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TRAFFICKING
SOMUAH FRANCIS KOFI
University of Ghana, Legon
Level 400.
Fksomuah87@hotmail.com
+233 24 266 3520
FEBRUARY 2010
Age – 22 years
TOPIC:
EXPLORE THE REASONS WHY CHILD TRAFFICKING EXISTS AND WHAT
SHOULD BE DONE TO TACKLE THIS IMPORTANT ISSUE.
“Every child has the right to be treated as equally as another human no matter what
race, nationality, ethnicity, gender, religion or political position.”
INTRODUCTION
“In their little worlds in which children have their existence, there is nothing so finely
perceived and so finely felt, as injustice”
Charles Dickens, Great Expectations
Although slavery was abolished more than a hundred and forty years ago and all countries in
Africa are now politically free, there is a new form of slavery in Africa and other parts of the
world today which is cruel, harsh and severe like the one which took place about five
centuries ago. This new slavery is like unquenchable fire ravaging in a dense but dry forest
consuming everything on its path. This new slavery which is consuming Africans and
decimating them is human trafficking. Human trafficking is the second most lucrative crime
The trafficking of human lives, especially children, has been an important issue to the United
Nations, other international bodies and countries for many years. The trafficking of
especially children threatens the basis of human rights around the world. There are several
different ways children are used when abducted or kidnapped. Many times children are used
for sexual exploitation, forced labour or armed conflict. Child trafficking is not isolated in a
specific area of the world: it occurs on every continent and most times in every country.
Because of this, the need to take action against such events is urgent.
The UN estimated that trafficking in persons generates USD 7-10 billion annually for
traffickers. It is a fast growing and highly complex “industry”. This modern day slave trade is
very lucrative mostly because a victim can be bought and sold many times over.
Experts in the field say that one of the most difficult realities in the trafficking issue is the
propensity of governments worldwide to treat trafficked persons as criminals or as unwanted
undocumented workers rather than as people with human rights that are being violated.
Moreover, the reality of trafficking and slavery remains mostly invisible in many cultures and
countries.
Defining human trafficking
The following definitions of trafficking in persons and exploitation are derived from Article
3(a) of the Optional Protocol to the United Nations Convention on Transnational Organized
Crime, also known as the Palermo Protocol:
“Trafficking in Persons” shall mean the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harbouring
or receipt of persons, by means of the threat or use of force or other forms of coercion,
PROBLEM STATEMENT
Most boys and girls are lucky. They live with their parents and siblings. They go to school.
They have time to play.
Many other boys and girls are not so lucky. Every year thousands of boys and girls are taken
away from their mothers and fathers and their brothers and sisters.
They are taken by gangsters. The gangsters take them from school. They take them while
they are playing football. They take them when they are playing. Many never see their
mother and father or brothers and sisters again! Their
fathers come looking for them but they rarely ever find
them. If they do find them, the big boss of the gangsters
sends his men to beat up or kill the child's father.
They start a lifetime of hard labour in the factories, fields
and dingy workshops. These children are the most
vulnerable to cruel, harsh and systematic exploitation. It
grinds down their hope. It denies them their childhood.
Many of today's slaves are trafficked children. Their lack of physical strength and naiveté
make them easy to manipulate. They have no one willing to speak up, or act, on their behalf
against unscrupulous employers. UNICEF estimates that, world-wide, there are 100 million
trafficked children working in conditions harmful to their health, overall development and
well-being. Children are particularly vulnerable if they are handed over by their
parents for the exploitation of their labour, or if they are made to work to repay loans. Such
practices lead to conditions of slavery.
Most working children are found in the agriculture sector. In less industrialized countries,
60% or more of the population live in rural areas.
RECENT HISTORY OF CHILD TRAFFICKING
Children have always been trafficked for their labour. The idea of children having specific
rights has only emerged relatively recently. In Victorian England and 19th century USA,
Canada, Japan, Australia and New Zealand,
trafficked children were commonly used as
cheap labour in mills, factories, mines,
workshops and wealthy homes.
Campaigning by social reform movements led
to the Factory Act 1883, the Mine Act 1842 and
the Factory Act 1867, which regulated working
hours, protected young children and improved working conditions. Compulsory education,
introduced by the Education Act 1870, further limited child exploitation.
Similar laws were passed in most States of the USA, New Zealand and in the Canadian and
Australian colonies. In 20th Century, growing awareness world-wide led to the International
Labour Organization (an agency of the United Nations) to develop standards for the
protection of child labour, culminating in the Worst Forms of Child Labour Convention 1999.
Almost all countries have now have laws which set a minimum age for working. These laws
are not always enforced, and so the exploitation of millions of children continues.
benefiting from globalization and the UN has admitted that the gap between the rich and the
poor is growing larger. This gap can be seen not only between the developed world and the
developing but also domestically within countries in both categories.
