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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Harrowing Journeys: Children and youth on the move across the Mediterranean Sea, at risk of trafficking and exploitation

UNICEF and the International Organization for Migration (IOM), 01 Sep 2017

This joint report from UNICEF and the International Organization for Migration (IOM) explores in detail survey data from the Central and Eastern Mediterranean Sea routes to Europe, focusing on adolescents and youth on the move from Africa and Asia.

Inquiry into establishing a Modern Slavery Act in Australia - Opening Statements from the Briefing on Orphanage Tourism

Parliament of Australia, 17 Aug 2017

On 17 August 2017, the Australian Foreign Affairs and Aid Sub-Committee was briefed by representatives from the Cambodian Children’s Trust and Forget Me Not Foundation on the issue of orphanage tourism. This link includes a video of the opening statements from this briefing.

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Punishment, Peer Exploitation, and Sexual Abuse in Long-Term Romanian Residential Centers: Findings from a Nationally Representative Sample of Institutionalized Children

Adrian V. Rus et al. - Child Maltreatment in Residential Care , 03 Aug 2017

This study investigated the prevalence of abuse experienced or witnessed by Romanian children living in long-term residential centers in 1999.

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Official Committee Hansard, Joint Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade: Adopting a modern slavery act in Australia

Joint Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade - Commonwealth of Australia, 02 Aug 2017

This document includes the full transcript of the public hearings of the Australian Parliamentary Inquiry in preparation for a Modern Slavery Act.

Smuggled and Trafficked Unaccompanied Minors: Towards a Coherent, Protection-Based Approach in International Law

Joseph Lelliott - International Journal of Refugee Law, 11 Jul 2017

This article explores the protection of smuggled and trafficked unaccompanied minors under the United Nations Protocols against the Smuggling of Migrants and Trafficking in Persons and calls for a more substantive protection-based framework to address the issue.

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Trafficking into alternative care

Kate van Doore - Griffith University Law School, Forget Me Not, 05 Jul 2017

In this video, Kate van Doore describes the process of 'paper orphaning,' a term coined to characterize how children are recruited and trafficked into orphanages to gain profits through international funding and orphanage tourism.

Country Care Review: Bhutan

Better Care Network , 05 Jul 2017

This country care review includes the care-related Concluding Observations adopted by the Committee on the Rights of the Child during the seventy-fifth session (15 May 2017 - 02 Jun 2017) of the Convention on the Rights of the Child.

Human Trafficking and Child Welfare: A Guide for Child Welfare Agencies

Child Welfare Information Gateway, 01 Jul 2017

This bulletin is intended for child welfare agency leadership in the US and explores how child welfare agencies can support children who have been victimized as well as children that are at greater risk for future victimization.

Does your business include voluntourism products or orphanages in tourism programs?

The Code, 01 Jul 2017

This policy outlines the issues of voluntourism and orphanages in relation to child protection, and states the criteria by which organisations (private commercial companies, social enterprises and charities) involved in voluntourism activities may apply to join The Code.

Human Trafficking and Child Welfare: A Guide for Caseworkers

Child Welfare Information Gateway, 01 Jul 2017

This bulletin for professionals in the child welfare field explores how caseworkers can identify and support children who are victims of human trafficking as well as children who are at greater risk for future victimization.