes] and funded by Comic Relief and Christian Aid.

 

Maiti Nepal in Kathmandu, Aparajeyo-Bangladesh in Dhaka and SANLAAP in Kolkata are implementing the project at the national level. Through these organizations, young people who are at-risk or who have experience of CSE, take the lead in supporting one another, offering help to children in dangerous red-light and border areas, organizing awareness campaigns and advocating for changes to the law to prevent these forms of abuse. So far the YPP has reached out to over 50,000 children.

 

The Director of ECPAT International Ms. Carmen Madrinan says: ‘Every child has the right to live free from trafficking for sexual purposes and other forms of commercial sexual exploitation. The YPP demonstrates that young people can effectively reach out to other child survivors and at-risk youth. And not only that, today’s meeting with government, NGOs and media, shows that young people are uniquely placed to lead the fight against commercial sexual exploitation and trafficking.’

 

The YPP delegates will also highlight the vital need for survivors of trafficking to be given legal identity cards, and call on SAARC [South Asia Association for Regional Cooperation] and the UN to suspend the membership of countries, which fail to uphold existing agreements to protect children from these abuses.

 

YPP representatives from Bangladesh and India will make the same recommendations to ministers upon their return to Dhaka and Kolkata.

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

Youth Information is published by

Indian Committee of Youth Organizations (ICYO)

194-A, Arjun Nagar, Safdarjang Enclave

New Delhi 110029, India

Phone: 91 9811729093  / 91 11 26183978 Fax 91 11 26198423

Email: icyoindia@... / icyo@...

Web:  www.icyo.in

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

Indian Committee of Youth Organizations (ICYO) is a registered non-profit, non-governmental network organization, committed in developing areas of mutual cooperation and understanding among different youth voluntary agencies, youth groups, clubs and individuals working in the field of youth welfare in India. 

ICYO functions as an umbrella organization of youth NGOs in India. It's family consists of
over 356 organizations spread in 122 districts of 22 states from different corners of India.

Our goal:
To improve and extend the youth work and services through Youth Organizations;
To enhance and demonstrate youth work in the society;
To promote effective youth programmmes;
To organize network of civil society organizations working towards the development of youth work;
To organize seminars, conferences, workshops, trainings;
To maintain international relation with organizations promoting young people in their programmes and activities

Affiliation: 

Consultative (Roster) Status with ECOSOC, United Nations;
Consultative Status with Commission on Sustainable Development;
Full Member of World Assembly of Youth (WAY); Asian Youth Council (AYC);
Youth for Habitat International Network (YFHIN); CRIN, South Asia Youth
Environment Network (SAYEN), Affiliate group of ECPAT International, Thailand;
ATSECE-DELHI, Indian Partner of AIDS Care Watch Campaign;
Steering Committee member of World Bank's YDP Network;
Working relation with Indian Association of Parliamentarians (IAPPD);
International Medical Parliamentarians Organizations (IMPO);
Asian Forum of Parliamentarians on Population and Development (AFPPD);
World Youth Foundation, Malaysia.