Spain Stop Child Trafficking Congress: the Declaration of Valencia

Project : Regional Office 10 May 2008 |

The general interest in counter child trafficking programmes is increasing in Spain. Last week, the 3-day Congress ‘Stop Al Trafico De Ninos’ gathered experts, field workers and political leaders in Valencia and Castellon to talk about strategies to protect the rights of children victims of trafficking.

Terre des hommes Spain managed also to attract the attention of the Spanish medias by proposing round tables with national actors from countries of origin, transit and destination. With a quick analysis of the press coverage, the medias in Latin America concentrated naturally their attention on the situations in Brazil and Peru.

A full day was dedicated to the transnational links between Spain and Eastern Europe. Two representatives of the Romanian government presented the results of the National Action Plan to fight trafficking in human beings and the numerous specific actions dedicated to protect children at the national and local level.

The ‘Declaration of Valencia’ is now being prepared based on the concrete recommendations from the panels of experts. The document will be proposed to the organisers of the global conference on sexual exploitation of children, to be held in Rio in November.

After the international conference ‘how to promote identification and protection of victims’ organised by Save the Children in Madrid in January, it is the second major event in Spain addressing the global scourge of trafficking in children in Spain. [VT]