IIN participates in United Nations Cross – Regional Meeting
IIN participates in United Nations Cross – Regional Meeting
The IIN was represented at the 5th Cross Regional Meeting on the Elimination of Sexual Violence against Children. Attending by designation of IIN Director General Victor Giorgi was Senior Specialist Anne-Marie Blackman. Convened by the Special Representative of the UN Secretary General on Violence against Children (SRSG), this high level meeting was hosted by the Council of Europe at its headquarters in Strasbourg, France on June 18 and 19, 2015. The SRSG´s annual Cross Regional Meeting serves as a platform for exchange of information on the progress in different sub-regions in eliminating violence against children, as well as for identifying new and emerging issues. This year focused on sexual violence against children.
The experience of Europe in implementing the Convention on the Protection of Children from Sexual Exploitation and Sexual Abuse (Lanzarote Convention) was examined, as well as experiences around the world in dealing with sexual offences perpetrated via the Internet. IIN shared with participants activities in the Americas such as the 2014 XXI Pan American Child Congress, and also briefed the meeting on upcoming activities. The more than 100 participants included: the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), the Caribbean Community (CARICOM), the Central-American Integration System (SICA), the Council of the Baltic Sea States, the League of Arab States, the Inter-American Children´s Institute of the Organization of American States (IIN-OAS), the Latin-American and Caribbean Movement for Advancing the Protection of Children from Violence, the South Asia Coordinating Group for Ending Violence Against Women and Children, members of the Committee on the Rights of the Child, the African Union. Also participating were UN partners such as UNICEF and the Special Rapporteur on the Sale of Children, Child Prostitution and Child Pornography, representatives from national governments, and experts from child rights institutions, academia and civil society organizations.
Among its recommendations the meeting agreed on intensified cooperation for further promoting action on the issues. The offer of the Baltic Sea States to host the 2016 meeting in Stockholm, Sweden was accepted. Different regions also drafted roadmaps to contribute to progress on the issues.
