End Child Prostitution and Trafficking (ECPAT)

The commercial sexual exploitation of children is a violation of children’s human rights and of international law as well as the laws of many countries, including the United States.  Its primary forms are prostitution, or trafficking, and pornography.  Other forms include child sex tourism and child, or forced, marriages.  Commercial sexual exploitation differs from sexual abuse of children because it includes a financial transaction.  But the link between them is well established by strong evidence showing that sexually abused children are especially vulnerable to the further violation perpetrated by commercial exploitation.

End Child Prostitution and Trafficking-USA (ECPAT-USA) is a network of organizations and individuals that engages U.S. policy makers to change the way sexually-exploited children are viewed and treated by using its expertise in advocacy, research, awareness-raising and policy development. Whether they are children trafficked to the U.S., American children trafficked within the country, or foreign children abused by Americans traveling overseas, ECPAT identifies laws that have to be changed and work to change them. ECPAT also identifies programs that need to be in place to be sure children get the help they need, rather than a jail cell. The organization is working to protect every child’s right to grow up free from sexual exploitation.  

ECPAT and WITNESS have partnered to produce a film that highlights the need for more “safe harbor” laws, one critical part of the solution needed to break the cycle of child criminalization.