"Thai, Swedish Queens" Advocate Cross-Border Cooperation to Better Protect Children at Historic Child Protection Summit Bangkok 2024
Her Majesty Queen Suthida of Thailand and Her Majesty Queen Silvia of Sweden attended the Child Protection Summit Bangkok 2024 at the United Nations Conference Center in Bangkok. The World Childhood Foundation founded by Her Majesty Queen Silvia of Sweden and Thailand's SafeguardKids Foundation jointly organized the event for the purposes of raising public awareness of the urgency to do more to protect children from trafficking, sexual violation, and exploitation, as well as of fostering multisectoral cooperation on effective preventative measures.
Her Majesty Queen Silvia of Sweden, in her opening speech for the summit, said the World Childhood Foundation had been the voice of the voiceless for 25 years now because it was well aware that silence would not solve problems. The foundation has addressed violations of children's rights and child sexual abuses out of its firm determination to stop crimes against children across the world.
"I speak up to safeguard children who must be protected," she said. Her Majesty emphasized that her efforts sought to cover all children including orphans, street children, and children with disabilities.
The Swedish queen praised Thailand for advancing child protection especially through its law on child pornography, which was passed in 2015. Her Majesty underlined that while internet was useful, it had hidden danger. Child grooming by predators often occur online and must be urgently tackled.
"Increasingly advanced technology and growing internet coverage have undeniably increased learning opportunities and facilitated communications for children and youth. But these inventions come with risks, as several predators reach out to children directly online all while remaining anonymous. So, we really need to do much more. For example, we should seriously listen to children, believe in what they say and show to perpetrators that they will be held accountable. They won't be able to conceal their crimes," Her Majesty continued.
Child sexual abuse is a crime. Effective legal enforcement, however, needs support including supportive policies. The civil society, the private sector, and communities, meanwhile, therefore need to work together in creating a safe environment for children.
"Violations of children's rights happen across the world. So, we need cooperation not just at local but also international levels," the Swedish queen added.
Her Majesty Queen Suthida of Thailand told the Child Protect Summit 2024that cooperation was necessary to effectively protect children from growing threats in social networks in the face of rapidly evolving technology.
"The problems around the exploitation of children remain complex and require multidimensional approaches. Preventative and holistic strategies such as providing financial and living support to vulnerable families, community outreach, or public awareness campaigns can be important measures to complement stringent law enforcement and criminalization," the queen said,
"The success of these efforts requires robust cooperation among the government, private sector, and international partner networks.
"Ensuring children's well-being and safety is a fundamental responsibility we recognize and share. Children are our most precious resource. They should be able to grow and thrive in a nurturing and safe environment, becoming drivers of progress and contributors to future prosperity. Every child has the right to life, the right to be loved, the right to be happy, the right to education, the right to play and laugh, and the right to develop and grow up the right way".
At the summit, World Childhood Foundation's secretary-general Ms. Paula Guillet de Monthoux said as sexual exploitation and abuse of children were happening all over the world, any child could fall victim. The risk, however, is often higher among marginalized groups or children who lack protection from safe adults. Children with disabilities, street children, and even children at welfare homes are more vulnerable to predators.
Ms. Monthoux thus applauded Thailand for strengthening families, which played a big role in children protection. However, she still voiced concerns about the negative impacts of internet connectivity and technological advancement. She emphasized that as they offered easy access to millions of children and allowed new forms of abuse, relevant parties must introduce a robust and child friendly legal framework to stop this serious crime against children and to help victims of abuse heal.
She also hoped that Thailand's child protection would inspire other countries to try harder in safeguarding youth. While reckoning that the problems surrounding child abuse were complex, she was confident that cooperation would keep children safe. For the safety of children, she recommended two guidelines: "Strengthening the protection of children, especially reaching out to the weakest, the most vulnerable" and "Stopping perpetrators by reaching them before they abuse children and prosecuting them if they already did so".
SafeguardKids Foundation's chairman and secretary-general Mr. Schle Wood-thanan described the Child Protection Summit 2024 as a historic event and a milestone in the battle against the exploitation and abuse of children. In his view, the summit brought hope to children's rights defenders in Thailand.
"For more than 10 years, we have fought hard to solve problems facing children. Now, we see the light at the end of the tunnel. We expect to see children enjoy a better quality of life and grow into better adults," he said.
From 2006, SafeguardKids Foundation has conducted its activities with support from the World Childhood Foundation, which was founded by Her Majesty Queen Silvia of Sweden 25 years ago. "We should urgently fulfill the wish of Her Majesty. She wishes to see a society free from child abuse," Mr. Chale said.
At the Child Protection Summit Bangkok 2024, the Interior Ministry, the Justice Ministry, and the Ministry of Social Development and Human Security of Thailand signed an agreement on the prevention of child abuse. The event also featured exhibitions that brought to light the pain of children forced into prostitution. As a part of the summit, experts from relevant fields joined the special seminar on Thailand's child-abuse situation and suppression efforts especially in regard to online child grooming.
The historic summit marked a big step in cross-border cooperation for the eradication of child abuse and greater public awareness of how internet access raised the risk of online sexual exploitation of children, paving the way for children around the world to enjoy safer environment.