Child Exploitation

Child trafficking is a form of child abuse. It is the exploitation of children for economic or sexual purposes, and includes the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harbouring, or receipt of a child for exploitation. Children may be sold, illegally adopted, forced into early marriage, recruited into the armed forces, pushed into prostitution, or trafficked to work in mines, factories, or homes. In such environments they are exposed to extreme forms of abuse and are denied access to basic services and the meeting of their fundamental human rights. Trafficked children often lack basic legal status and support networks, making their condition virtually "invisible." 

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Hande Albayrak,

This study examines the challenges faced by child protection professionals in Turkey when addressing refugee child marriage, highlighting issues in identification, assessment, and residential care due to cultural acceptance and systemic weaknesses. The findings emphasize the need for culturally informed, system-wide interventions to better protect at-risk refugee children.

Kapil Aryal,

This article examines the increasing phenomenon of orphanage trafficking in Nepal – a practice involving the coercive separation of children from their families and placement into unauthorized care facilities under false pretences, often for financial exploitation. It evaluates relevant constitutional provisions, national child protection and anti-trafficking legislation, and international obligations to assess Nepal’s compliance with its legal responsibilities.

Positioned as ethical travel, orphanage tourism commodifies vulnerable children, akin to slum and wildlife voluntourism. Rather than alleviating harm, it sustains institutionalisation and exploits children for profit. This article examines orphanage tourism through hospitality ethics, sustainable tourism and corporate social responsibility (CSR), revealing gaps in hospitality curricula that overlook the industry’s complicity.

UNICEF and ILO,

This report provides a comprehensive overview of global and regional child labor trends. The publication profiles children engaged in child labor, maps where these practices are most concentrated, and examines the critical impact on children’s access to education and learning outcomes.

Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe,

This publication provides an overview of orphanage trafficking and examines how OSCE participating States can contribute towards global efforts to combat orphanage trafficking and orphanage voluntourism.

Rebecca Nhep,
This article extends clientelism theory to examine the impact of clientelism on the rights of children residing in these unregulated residential care facilities in Cambodia and Myanmar.
United Nations,

Remarks by Amina J. Mohammed, Deputy Secretary-General of the United Nations, at a high-level event on ending violence against children in New York on 14 November, 2024. She highlighted the Global Ministerial Conference on Ending Violence Against Children held in Bogota, Colombia, on 7 - 10 November, where delegations from more than 120 countries attended to identify innovative solutions focusing on evidence-based approaches for the broadest impact supporting children and their caregivers through effective prevention of and response to violence in its various forms. 

The Inter-Agency Working Group on VAC and Care,

This high-level satellite event to the Global Ministerial Conference on Ending Violence Against Children took place on November 6, 2024, and brought together prominent speakers from across the world. The purpose of this event was to put a spotlight on the intersection between children’s care and violence against children. Watch the recordings of the event in English, Spanish or French.

Emily Ruehs-Navarro (Ed), Lina Caswell Muñoz (Ed), Sarah Diaz (Ed),

This interdisciplinary work brings together voices from the legal realm, the academic world, and the on-the-ground experiences of activists and practitioners. At the heart of these narratives lies a crucial debate: the tension between harm-reduction strategies and abolition.

Institute for Security Studies (ISS), the INSPIRE Working Group, the International Society for the Prevention of Child Abuse and Neglect (ISPCAN),

Case studies from the Global South provide insights on how to effectively support children who have experienced violence.