Eleanor Parkes
New Zealand (Org: ECPAT New Zealand)Eleanor Parkes lives in Auckland, New Zealand and has a background in human rights and community development. With a particular passion for children’s rights, Eleanor is currently the Director of ECPAT Child Alert, working to end child trafficking and the commercial sexual exploitation of children in New Zealand. This includes advocating for an end to underage forced sex work, domestic trafficking and the proliferation of online sexual abuse material. She has been in this role for three years, previously serving on the organisation’s Governance Board. Previous jobs include working as a Project Specialist and Frontline Campaign Coordinator at Amnesty International NZ and as the Youth Mentor with the Aotearoa Youth Leadership Institute. Eleanor completed her undergraduate studies in Politics and International Relations at the University of Auckland. She conducted research for her Masters thesis in Samoa in 2010, was awarded a BRCSS II Masters Field Research Award and graduated with a Master of Arts in Development Studies in 2011. Her research looking at disaster risk mitigation and comparing various development programmes in Pacific Island communities has since been published. Continuing to study part time, Eleanor completed a Certificate in Child Protection from Harvard by correspondence in 2019 and a Certificate in Tackling Human Trafficking from the International Centre for Parliamentary Studies.