The book comprises country reports of the 10 new EU Member States. Each country report provides essential definitional information regarding the various forms of sexual exploitation of children and types of missing children, outlines the way data collection on sexual exploited and missing children by various governmental (police, judicial, other) and nongovernmental actors is organised, and delivers available data on the phenomena concerned. A final, comparative report bridges the country report information into a first epidemiological state of the art for the 10 new Member States and for the entire enlarged EU, comparing the newly gathered information with information collected in the initial 15 Member States during a previous study, the report of which has been published in January 2004 as the first book in the Childoscope series.

Recent European Union policy discussions have again highlighted the urgent need for consistent recording and analysis of data relating to trafficking in human beings. Without such a framework, the EU's ability to assess the scale and nature of the problem and, consequently, to formulate effective policy responses is severely impaired. MONTRASEC - a model for monitoring trafficking in human beings, as well as sexually exploited and missing children - demonstrates that real progress can be made in addressing these long standing difficulties. Building on the work undertaken in the previous SIAMSECT (Statistical Information and Analysis on Missing and Sexually Exploited Children and Trafficking) research, a practical IT tool has been developed by which the three phenomena can be described, interpreted, and analyzed in an integrated and multidisciplinary fashion. The IT tool also provides National Rapporteurs or similar mechanisms with enhanced and uniform reporting capacity. Recognizing the EU's emerging policy line, the MONTRASEC IT tool provides a building block by which the European Commission or a future European Monitoring Centre on Trafficking in Human Beings can make horizontal comparison between the reports of the Member States. This book describes how a workable IT tool - with contents based on international legal instruments and definitions concerning the three phenomena - has been designed and tested by a range of operational agencies in two separate EU Member States. Critical questions relating to compliance with both Member States and European data protection and privacy legislation are addressed, alongside the need to ensure the highest possible levels of security for sensitive personal data relating to both victims and authors. Furthermore, a CD-ROM is included, containing a live demonstration of all the features and functions of the MONTRASEC IT tool. The MONTRASEC Demo shows that it is actually possible to move beyond theoretical discussions concerning data collection to a point where agencies operating in the field are prepared to work within a unified and consistent data collection regime, inputting live data which can thereafter be analyzed at the Member State and EU level. The book is essential reading for EU policy makers, judicial and law enforcement authorities, and organizations working in the fields of trafficking in human beings, and in the field of sexually exploited and missing children, both in the EU and in a broader international context. It will also appeal to the research community and anyone with an interest in justice and home affairs or criminal policy initiatives in the EU.

The trafficking of human beings is a major worldwide problem. This book addresses the need for a system that provides the same set of quantitative and qualitative data to help develop a comprehensive counter-strategy. It analyzes various definitions as well as the complexity of phenomena that impair the collection and comparability of data. Coverage also examines different approaches with the aim of coming to an effective monitoring system.

This book critically examines how and why Eastern enlargement has impacted on EU human rights policy. By drawing on the EU’s intervention in human rights provision in Romania before 2007, it is demonstrated that the feedback effects of this intervention have led to the emergence of an EU child rights policy. Eastern enlargement has also raised the profile of Roma protection, international adoptions and mental health at the EU level. The impact of these developments has been further reinforced by the constitutional and legal provisions included in the Lisbon Treaty. It is argued that Eastern enlargement has led to the emergence of a more robust and well-defined EU human rights regime in terms of its scope and institutional clout. This book makes a substantial contribution to the scholarship on EU enlargement, Europeanisation and EU human rights policy by providing empirical evidence for the emergence and persistence of EU institutional and policy structures upholding human rights.

This edited collection critiques, from an interdisciplinary perspective, the growing body of EU children’s rights activities in the light of broader political, economic and legal processes. Specifically, it interrogates whether EU intervention effectively responds to what are perceived as violations of children’s rights and the extent to which EU efforts to uphold children’s rights complement and reinforce parallel national and international pursuits. Moreover, it scrutinises the compatibility of EU children’s rights measures with the principles and provisions enshrined in the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC).

