EU launches campaign to combat sexual violence against minors during World Cup
13 Jun 2014 10:35 AM
A new campaign designed
to raise awareness of the sexual exploitation of minors in Brazil during the
World Cup has been launched by the European Commission President, José
Manuel Barroso.
The ‘Don’t Look
Away’ (or “Não Desvie o Olhar” in Portuguese) campaign
is being supported by well-known Brazilian footballers, such as Kaká and
Juninho Pernambucano, and targets Brazilians and foreigners who are attending
the World Cup 2014, raising awareness that sexual exploitation is a
crime.
The project involves setting up
training seminars for public managers and debates on the subject in each host
city of the World Cup matches, as well as increasing support to combat sexual
exploitation and making victims aware of their rights. It includes the wide
promotion of the 'Call 100' hotline to enable anyone who witnesses the
sexual exploitation of minors to report it.
Development Commissioner Andris
Piebalgs said: "Brazil has had an incredible story to tell in terms of
its development, with around 40 million people being lifted out of poverty in
10 years. Yet some parts of society still don't enjoy the human rights that
we take for granted. The EU has worked on key projects to address this in the
12 host cities for the World Cup; such as supporting young people's rights
in the favelas of Rio, empowering indigenous communities in Cuiaba, or
protecting the poorest workers of São Paulo."
The ‘Don’t Look
Away’ international campaign, organised by the EU’s delegation in
Brazil, is being run in more than 15 countries with the ECPAT (End Child
Prostitution, Pornography and Trafficking) network. The mayors of the 12 World
Cup host cities have embraced the campaign, with a view to further improving
the protection of children and adolescents, during the 2014 World Cup and other
major events, such as the 2016 Olympics, which will also take place in
Brazil.
Background
Human rights are one of the main
areas of the EU’s work in Brazil. The EU has been running key projects in
this area in the 12 host cities of the World Cup.
These include:
-
A project to protect women from
violence in Paraíba (a state in the South
of Natal)- helping them to get involved in the legal
decision-making process and providing training in matters relating to violence,
gender, race and political involvement. Women involved in the project include
female farmers, indigenous groups and wives of the area’s recycled waste
collectors.
-
A new programme to safeguard the
rights of children and adolescents in Salvador, designed
to highlight the problems of domestic violence, sexual abuse, mistreatment,
theft and drug trafficking in the area. The project will provide 1,120 children
and adolescents with day care or residential facilities and will raise
awareness with more than 15,000 citizens of the dramatic consequences of sexual
exploitation and violence on its young victims.
-
A project to provide legal aid
to help the indigenous peoples of Xingu,
in Cuiaba and other areas of theMato Grosso
state, and Quilombos communities in the Ribeira valley,
in Sao Paolo, to defend their territorial rights. The
Quilombos communities suffer from the lack of recognition of their territorial
rights and their identity as a community. This project observes the legal
actions which threaten the right of the indigenous peoples to their traditional
territories, and keeps them informed of developments therein (such as disputes
over already approved boundaries.)
Between 2007-2013, the European
Commission provided €61m in funding to Brazil for EU-Brazil relations (eg
trade, human rights, economic and social development and the
environment).
Between 2014-2020, the European
Commission will provide €7.5m in funding to Brazil for EU-Brazil relations
(higher education with Erasmus Mundus and a Sectorial Dialogues project, which
includes among other themes, human rights, environment and science and
technology).
The new Partnership Instrument
(PI), for which projects are under preparation, will also contribute with new
resources for cooperation with Brazil in several sectors such as climate
change, renewable energy, public diplomacy, and promoting trade and investment,
among other areas.
For more
information
As part of the World Cup
Campaign, a series of factsheets – one for each host city - on the
EU’s key human rights projects will be available.
Link to
Factsheets:
http://www.eidhr.eu/side-panels/what-s-on/events/eidhr-campaign-world-cup
-2014/fact-sheets
Five videos, based on projects
in the cities which will hold the finals, semi and quarter finals, will also be
available at:
http://www.eidhr.eu/events/eidhr-campaign-world-cup-2014
Website of the European
Commissioner for Development, Andris Piebalgs:
http://ec.europa.eu/commission_2010-2014/piebalgs/index_en.htm
Website of EuropeAid Development
and Cooperation DG:
http://ec.europa.eu/europeaid/index_en.htm