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."

Children without parental care, living in poverty, and those in high risk environments such as war affected regions, are all highly vulnerable to trafficking. Conflict and post conflict environments pose the greatest risk to children since the breakdown in family and social systems, the increase in poverty, and large numbers of troops present, are all factors which make sexual and economic exploitation of children more common.

Prevention is crucial to reduce the incidence of children affected and includes the registering of all displaced children, and their temporary care until verification and family reunification activities can take place. All children, caretakers, and communities should be educated on the risks to children and protective steps to ensure children do not become separated and exposed to abuse and exploitation. Where possible, unaccompanied children should be placed in regulated and protective family environments such as kinship or foster care.

Governments, the police, border controls, teachers, and all organizations responsible for protection must work together to prevent trafficking, identify those children at risk, advocate for their safety, and prosecute those responsible. This includes awareness raising for communities, institutions, and personnel working with vulnerable groups, such as armed forces, peacekeepers, and humanitarian workers.

Support services for children who have been trafficked should include medical, psychosocial, family reunification, and legal elements, to facilitate the reintegration of the child into the community and to enable educational and economic opportunities which are in the child’s best interests.

This section of documents examines the nature of trafficking in more detail, and includes policy and practical information to prevent and respond to child exploitation.

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Caring for Boys Affected by Sexual Violence

Family for Every Child, 01 Jul 2018

Family for Every Child examined the critical issue of sexual violence affecting boys through this global scoping study, Caring for Boys Affected by Sexual Violence.

Are Romanian Children Left behind a Vulnerable Group to Human Trafficking?

Rafaela H. PascoalAdina N. E. Schwartz - Childhood and Parenting in Transnational Settings, 09 Jun 2018

The authors of this article have started to conduct a qualitative research intending to determine, if and to which extent, children left behind are vulnerable to human trafficking.

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Child Welfare and the Travel Industry: Global Good Practice Guidelines

ChildSafe Movement and G Adventures, 01 May 2018

The Child Welfare and the Travel Industry: Global Good Practice Guidelines have been developed to provide a common understanding of child welfare issues throughout the travel industry and to provide all travel businesses with guidance to prevent all forms of exploitation and abuse of children that could be related to travelers and the tourism industry.

Briefing notes on SDG global indicators related to children

UNICEF, 17 Apr 2018

This is a series of briefing notes for UNICEF regional and country offices on SDG indicators. The first note summarises the development and implementation of the SDG global indicator framework and UNICEF’s role in supporting member states to collect, analyse and report on child-related SDG indicators at national and global levels.

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Country Care Review: Slovenia

Better Care Network, 16 Apr 2018

This Country Care Review includes the care-related concluding observations adopted by the Committee on the Rights of the Child and the Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, as well as other care-related concluding observations, ratification dates, and links to the Universal Periodic Review and Hague Intercountry Adoption Country Profile.

Cambodia's Stolen Children: Fraud and Corruption in the Inter-Country Adoption System

Cambodian League for the Promotion and Defense of Human Rights (LICADHO), 30 Mar 2018

This report from the Cambodian League for the Promotion and Defense of Human Rights (LICADHO) presents the stories of three Cambodian women whose children had been adopted overseas at different times over the last 15 years and exposes corrupt and fraudulent practices in Cambodia's Inter-country adoption system.

Building Futures for Thailand: Support to Children Living in Construction Site Camps

UNICEF, 23 Mar 2018

This report is based on in-depth interviews with migrant children and parents, real estate and construction companies, government Ministries, and NGOs. It explores the challenges faced by children living in construction site camps, and suggests solutions that can be scaled to foster social responsibility within Thailand’s construction sector.

สร้างสรรค์อนาคต ประเทศไทย เกื้อหนุนชีวิตเด็กในแคมป์ก่อสร้าง (Building Futures for Thailand: Support to Children Living in Construction Site Camps)

UNICEF, 23 Mar 2018

Sexual abuse and exploitation of unaccompanied migrant children in Greece: Identifying risk factors and gaps in services during the European migration crisis

Vasileia Digidiki & Jacqueline Bhabha - Children and Youth Services Review, 26 Feb 2018

The present study explores sexual abuse and exploitation of unaccompanied migrant children in Greece, and the risk factors associated with their occurrence.

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Childhood Interrupted: Children's Voices from the Rohingya Refugee Crisis

Plan International, Save the Children and World Vision International, 24 Feb 2018

This report presents the results of a consultation - organised by Plan International, Save the Children and World Vision International - which surveyed children in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh from refugee communities (who identify themselves as Rohingya) and children from host communities.