Mekong Youth Forum on Human Trafficking

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Warren Golden
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1 MEKONG Proven Practices for Human Trafficking Prevention in the Greater Mekong Sub-region ARE YOU LISTENING? How the views of young people can impact government policies THE PROVEN PRACTICE: Advocating for and collaborating with children and young people who are at risk of being trafficked in the Mekong sub-region to collectively articulate their unique perspectives on the causes and consequences of human trafficking to policy makers and the public and to promote new ways to prevent and combat the abuses. Mekong Youth Forum on Human Trafficking THE INITIAL CHALLENGE: International Labour Organization Mekong River Over recent years, children and youth across the Mekong sub-region have been working alongside adults to combat trafficking in their communities. They have helped with research and data collection, project design and implementation as well as with more traditional awareness-raising and advocacy activities. However, at the policy level, decision makers rarely have had a chance to hear the views of these children and youth first-hand. These young people, who were among the most vulnerable to trafficking, quite often had, and continue to Yunnan Province CHINA have, a different perspective about what works, what doesn t work and what more could, or should, be done in the development of antitrafficking VIET NAM policies and LAO PDR programme activities. Gulf of Tongking THE RESPONSE: Andaman Sea Map courtesy of UNIAP THAILAND Gulf of Thailand CAMBODIA South China Sea In 2003 the International Labour Organization s Mekong Sub-regional Project to Combat Trafficking in Children and Women (ILO-TICW) teamed with Save the Children UK s Cross-Border Anti-Trafficking Project

2 Meeting the Cha MEKONG (SCUK) to pursue an advocacy initiative called Voices of Children. The primary activity was to organize a series of provincial and national children s forums that would ultimately lead to a Mekong Children s Forum on Human Trafficking. The main aim of these forums was to provide venues for children to meet, discuss the issues they faced, formulate recommendations and discuss them with senior government policy advisers from their countries. The forums were also strategically designed to demonstrate to governments and the public (through local media) that direct consultation between officials and vulnerable groups was both empowering (to both) and a necessary step toward more effective anti-trafficking measures. Overall, hundreds of children and dozens of senior government officials took part in the national forums. The first sub-regional forum in October 2004 resulted in a final declaration with more than 40 recommendations to governments and civil society groups. In 2007 and following up on their pledge to the participants in the first subregional forum, the ILO TICW project and SCUK re-united to carry forward on their promise for more advocacy for children s consultation. World Vision and the United Nations Inter-Agency Project on Human Trafficking in the Greater Mekong Sub-region (UNIAP) joined the initiative to plan for a second round of forums.

Challenge e Meeting the Challe Because research has shown that teens and young adults are at the greatest risk of being trafficked, the 2007 initiative broadened its focus to include both children

3 Challenge e Meeting the Challe Because research has shown that teens and young adults are at the greatest risk of being trafficked, the 2007 initiative broadened its focus to include both children and youth participants (up to age 19). The 2007 sub-regional consultation was then re-branded as the Mekong Youth Forum. The second consultation emphasized, to a greater degree, the need to institutionalize dialogue between young people and members of leading government committees involved with anti-trafficking efforts, including the national task forces for the Coordinated Mekong Ministerial Initiative Against Trafficking (COMMIT). The COMMIT, which is a government process, aims to develop coordinated and comprehensive policies and programme interventions to end human trafficking across the six countries (Cambodia, China, Lao PDR, Myanmar, Thailand and Viet Nam). The COMMIT process is supported by the United Nations system through UNIAP, which acts as its secretariat. Through young people s participation, the Voices of Children initiative aimed to affect positive policy and attitudinal changes. The forum enabled children and youth to consult with peers and with influential adults. THE PROCESS: Because working with children requires special care and attention to different kinds of details not associated with an adult meeting, the best interest of each child was always to be placed above all other considerations and objectives. Many of the young participants had never been away from home before. Some were survivors of sexual and labour exploitation. Prior to the Mekong Children s Forum 2004, two consultants were hired to help organize the initiative. One consultant produced the guidelines for the adults who would work with the young people (such as a code of conduct) while ensuring an enabling environment for them was in place, prepared all printed material, documented the forum process and its outcomes and created a special report for the children. The second consultant managed the actual forum venue, organizing the logistics and administrative details.

