A unique photographic project put in place by Terre des hommes allowed 126 trafficking survivors in the care of Sanlaap, non-governmental organization based in Kolkata, India, to go through a healing journey of psychological transformation.

New Trafficking in Persons Report 2008 is available. The report, issued annually by U.S. Department of State's Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons, is a valuable tool to raise global awareness and take effective actions against human trafficking. This year's report covers 170 countries.

You can download the report here

Each year the International Forum for Child Welfare (IFCW) holds an international conference known as the WorldForum, which is co-hosted by one of its member organisations. This year, from 29th September to 1st October 2008, the WorldForum is being held in Cardiff, Wales and is being co-hosted by Children in Wales.

The report describes three years of implementation of Childhood without Abuse Project. The project, launched in 2005, aimed at developing a comprehensive system of support and protection for abused and neglected children. The project has been implemented in seven countries of Central and Eastern Europe: Bulgaria, Latvia, Lithuania, Macedonia, Moldova, Poland, and Ukraine.

On 15 June 2008, in Zagrzeb, Croatia, the Council of Europe will start a Europe-wide awareness-raising initiative against corporal punishment of children "Raise your hand against smacking". The campaign will focus on the need to ban corporal punishment of children and promoting positive parenting.

Bulgarian Network for Youth Trafficking Prevention invites for a seminar on networking for child and youth trafficking prevention in Bulgaria, Bansko, 10 - 15th June 2008.

Application deadline is 31st May 2008.

More information

"A Handbook on Planning Projects to Prevent Child Trafficking" by Mike Dottridge, published by Terre des Hommes, gives particular attention to improving quality of preventive work, as well as increasing the amount of work being done in the field of child trafficking.

Next issue of First Children's Embassy in the World - MEGJASHI newsletter is available to download.

On 25th of May, the International Missing Children's Day was celebrated across Europe. It provided an opportunity to commemorate missing children, express support to parents and victims and raise awareness about the issue. Inspired by the action carried out in Canada, the forget-me-not has been adopted as a symbol for Missing Children's Day in Europe.

"Child rights in Europe" by Geraldine van Bueren analyses the effectiveness of the judicial protection of children's rights within the Council of Europe.

The issue is examined both from the perspective of the European Court of Human Rights and the judgments of the highest national courts within the Member States.