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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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.

Whole of Syria Child Protection: 2018 Operational Strategy

Child Protection Area of Responsibility (CP AoR), 08 Feb 2018

This report from the Child Protection Area of Responsibility (CP AoR) highlights the child protection needs and responses in Syria and includes objectives and targets for continued child protection interventions and strategies.

The Dark Side of the Internet for Children: Online Child Sexual Exploitation in Kenya - A Rapid Assessment Report

Terre des Hommes Netherlands, 01 Feb 2018

Terre des Hommes Netherlands has conducted this preliminary study to examine if there is evidence of Online Child Sexual Exploitation (OCSE) in Kenya.

Education & Child Protection in Emergencies: Joint Rapid Needs Assessment, Rohingya Refugee Response 2017

UNICEF, UN High Commissioner for Refugees, 25 Jan 2018

The main objective of this Joint Rapid Education and Child Protection Need Assessment (JRNA) was to identify education and child protection needs, priorities and capacities of Rohingya boys and girls in the camps, settlements and host community in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh to inform and provide the evidence-base for the 2018 Joint Response Plan (JRP).

The orphanage industry: Flourishing when it should be dying

Nigel Cantwell and Emmanuelle Werner Gillioz - Scottish Journal of Residential Child Care, 2018

This article looks at how the orphanage industry serves to tear families apart in order to ‘create orphans’, and argues that convincing foreign contributors to withdraw their support will be key to stopping the ‘orphanage industry’ from flourishing.

Global Report on Trafficking in Persons

United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, 2018

This Global Report on Trafficking in Persons describes human trafficking on a global scale, including the incidences of child trafficking per region and country.

Statistically Speaking: The Overrepresentation of Foster Youth in Sex Trafficking

Emily Selig - Children's Legal Rights Journal , 2018

This article from Children's Legal Rights Journal discusses the statistics and data regarding foster youth who are commercially exploited for sex, and examines the various reasons why foster care children represent such a large proportion of the victims.

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Orphanage Tourism & Volunteering: A practical resource for schools

Save the Children Australia, World Challenge, ALTO Global Consulting, ReThink Orphanages, 2018

The resources in this packet have been developed to support Australian schools to navigate the complexities of engagement with orphanages and residential care institutions overseas as part of service learning and international study programs.

Child Abuse Research in South Africa - Baby factories : a new phase in child trafficking in Nigeria

Paul O. Bello and Jean Steyn - South African Society on the Abuse of Children (SAPSAC), 2018

The objective of this article is to present a portrait of the baby factory phenomenon in Nigeria. The precipitating factors that fuel the trade are discussed, and suggestions for an enduring approach to combat this crime are offered.

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Australian Royal Commission into Institutional Response to Child Sexual Abuse: Final Report

Australian Royal Commission into Institutional Response to Child Sexual Abuse, 15 Dec 2017

On 15 December 2017 the Australian Royal Commission into Institutional Response to Child Sexual Abuse presented a final report to the Governor-General, detailing the culmination of a five year inquiry into institutional responses to child sexual abuse and related matters.