Meeting the Cha MEKONG A series of national forums in Cambodia, China (Yunnan and Guangxi provinces only), Lao PDR, Thailand (northern provinces only) and Viet Nam preceded each of the two

4 Meeting the Cha MEKONG A series of national forums in Cambodia, China (Yunnan and Guangxi provinces only), Lao PDR, Thailand (northern provinces only) and Viet Nam preceded each of the two sub-regional forums (2004 and 2007). Myanmar was added to the initiative in 2007 and similar forums were organized for young people (drawn from SCUK project areas) in the country and their representatives attended the sub-regional event. At the country level in 2004, the ILO-SCUK teams first worked on a process of capacity building for children s participation. They then organized, in collaboration with other international and national partners, the forums for sharing children s views and experiences to assess progress of national actions in addressing trafficking. These country meetings engaged from 20 to more than 150 children who were involved in some way in ongoing anti-trafficking programmes. In 2007, the country meetings included some of the young people who had participated in the first series of national forums three years earlier. Most, however, took part for the first time. Each country prepared their delegates with information in advance of the forums about what they could expect as far as activities and the objectives for the outcomes. At the forums, the young people prepared advocacy statements that summarized their exposure and experiences in human trafficking, their analysis of national actions in addressing trafficking and their recommendations for government and civil

5 Challenge e Meeting the Challe society at large in each of their respective countries. As in 2004, five young people from each of these national forums were chosen by their peers to attend the sub-regional forum in Bangkok. The 30 representatives from the five (six in 2007) national forums met in the week-long sub-regional gathering in Bangkok to produce an agenda for action a final statement and a set of recommendations in six areas: Participation of young people and accountability to young people by policy makers Victim protection Education (access to quality education and as an alternative to premature migration and child labour) Mainstreaming of prevention methods at the family and community level Nationality and citizenship Migration. The sub-regional forum included activities for sharing experiences, an informal session to ask questions of influential individuals who work in government or UN agencies and then a more formal meeting with high-ranking government officials from all five (six) countries. The organizers tried to keep the number of adults at all the forums to a minimum to make the children most comfortable, as well as for security purposes. Access was granted only to the organizers, facilitators, translators, chaperones and several pre-identified observers, all of whom were introduced to the youth delegates at the beginning of each forum. Everyone received a badge with their name, photograph, and a description of their role, which they were required to wear at all times. The sub-regional processes were each documented in a publication in audiovisual formats made available to the media. These reports, as well, the outcomes and recommendations of the 2004 and 2007 forums can be found at: and The recommendations and documentation of the participants perspectives and experiences serve as key advocacy materials that have been distributed with other forums and organizations to help them refine and better target their programmes regarding the needs of children and youth in the sub-region. The material also has been used to guide future advocacy, capacity building and developing partnerships with children.

Meeting the Cha The media strategy for the 2007 forum also included sending broadcasters a television news package through the Asia Broadcast Union, via its satellite service, for airing on Asian

6 Meeting the Cha The media strategy for the 2007 forum also included sending broadcasters a television news package through the Asia Broadcast Union, via its satellite service, for airing on Asian television networks. This video news release package included a 30-second television public service announcement, a survivor s story (filmed discretely to mask the person s identity) and some footage from the forum as well as interview clips (vox-pops) from the participants. A news conference followed both the 2004 and 2007 forums and presented pre-selected young people who had agreed to be interviewed (in the presence of their chaperones). The 2007 forum was also advertised in a major English-language daily in Thailand. MEKONG The timings of the 2004 forum and of the dialogue with officials were scheduled too close to the date of the ministerial meeting and the outcomes were therefore not included in their first Joint Declaration. Recalling the lesson learned from 2004 on timing, the forum organizers in 2007 ensured that a systematic policy-level advocacy campaign was executed well in advance of the Senior Officials and Inter Ministerial Meeting. The forum was scheduled so that the officials attending would have time to return to their countries with the young peoples' recommendations and report back to their COMMIT task force colleagues. This also left the forum organizers time to lobby key influential figures. OUTCOMES: Government ministers from all six Mekong sub-region countries meeting in Beijing in December 2007 added the following promise to their second COMMIT joint declaration: [We] pledge to a genuine collaborative approach that actively seeks and sustains the involvement of civil society groups; victim support agencies, international organisations, and trafficked persons in the implementation of anti-trafficking programmes including the design, development, monitoring and evaluation of such programmes. Hundreds of children and youth participated in the national forums in their countries; 25 young people attended the sub-regional forum in 2004 and 30 attended in After returning to their home communities, many of them became effective advocates on trafficking issues.

