Bringing an end to exploitation

Every day, boys, girls, men and women are being exploited, threatened and abused. In the Netherlands, the estimated annual number of victims of human trafficking lies around 6,250, a higher number than the registered victims, as fear prevents many of them from speaking out. The physical and emotional toll of sexual exploitation is much harder to quantify. Abuse by grooming rings and human traffickers has exploded with social media making the spread of explicit images, and the extortion and coercion connected with that, far easier.

To try as far as possible to eradicate this evil, we support The Coalition Against Sexual Exploitation of Children. FIER/Centrum tegen Kinderhandel en Mensenhandel (CKM) and Defence for Children (ECPAT Netherlands) work together to reduce the sexual exploitation of children and young adults in the Netherlands. In addition to victim rehabilitation, it focuses on a carefully selected set of interventions including providing information to young people and parents, training the judiciary in more effective ways of dealing with offenders, training staff at hotels and holiday parks, and creating a political support base. The goal is to fundamentally change the system enabling and perpetuating these crimes.