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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From Orphanhood to Trafficked: In Conversation with Kate van Doore

Interview by Patricia Fronek - Podsocs , 05 Nov 2014

This podcast is a presentation given by Kate Van Doore at the Interdisciplinary Conference on Human Trafficking held on October 9-11 2014 at the University of Nebraska.

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Child and Family Welfare Policy: Ghana

Ministry of Gender, Children, and Social Protection - Government of Ghana , 01 Nov 2014

The Government of Ghana has established a relatively comprehensive legal framework for child protection, guided by the Constitution and the Children’s Act 1998 (Act 560).

Uganda’s child adoption ‘market’ brings misery and confusion

Amy Fallon, The Guardian, 06 Oct 2014

Family distraught at losing contact with son, now living 8,000 miles away in US after adopters told he was abandoned

ABC Head First - Orphanage Tourism

Keke Marc Robertson - ABC, 08 Sep 2014

This animated video, made for an Australian audience, illustrates the orphanage industry in Cambodia, particularly how Australian “voluntourists” unwittingly contribute to the exploitation and traumatization of children in orphanages.

Going Home: Children’s Reintegration in Mexico, Moldova, and Nepal

Dr Gillian Mann - Family for Every Child , 01 Sep 2014

This report from Family for Every Child and partners summarises research on children’s reintegration that took place in Mexico, Moldova and Nepal from 2011 to 2014.

Orphanage Voluntourism in Nepal and its Links to the Displacement and Unnecessary Institutionalisation of Children

Martin Punaks and Katie Feit - Institutionalised Children Explorations and Beyond Volume 1, Number 2, 01 Sep 2014

This article argues that orphanage voluntourism fuels the displacement and trafficking of children from their families in Nepal and their unnecessary institutionalisation.

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Orphans and Economics

The Lost Daughters - Aselefech Evans, 23 Jul 2014

This piece, written by Aselefech Evans, a woman adopted from Ethiopia when she was five years old, addresses the issue of family preservation and international adoption.

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Recruitment and Abuse of Trafficked Children in South-West Nigeria

Oludayo Tade , 16 Jul 2014

This article examines the recruitment and transportation of internally trafficked children from Benue State in the north-central geo-political zone of Nigeria to Oyo State in the south-western zone of Nigeria

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Care of unaccompanied and trafficked children: Statutory guidance for local authorities on the care of unaccompanied asylum seeking and trafficked children

Department for Education, UK , 01 Jul 2014

This guidance sets out the steps local authorities should take to plan for the provision of support for looked after children who are unaccompanied asylum seeking children and child victims of trafficking.

Contextual Adaptation of Family Group Conferencing Model: Early Evidence from Guatemala

Jini L. Roby, Joan Pennell, Karen Rotabi, Kelley McCreery Bunkers, and Sully de Ucles, British Journal of Social Work (2014) 1–17, 17 Jun 2014

This article discusses the challenges in protecting Guatemalan children and their families from involuntary separation and presents the process, results and implications of a pilot training in which Guatemalan participants from government and civil society explored the efficacy and feasibility of the FGC model in their country.

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