The first part of the project resulted in a book entitled Missing and sexually exploited children in the EU. Epidemiological data. The book stresses the importance of EU-wide multidisciplinary and integrated efforts (between competent authorities and civil society organisations) in collecting epidemiological data as a basis for improved, knowledge-based policy-making in the area of missing and sexually exploited minors. It comprises country reports of all 15 EU Member States. Each country report provides essential definitional information regarding the various forms of sexual exploitation of children and types of missing children, outlines the way data collection on sexual exploited and missing children by various governmental (police, judicial, other) and non-governmental actors is organised, and deliver available data on the phenomena concerned. A final, comparative report bridges the country report information into a first Union-wide epidemiological state of the art, thus showing that current data collection is organised in a very chaotic and poor fashion. At the same time, the report identifies the main weaknesses and shortcomings of applied data collection methods. It also offers a set of recommendations for both Member State and EU action in striving for improved and integrated ways of collecting, administering and centralising reliable, comparable and comprehensive data on the various forms of missing and sexually exploited children.

The fight against the sexual exploitation of and trade in children has gained particular and renewed international attention in the last few years and has become one of the most important concerns in the context of international law enforcement policy and cooperation. Since 1998, policy makers have come up with new legal initiatives at global as well as regional levels in order to tackle this problem in a more effective and coordinated way. This proves that the time has come to match words and actions, and to come up with concrete and useful tools for law enforcement services and NGO's active in the areas concerned. The current study therefore examines the feasibility of the further elaboration and implementation of recommendations from a previous project (96/STOP/003) regarding the systematic gathering and administration of data concerning missing minors, minor victims of trafficking in or sexual exploitation of children and perpetrators of sexual offences against minors, with the goal to further prepare the practical setting up of several international databases with immediate relevance to the police and the prosecuting or investigating magistrates or officials, both in the EU Member States and the candidate countries. It is recommended to give Interpol a mandate to host an international database on missing persons and to create an EU monitoring centre responsible for the gathering and administration of reliable statistics and legal information on sexual exploitation of children and trafficking in human beings. It is also recommended for Interpol to host an international reference database on child pornography and to set up an analysis/intelligence child porn database at Europol. Regarding suspected and convicted sex offenders, it is proposed to create a database on pending investigations, an EU criminal records database and a database at Europol containing encoded information on both suspected and convicted offenders of sexual offences against children. Finally, it is suggested to create a European network of national DNA databases. The book also contains a summary of the conclusions in French.

From the skyrocketing AIDS rate in Haiti to the oppressive pollution in industrial China, from the violent street culture of Nigeria to the crippling poverty in Nicaragua, from child trafficking in Thailand to child marriages in India, this jam-packed six-volume set explores all these issues and more in an unprecedented look at the world's children at the dawn of the 21st century. In recent years, while many countries have enjoyed a higher standard of living and improved working conditions, others have been torn apart by war and incapacitated by famine, and are struggling to improve life for their children and their future. Recent concern over the world's children has resulted in a global attempt to define what constitutes an acceptable childhood. New attention has been paid, not only to healthcare and secondary education, but also to the right to play and increased access to technology. The UN's codification of children's rights has done much to expand our understanding of what is needed for healthy growth and development of children and youth. Organized by region, The Greenwood Encyclopedia of Children's Issues Worldwide is the first globally focused set of this magnitude, offering extensive, up-to-date coverage of these critical issues. Original chapters accessibly synthesize current data on key topics, including education, play and recreation, child labor, family, health, laws and legal status, religious life, abuse and neglect, and growing up in the 21st century.

The result of the second part of the project is a comprehensive Directory of civil society organisations working in the field of missing and sexually exploited children. The directory contains information on the mission, role, structure, practices and contact details of over 250 of such organisations in the 15 EU Member States and 4 Candidate States, including national approaches on their cooperation with the competent authorities. It is the first practical Europe-wide directory for supporting day-to-day national and international cooperation between and with civil society organisations working in the field of missing and sexually exploited children. Child Focus and IRCP hope the directory proves to be a valuable tool in helping and assisting child victims, parents and practitioners throughout Europe. Alongside with this printed version, the project team has also released the information contained in the directory in an even more user-friendly, interactive format, producing a searchable database on CD-rom and creating the current Childoscope website, which offers on-line access to the updated and extendable database information.