Kids as Commodities? Child Trafficking and What To Do About It
SummaryText
From the Introduction
This study is about crimes committed against children and a pattern of serious violations of human rights affecting at least one million children today - probably many more. It describes the business of taking children away from their homes and families, transporting them elsewhere, often across frontiers and even to other continents, to be put to use by others, usually to make money.
The crimes and abuse involved are nothing new, but there are signs that the problem has been growing worse. It is only in the last few years that the term 'trafficking in children' has been applied to cases involving all sorts of exploitation, rather than just to cases involving sexual exploitation. The children involved vary from new-born babies to grown-up 17-year-olds. Adults aged 18 or older are victims of trafficking too, but their predicament is not the subject of this study.
The first part of the study (Chapters 2 to 6) explains what child trafficking involves and why it occurs. The second part (Chapters 7 to 18) focuses on what can be done about this horrifying pattern of abuse, both to stop it and to protect the children who are its victims. Governments have a responsibility to put an end to trafficking. They do this mainly by mobilising their police to detect and arrest traffickers and also by asking the international organisations they have helped set up, such as the United Nations (UN), to take action on the issue. Efforts by government agencies at national level and those of intergovernmental organisations have been examined in many other reports. Consequently most of the second part of the study focuses on what voluntary organisations, also known as not-for-profit and non-governmental organisations (NGOs), have done to prevent children from being trafficked and to assist children who have been trafficked.
The International Federation Terre des Hommes (IFTDH) consists of a network of organisations based in eight different countries and has consultative status with the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), UNICEF, ILO and the Council of Europe. The network works in partnership with Terre des Hommes organisations in Spain and the Netherlands. Members of the IFTDH support 840 development and humanitarian aid projects in 71 countries.
Click here to download this report in PDF format [2 MB].
Click here to visit the website dedicated to the Terre des Hommes' International Campaign Against Child Trafficking.
This study is about crimes committed against children and a pattern of serious violations of human rights affecting at least one million children today - probably many more. It describes the business of taking children away from their homes and families, transporting them elsewhere, often across frontiers and even to other continents, to be put to use by others, usually to make money.
The crimes and abuse involved are nothing new, but there are signs that the problem has been growing worse. It is only in the last few years that the term 'trafficking in children' has been applied to cases involving all sorts of exploitation, rather than just to cases involving sexual exploitation. The children involved vary from new-born babies to grown-up 17-year-olds. Adults aged 18 or older are victims of trafficking too, but their predicament is not the subject of this study.
The first part of the study (Chapters 2 to 6) explains what child trafficking involves and why it occurs. The second part (Chapters 7 to 18) focuses on what can be done about this horrifying pattern of abuse, both to stop it and to protect the children who are its victims. Governments have a responsibility to put an end to trafficking. They do this mainly by mobilising their police to detect and arrest traffickers and also by asking the international organisations they have helped set up, such as the United Nations (UN), to take action on the issue. Efforts by government agencies at national level and those of intergovernmental organisations have been examined in many other reports. Consequently most of the second part of the study focuses on what voluntary organisations, also known as not-for-profit and non-governmental organisations (NGOs), have done to prevent children from being trafficked and to assist children who have been trafficked.
The International Federation Terre des Hommes (IFTDH) consists of a network of organisations based in eight different countries and has consultative status with the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), UNICEF, ILO and the Council of Europe. The network works in partnership with Terre des Hommes organisations in Spain and the Netherlands. Members of the IFTDH support 840 development and humanitarian aid projects in 71 countries.
Click here to download this report in PDF format [2 MB].
Click here to visit the website dedicated to the Terre des Hommes' International Campaign Against Child Trafficking.
Number of Pages
100
Source
Young People's Media Network, May 27 2004.
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