Trafficking of children: Difference between revisions

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Trafficking of children is a form of human trafficking and is the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harboring, or receipt of children for the purpose of exploitation.

Commercial sexual exploitation of children can take many forms and include forcing a child into prostitution^[1] or other forms of sexual activity or child pornography. Child exploitation can also include forced labour or services, slavery or practices similar to slavery, servitude, the removal of organs, illicit international adoption, trafficking for early marriage, recruitment as child soldiers, for use in begging or as athletes (such as child camel jockeys or football players), or for recruitment for cults.^[2]

According to international legislation, in the case of children the use of illicit means—such as use of force or other forms of coercion, of abduction, of fraud, of deception, of the abuse of power or of a position of vulnerability—is not relevant in determining whether an act is a crime. ^[3]

It is a form of Trafficking in human beings as defined by the UN Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, especially Women and Children. The International Labour Organization convention 182 defines it as a form of child labour.

Child trafficking is a crime under international law and under the national legislation of many countries.

International legislation

The United Nations Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, especially Women and Children, supplementing the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime (2000). The Protocol had been signed by 117 countries, and there are 133 parties.^[4]

International Labour Organization Convention concerning the Prohibition and Immediate Action for the Elimination of the Worst Forms of Child Labour (ILO convention 182) (1999) defines it as a form of child labour.

Under both conventions, a child is any person younger than eighteen years of age.

Domestic Legislation

United Kingdom Law

In the United Kingdom, it is illegal to traffic anyone for sexual exploitation under sections 57 to 60 of the Sexual Offences Act 2003.^[5] It makes it an offence to traffic a person, into, out from or internally within the UK if that person "intends to," or "believes that another person is likely to do something" "during or after the journey and in any part of the world." A person found guilty of a trafficking offence is liable to a prison sentence of a maximum term of 14 years. Section 72 of that Act empowers the Crown Prosecution Service to go after child abusers who exploit minors in foreign countries as it makes it an offence for a British citizen or resident in the UK to commit any sexual offence in another country provided it is also against the domestic laws of that country.

United States Law

In the United States, it is a crime to traffic children for sex under Title 18 U.S.C. 1591 and Title 18 U.S.C. 2421-2423. Section 1591, a civil rights statute, makes it illegal to "recruit, entice, harbor, transport, provide or obtain by any means a person" knowing that either the person will be compelled through "force, fraud or coercion" to submit to a sex act, or that the person is under 18 years of age and will likewise be forced to commit a sex act. Sections 2421-2423, part of the 2003 PROTECT Act, criminalizes transport of minors for sex acts. It also criminalizes travelling to engage in illicit sex in another country. This provision of the law empowered federal prosecutors to address American's exploitation of minors in foreign countries.

Challenges in the definition of child trafficking

There is a tendency for the trafficking debate, and related understanding of the phenomenon, to gravitate into a criminal approach on the one hand, and a human rights or protection approach on the other hand. This creates a false impression of opposing perspectives when, in reality, both dimensions are inherently linked and are essential to prevent and combat trafficking.^[6]

Despite its importance in any approach to the trafficking problem, there is no one single definition of exploitation and there is difficulty in determining the point at which exploitation begins

The Palermo definition is not limited to cross-border trafficking – between neighboring States – and can be applied to both internal and intercontinental trafficking

There are potential links between trafficking and migration. When people move from place to place – at local, national or international levels – they are likely to become more vulnerable particularly at times of political crisis or in the face of social or economic pressures. Whether driven by desperate situations, or motivated to seek better life opportunities, they may willingly consent to being smuggled across a border. Once transported across the border they may find themselves abducted into a trafficking network, unable to escape and without access to legal advice or protection. ^[7]

See also

• Child laundering
• Commercial sexual exploitation of children
• Human trafficking
• International adoption
• Military use of children
• List of international adoption scandals

References

External links

• ChildTrafficking.com: Extensive searchable library of scholarly resources
• National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (UK): In-depth reading list of academic articles on the topic
• Uganda Minister calls for a law on child trafficking, UGPulse.com

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