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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Ending Child Marriage: A profile of progress in India

UNICEF, 05 May 2023

India has made remarkable progress toward ending child marriage according to this new UNICEF report, though this country remains home to the largest number of child brides worldwide. Despite advancements on many fronts, the rate of decline is not sufficient to reach the target of eliminating the practice by 2030, as set out in the Sustainable Development Goals.

Applying Safe Behaviours - Preventing and Responding to Peer Violence

SOS Children's Villages, 30 Apr 2023

In the project “Applying Safe Behaviours”, SOS Children’s Villages is working to enable children, young people and professionals to prevent and appropriately respond to peer violence amongst children and young people in alternative care an

Orphanage Trafficking and the Sustainable Development Goals

Kathryn E. van Doore, Rebecca Nhep, 01 Apr 2023

This article examines the intersections of orphanage trafficking, a form of child trafficking and modern slavery, and the sale and sexual exploitation of children with reference to the Sustainable Development Goals. It outlines the contextual challenges of these intersections highlighting the special protection needs of children residing in institutions and outlines how orphanage tourism and funding undermine care reform efforts of national authorities.

Implementing the Legal Framework for Orphanage Trafficking: A Cambodia Case Study (A Summary of Findings)

Rebecca Nhep, Dr Kate van Doore, 30 Mar 2023

This study was conducted as a part of a multi-stage, multi-country project designed to enhance the identification, prosecution, and prevention of orphanage trafficking crimes. It was the second of four stages to be conducted in Cambodia as one of three jurisdictions included in the study. This report contains a summary of findings from this stage two case data and case study analysis.

ការអនុវត្តក្របខណ្ឌចបាប់ ចំពោះអំពើជួញដូរកុមារ ក្នុងមណ្ឌលកុមារកំព: ករណីសិកសានៅកម្ពុជ

Rebecca Nhep និង Dr Kate van Doore, 30 Mar 2023

ការសិកសាស្រវជ្រវនះត្រូវធ្វើឡើងជាផ្នកមួយនគម្រងស្រវជ្រវពហុប្រទស ដលមានច្រើន ដំណាក់កាល ដលត្រូវបានរចនាឡើង ដើមបីពង្រឹងការកំណត់អត្តសញ្ញណ ការផ្ដន្ទទោស និងការទប់ស្កត់ បទល្មើសជួញដូរកុមារក្នុងមណ្ឌលកុមារកំព្រ។ការសិកសាស្រវជ្រវនះគឺជាដំណាក់កាលទីពីរនដំណាក់កាល ទាំ

Implementing the Legal Framework for the Prosecution of Orphanage Trafficking: A Cambodia Case Study

Rebecca Nhep, Dr Kate van Doore, 30 Mar 2023

Étude historique sur les pratiques illicites dans l’adoption internationale en France // Historical study on illicit practices in international adoption in France

Yves Denéchère, Fábio Macedo, 13 Feb 2023

This study examines international adoptions by French people in more than twenty countries from 1979 to 2021. Researchers analyzed thousands of diplomatic files from the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs on the subject and found reports of various illicit practices in the process of adopting children.

Gauging Indirect Stakeholder Sentiment Towards Orphanage Tourism on Twitter

Soyoung Park, Soyoung Park, Sarah Font, Ashley Schroeder, Michael Lin, Andrew J. Mowen, 2023

This global study examined 106,979 tweets posted by 34,370 unique users from 2010 to 2019 to understand the sentiment of those indirectly involved in orphanage tourism and its change over time.

Child Labour and Education in Humanitarian Settings: Background Paper

The Alliance for Child Protection in Humanitarian Action, Inter-Agency Network for Education in Emergencies, 12 Dec 2022

This paper attempts to highlight some of the key issues regarding child labour and education in emergencies.

An Exploration of Poverty as a Consumption Object: Voluntourist’s Stories from an Orphanage in Nepal

Amira Benali, Olga Kravets , 01 Sep 2022

This paper examines the understanding of poverty emerging in voluntourists’ accounts of their first-hand experiences of poverty alleviation. Based on the ethnography of an orphanage in Nepal, the authors show that despite voluntourists’ good intentions and even (self-)criticism of the volunteer tourism approach to poverty relief, their accounts tend to consolidate rather regressive ideas about poverty.