7 Challenge e Meeting the Challe A set of recommendations were defined and developed by children and young people, reflecting their re-assessment of policies and programs addressing trafficking at the sub-regional level. In 2007, the young people took the additional step of prioritizing their recommendations and narrowing a longer list down to 14 points to better assist government officials in their considerations. National, regional and international media received material advocating the right of children and youth to participate in the public policy process to better prevent human trafficking and the added value their unique perspectives bring to issue. Recommended ways to improve anti-trafficking measures within countries and across borders ranged from increased protection of migrant children, better access to quality education, recognition of the right to a birth certificate for any child born within a Mekong sub-region country, improved methods to support young victims and prevent them from further abuse and exploitation when they return to their homes, and more outreach and advocacy networks to help raise awareness about the dangers of trafficking especially in schools and communities. After the 2007 sub-regional forum, senior government officials were reported as extremely impressed by the youth delegates ideas and determination to work on combating trafficking. Said one official, I have listened carefully on your sharing and I am touched by the story. I m also very impressed by the recommendation that you have made. Examples from Thailand and Viet Nam have shown that the recommendations from the national children and youth forums are being taken into consideration by high-level government officials. In Thailand and Cambodia, for instance, it was very clear that the advocacy was championed by senior government officials as well as respected advisors to the COMMIT process. This turn of events was critical to the success of enshrining youth participation in the second COMMIT joint declaration of December The sub-regional forum served as a challenge for participants to become leaders in their local areas. Participants in 2004 became the local resource persons in At the national level, according to an official of one of the organizing agencies, the sub-regional forum impacted policy makers by getting them to listen to what children had to say. The youth delegates also expressed how the sub-regional forum process helped them to realize their potential as a capable person and as an equal partner in the fight against trafficking: I understand more about the situation of child protection and child trafficking in the Mekong region, said one participant. I am glad to have the direct dialogue with government officials and to take pictures with them. But most importantly, I now recognize that I am very important in the process of sharing information about human trafficking.

8 nge Mee e Challenge Said another, I never thought that I would have a chance to talk to senior MEKONG officials, who were very nice. It is also the first time for me to recognize that I am valuable and that we are appreciated by others. I feel that I am doing an important job as a representative of my friends. I am also proud of myself because I didn t think I would be able to participate at such high level. I never expected this much, added a third participant. This is the first time that I feel very free to share my opinions, said another. LESSONS LEARNED: Documentation of the children s and young people s assessment of policies, programmes and activities addressing human trafficking can act as template for others seeking to advocate effectively for direct consultation of vulnerable groups not just children but others too in a variety of areas and causes. Timing of a participatory event is critical for strategic purposes. One of the main objectives of the Mekong Youth Forum was to encourage senior government officials to advocate for the systematic inclusion of child participation and consultation in their anti-trafficking work plans, but the timing of the first forum and the dialogues with officials were scheduled too close to the date of the ministerial meeting and the outcomes were therefore not included in their first Joint Declaration. The human touch component cannot be underestimated. The senior managers of the organizing groups continued to build personal relationships with key influential, figures within the COMMIT process as well as those who advised the governments and their task forces. The direct advocacy of these key figures helped ensure that participation through consultation was enshrined in the Second Joint Declaration of the COMMIT Ministers at Beijing. Media attention, carefully timed with the run-up to the forum regionally and in each country, helped place the issue of child participation on the agenda of policy makers.

KNOWLEDGE BOOSTERS. An intense training of key advocates on effective awareness raising

KNOWLEDGE BOOSTERS. An intense training of key advocates on effective awareness raising LAO PDR Proven Practices for Human Trafficking Prevention in the Greater Mekong Sub-region Subregion KNOWLEDGE BOOSTERS An intense training of key advocates on effective awareness raising THE PROVEN PRACTICE: