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It's not about the fame or the fortune. It's about the size of their hearts, their courage, and the lengths they will go to stop the child sex trade in its tracks and uphold the rights of the world's children. These are some of the stars in our global fight. They hold a special place in OneChild's heart, and we think they totally rock. Introducing... |
     
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“Sometimes, you can hear the children cry.”
-Paul Gillespie, from One Child at a Time
A former Detective Sergeant of the Toronto Police Services, Paul Gillespie is a revolutionary in the fight against the sexual exploitation of children on the internet.
Six years ago, Detective Gillespie started the now world-renowned Child Exploitation Sector of the Toronto Police Services, after growing increasingly exhausted by the tidal wave of child sexual abuse images that were hitting the internet. What he saw were videos of children being raped and abused, some as young as 18 months old. Paul knew it had to be stopped, and in a desperate act, he fired off an email for help. The email's recipient was Bill Gates, who forwarded it to Microsoft Canada's President. Within a few weeks, a team from Microsoft Canada and the Toronto Police Services planted the seed for action, and with the help of the RCMP, they created the Child Exploitation Tracking System (CETS): an intelligence database that helps law enforcement store, share, and analyze information relating to child sex abuse and child sex exploitation cases. CETS has spread to the UK, Italy, Brazil, and Indonesia and has helped to rescue 43 victims of child sexual abuse images.
Paul is now working with law enforcement from around the world teaching them the tools and techniques that made the Toronto Police and the Child Exploitation Unit so successful in their efforts. Paul is also a founding member of KINSA, the Kids Internet Safety Association, a charity dedicated to advocacy, awareness and research & training around the issue of child exploitation on the internet. |
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 Cheryl Perera, founder of OneChild with Pia Corvera, child survivor and activist | |
“I always tell [people] to protect the children, to ensure a safe society for them, and to provide them a good future.”
Pia is a shining example of the resilience of young people and the courage they have to shape the kind of world they wish to see.
At the age of 8, a woman befriended Pia and offered her food and little gifts. In no time, Pia was being ‘groomed’ by the women to be pimped to foreign men. For every man that Pia was given to, the women received p4000 ($85 US), and Pia received p120.00 ($2.50 US). This was witnessed by the hotel staff who turned a blind eye. Once the abuse was over, Pia would go home and give the money to her grandmother who assumed that she had earned the money from begging in the streets.
Pia was rescued and brought to the PREDA Children’s Home, where she--for the first time in her life--experienced respect and love. She would go on to become the face of the Guardian Angel Campaign against Sex Tourism and stand up to her abusers and ensure that two of them—Thomas Breuer and Lennart Van Empel of Germany and the Netherlands, were convicted of the commercial sexual exploitation of children.
Pia, now 24, continues to be a strong voice for street children who are forced into prostitution out of crushing poverty. Cheryl Perera, founder and president of OneChild has worked closely with Pia over the years, and agrees that she is an incredible and admirable young woman who is making a difference in the lives of exploited children everywhere. |
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“We are the only species in all nature that sexually abuse our own offspring. So we better look into the nature of the human person that does this terrible evil and creates such destruction.”
-Fr. Shay Cullen
Fr. Shay Cullen is the co-founder of the Philippines-based PREDA Foundation and a veteran children’s rights activist. For two decades, Fr. Shay has been on the frontlines of the struggle, campaigning the Filipino government, rescuing children from the streets and sex bars, providing shelter and rehabilitation for child survivors, and pursuing justice against their abusers. After uncovering a child prostitution ring selling children to personnel at a US Naval base, Fr. Shay led PREDA to victory in campaigning for the removal of the base and its conversion to a commercial manufacturing zone that provides jobs to thousands of Filipinos today. His other successes have included the passing of the Olongapo City Anti-Prostitution Ordinance #51, and sitting on the drafting committee for the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child.
Sadly, not everyone is a fan of Fr. Shay and the PREDA Foundation, who have been threatened and harassed with false charges and smear campaigns by child sex offenders and their sympathizers. Fr. Shay however, remains steadfast and continues his tireless fight to rescue, rehabilitate, and empower children like Pia Corvera and countless numbers of children in the Philippines to take a stand for their rights and the rights of their peers. |
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“I don't want to go without leaving a trace.”
-Somaly Mam
Born in Mondulkiri, Cambodia, Somaly Mam is a survivor and one of the most prolific activists fighting against sexual slavery. Sold into child sex slavery at the age of 12 by a man who posed as her grandfather, she was forced to work in a brothel with other children, where she was brutally raped and tortured on a daily basis. Fearing for her life, Somaly courageously escaped, and ever since she has made it her life’s work to save victims and empower survivors of commercial sexual exploitation.
In 1996 Somaly established a Cambodian NGO called AFESIP (Agir Pour les Femmes en Situation Precaire). Under Somaly’s direction, AFESIP uses a holistic approach to rescue and rehabilitate child victims. In 2007, the Somaly Mam Foundation was established, giving victims a place for healing and a voice in the world by funding to anti-trafficking organizations.
But Somaly’s success has come at a price. She has been held at gunpoint, her daughter has been abducted and brutally raped, and her home burned down. Nevertheless, Somaly feels a strong commitment to the children and continues her crusade without fear. |
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“Sompop is willing to go to any length. He will sacrifice his money, position, even his friends to help children.”
-Christopher Osborn, Child Activist
As a child he roamed the streets of Thailand and lived a life of poverty. Then one day, an American Peace Corps volunteer gave him two gifts: the chance to get an education, and the sense that he could do something with his life. In 1988, fresh from university and helping to research the causes of prostitution in Thailand, he arrived in Mae Sai to interview girls destined for the sex trade. They begged him for help. Sompop took the $1600 he earned from that job and paid the families of 19 girls to keep them at home and send them to school. He gave them the chance to get an education, and in turn he had found his purpose.
Sompop now devotes his life to protecting the children of Thailand. He is the founder of Development and Education Programme for Daughters and Communities (DEPDC), a program that gives young children who live in poverty the chance to receive an education. This enables them to get a good job so that they can help provide for their family and, at the same time, stay away from Thai brothels which only want to use these children as sex slaves. Sompop is a shining example of how one can pay it forward. |
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 ©UNODC | |
“...Each minute counts. Sometimes, we get information about minor girls, some as young as three, and by the time, we marshal the man power and police protection to mount a rescue operation, it would be too late to prevent the child from being sold into the flesh trade”
-Sunitha Krishnan
An Indian social activist and remarkable role model for female activists, Dr. Sunitha Krishnan founded PRAJWALA, an NGO in Hyderabad, India that works to fight against forced prostitution and sex trafficking.
At the age of 15, Sunitha was viciously gang-raped by 8 men, but the experience prompted her to dedicate her life to helping over 3200 women and girls who have been victims of abuse and exploitation. She is making it possible for India's government and citizen organizations to manage jointly a range of protective and rehabilitative services for children who have been trafficked for commercial sexual exploitation. Her ‘second-generation’ prevention program is also helping thousands of children of prostituted mothers through the set up of 17 transition centers.
Sunitha has made great sacrifices in the face of her desire to protect girls and women. She has been beaten up on several occasions for her beliefs, a consequence of this being partial deafness. |
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