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NEWS FROM YOKOHAMA
French
Push for New Document after Stockholm Pledges
YOKOHAMA,
Japan - The French government is leading a European Union (EU)
effort to have the 137 governments at the Second World Congress
on Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children produce a special
document at its conclusion - one that underscores
their commitments more forcefully.
The
French initiative marks a shift from the expectations so far
about this week's congress, which initially meant to reaffirm
the commitments made by the 122 governments that met in Stockholm,
Sweden, for the first congress in 1996.
The original
programme made no mention of a document to be adopted by the
last day of the congress, Dec. 20. Five years ago, 122 governments
agreed on the 'Stockholm Declaration and Agenda for Action against
child sexual exploitation, under which they agreed to forge
national action plans.
This time,
the French government and the EU as a whole feel that a strong
statement is needed from Yokohama in the light of the cancellation
of the U.N. special session on children in September in the
wake of that month's terror attacks, said June Kane, the conference
spokeswoman.
Thus, these
governments want a special document to be added as an annex
to the Stockholm declaration and agenda for action. The U.S.
government, in addition to Asian governments, has backed this
effort, added Kane of the draft document that had not been fully
negotiated by the time the congress began Monday.
For their
part, the African governments want the definition of sexually
exploited children in this document to be broadened to include
the forced marriages of young girls, instead of being limited
to children abused for commercial sex purposes.
