Child Trafficking Essay

All over the world, children considered merchandise are moved illegally within or outside a country’s border. A type of modern day slavery, child trafficking, according to the Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children, is a form of human trafficking and is defined as the "recruitment, transportation, transfer, harboring, and/or receipt" of a child for the purpose of exploitation (UNICEF 2009). Exploitation includes, but not limited to the use of children for prostitution or other forms of sexual exploits, forced labour or services, slavery or practices similar to slavery, servitude or the removal of organs. A child is defined as any human being under the age of 18 and trafficking implies the use of force, fraud or coercion, exploitment of victim, a legal or illegal entry in a country, and, the displacement of the victim. It often involves forcible rape, kidnapping, false imprisonment, and violations of labor and immigration codes.Though statistics are hard to obtain, the International Labour Organization estimates that 1.2 million children are trafficked each year. The largest number of victims coming from southeast region of asia, often to feed the booming sex-tourism industry (UNICEF 2009).

According to some estimates, approximately 80% of trafficking involves sexual exploitation, and 19% involves labor exploitation though it changes from region to region. There are several types of trafficking. The most often type is forced child labor in the form of domestic servitude, work in agriculture, service, and manufacturing industries. Often children between the ages of 5-14 are used in developing countries. Another form of child trafficking involves sexually exploitation. Accord...

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...ence to bear on the problem, and this in a coordinated way that minimizes repetition and overlap and maximizes strengths and resources. This is often called a ‘multi-sectoral’ or ‘multi-disciplinary approach. This means that at a national level, protecting children from being trafficked or victims from being re-trafficked; preventing the crime of child trafficking; and ensuring effective law enforcement and the needs of children who have been trafficked are comprehensive and that no child ‘fall through the gaps’ (UNICEF 2009). Yet despite the efforts of local and international anti-trafficking groups, child trafficking is growing in Southeast Asia. Many experts say that the extreme poverty in the Philippines, Cambodia, Burma, Laos and Indonesia, combined with poor law enforcement and corruption, means that traffickers will continue to prey on the region's children.