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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Cracks in the System

Lumos, 23 Jun 2020

Cracks in the System is a new report from Lumos that is the first of its kind to systematically explore the links between institutional care and child trafficking in Europe.

Protected! Podcast Ep. 4 featuring Selim Benaissa on Child Labour

The Alliance for Child Protection in Humanitarian Action, 04 Jun 2020

In this episode of the Protected! Podcast, Hani Mansourian from the Alliance for Child Protection in Humanitarian Action talks to Selim Benaissa, Chief Technical Officer from the ILO on the Myanmar program for the elimination of child labour about how the coronavirus pandemic has affected the program.

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Our Research, Our Rights!

World Vision, 01 Jun 2020

This child-led research initiative was conducted under the umbrella of World Vision’s DEAR project (Development Education and Awareness Raising) and the Sustainable Development Agenda 2030. The study explores explore SDG 16.2, the goal that focuses on the issue of ‘abuse, exploitation, trafficking, and all forms of violence against and torture of children’.

Technical Note: COVID-19 and Child Labour

The Alliance for Child Protection in Humanitarian Action, 06 May 2020

This technical note offers guidance and information to practitioners and policy-makers on child labour issues during and after COVID-19 and what actions can be taken.

HOME

Alternative Care Thailand, 12 Apr 2020

This animated video from Alternative Care Thailand tells the story of a boy in Thailand who is sent to live in an orphanage because his mother feels she is unable to care for him at home, his experiences with volunteers once he arrives at the orphanage, and how the orphanage transitioned to supporting children to live in families.

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Regulating Australia’s Participation in the Orphanage Industry

Kathryn E. van Doore - Institutionalised Children Explorations and Beyond, 04 Apr 2020

This article traces the evolution of the recognition of orphanage trafficking broadly, and then focusses on recommendations made by the Australian government following the release of its 2017 Hidden in Plain Sight Report.

Experiences of trafficked and sexually exploited boys transitioning from shelter programmes into the community: Findings from a longitudinal study

Laura Cordisco Tsai, Vanntheary Lim, Channtha Nhanh - Children & Society, 30 Mar 2020

This article explores the perspectives of Cambodian boys who have experienced human trafficking and sexual exploitation on their experiences transitioning out of shelters and re‐entering the community.

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Residential instability, running away, and juvenile detention characterizes commercially sexually exploited youth involved in Washington State’s child welfare system

Michael D. Pullmann, Norene Roberts, Elizabeth M. Parker, Kelly J. Mangiaracina, Leslie Briner, Morgan Silverman, Jeremy R. Becker - Child Abuse & Neglect, 15 Feb 2020

The purpose of this study was to describe the demographics, state-dependent living situations, and juvenile detention usage of state-dependent commercially sexually exploited youth.

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Country Care Review: Rwanda

Better Care Network, 10 Feb 2020

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.

Sexual Exploitation of Children in Nepal: Briefing Paper

ECPAT International, 28 Jan 2020

This briefing paper has been compiled using information included in the Out of the Shadows Index - which measures a country’s response to child sexual exploitation and abuse - and the ECPAT Country Overview for Nepal. The brief highlights the risk of sexual exploitation resulting from voluntourism practices, including volunteering in or visiting orphanages.