The German humanitarian organization Missio will launch its “Schutzengel” (“guardian angel”) charity on 24 April. This year the campaign is aimed against the twin scourges of sex tourism and child prostitution. It will be significantly launched at Düsseldorf airport, partner in the event together with the LTU air company, which will distribute brochures on the issue, prepared by Missio, to its passengers. The Schutzengel campaign will be inaugurated with an awareness-raising event and the collection of funds. German television presenters and politicians who support the campaign, and who are involved in efforts to curb sex tourism, will report on the events being held and promoted at the German and European level. Also present at the launch will be Sister Nida Viovicente, head of the Serra’s Centre for the protection of children in Manila, accompanied by a young woman, now twenty-two, who was sold at the age of twelve to a tourist for sexual purposes, but who later escaped and was given refuge in Serra’s Center, which is supported by Missio. Over 200,000 ‘solidarity photos’ taken as part of the Schutzengel campaign will be presented during the event. “We are grateful for this solidarity and for this concrete aid”, declared Gregor von Fürstenberg: “with the money we will support, among others, the Serra’s Centre for the protection of children”. An exhibition called “Gallery of Angels” will simultaneously be held in the terminals of Düsseldorf airport: it will present photos by well-known photographers illustrating the victims of sex tourism.
