Dear friends,

Soon we will be celebrating the anniversary of the International Convention on the Rights of Children. On November 20 it will be 22 years since it was adopted by the United Nations.  This text, ratified by most of the countries in the world (with the notable exception of the United States and Somalia) established a list of the rights of Children.  Very few of these rights are respected, unfortunately.

In Nepal one finds uninformed parents who believe they are offering their daughter an apprenticeship when they send her to work in the circuses in India.  These are circuses where they are abused, exploited, raped and forced to perform extremely dangerous performances.  They come back physically exhausted and psychologically traumatized.

In France there is confusion between trafficking and illegal migration.  The confusion concerns victims of trafficking and non-documented strangers, whether they are adults or children.

In both countries the rights of children are ignored: the right to education, to medical care, to the prevention of exploitation and of violence for girls in Nepal;  access to justice, and protection for minors who are strangers and victims of trafficking in France.

Here as elsewhere we are mobilizing resources for the cause of children and in order to remind governments, citizen, and families of the priority of human rights and dignity before all other considerations.

All these actions which we have undertaken we have been able to realize thanks to you, and we thank you sincerely.

Stéphanie Selle