Globalization is making the world a smaller place, but at the same time also making it
increasingly more competitive between nations. There is a backlash against this idea, since in
order for the developing world to compete within the world market they must first invest in
building up their infrastructure, which is difficult to find the funds for. The biggest hurdle
that the developing world must find a way to jump over is the fact that inferior goods such as
bananas, coffee, and other crops will not sell for the same profit as a car or other competitive
goods will. Thus in order for a country in the third world to start seeing economic
development, it must first find a way to compete in the capitalist marketplace.
For some developing nations, especially the BRIC countries (Brazil, Russia, India, and
China) and the Asian Tigers (Hong Kong, Singapore, South Korea, and Taiwan), technology
has allowed them to gain a competitive advantage. Technology has given them a chance to
boost their infrastructure, educate their population, and create new jobs. The Asian Tigers,
lacking natural resources, have shifted their economies to be focused on the manufacturing of
electronics. India has received especially lucrative results from the technological boost. As
globalization accelerates, the range of information and communication technology expands,
becoming more accessible to more people, ultimately impacting the way that humans interact.
The same is as true for child trafficking as it is for legal business enterprises; technology
offers traffickers more creative and complex ways to commit their crimes while at the same
time, presenting the global anti-trafficking community with more opportunities to respond to
it.
school. Often there are not enough schools and they may be far away and poorly equipped.
Girls, being less valued than boys, are most likely to drop out.
Families usually have too little land to support themselves and can be forced to borrow from
a landlord or money lender. Their children could have to work to repay the loan. Many
products we buy; tea, coffee, fruits, sugar, chocolate have been grown on estates using
trafficked child labour. These children risk injury from using tools and machinery and can
suffer permanent damage to their health from spraying pesticides without protective clothing.
Absence of birth registration – The practical expression of registering a child is the issuance
of an identity document. In many countries, however, civil registration systems are in
effective. In the case of Sub-Saharan Africa, fifty-five percent (55%) of children born
annually are not registered. This means that population relies on informal mechanisms to
prove identity.
The absence of a formal identification system means that there is nothing to prevent
impersonation. Identification documents – even conspicuously false ones - are regularly made
and sold. Against this backdrop, networks have emerged to exploit the weakness in systems
for identifying individuals. This includes sophisticated networks for the trafficking of
children.
Industrialization - As countries industrialize, rural poverty causes a growing migration to the
cities in the hope of work and a better future. Businesses seek to employ labour from among
the rural poor, and children are cheap. They work in stone-breaking quarries, on construction
sites, in brickworks and chemical factories, in chalk and glassworks, on carpet looms, in
workshops making brassware, fireworks, locks, shoes and textiles, in transport, mining,
ceramics, fishing, prostitution and in many other sectors. Ill-treatment and disease often mark
them for life. Lungs are damaged by dust and fumes, backs are malformed through crouching
or carrying heavy loads, eyesight ruined by working in poor light. In some cases, organized
gangs or recruiting 'agents' use economic pressure, trickery and advances on wages to
persuade often desperate parents to hand over their children. The children are taken,
sometimes as bonded labour, to distant towns, and are made to work long hours for little or
no pay. Their lives are not their own.
Link with HIV/AIDS - A number of studies have suggested a link between child trafficking
and HIV/AIDS. When a parent has AIDS, there is likely to be pressure on adolescents to help
support the family financially. Similarly, orphans whose parents have died of AIDS may lack
support from their community and be forced to fend for themselves. In both situations,
traffickers may take advantage of the children’s plight.
IMPACT OF TRAFFICKING ON CHILDREN
Trafficking abrogates a child’s right to a healthy childhood and a productive, rewarding,
dignified life. Child trafficking victims are subjugated and physically abused by the
perpetrators: traffickers, employers, gangsters, pimps, madams, and ‘customers’. Trafficked
children are often beaten and abused, and the violence occurs at all stages of the trafficking
cycle.
trafficking is low in these areas. If asked what can help bring them out of poverty, people
living in developing countries will generally tell you an improved education. It is understood
that education allows for a person to get a better job, which consequently will pay more
money and raise a family from the poverty that they are in.
Effective system of civil registration – An effective system of civil registration and the
issuance of birth certificates can play an important role in a strategy of preventing child
trafficking. For instance, legally recognized forms identification (like the national
identification cards issued in Ghana) can strengthen the capability of the police to monitor
and control national borders. Furthermore, a birth certificate as proof of identity plays an
important role in providing every child with a traceable identity and history for repatriation
purposes by identifying the child’s parents, proving the child’s nationality and helping to gain
access to health, education other welfare services when the child returns home.
OTHER RECOMMENDATIONS
Coordinated efforts are needed to stop and prevent child trafficking. Parliamentarians
are key players in bridging political, governmental and civil concerns, and in uniting
many partners in a common cause. Through specific steps to advance public policy,
awareness and response, it is possible to end the scourge of child trafficking, to hold
perpetrators of crimes of trafficking of children accountable, and to build a protective
environment to keep children safe from harm.
Governments should focus its attention on eliminating the root cause of this problem
which is poverty by providing basic amenities to rural and deprived communities, creating
jobs to provide reliable sources of income for parents and the youth in those areas thus
reducing the migration of children from rural areas to urban centres which make them fall
prey to traffickers. Those parents who cannot be employed in the formal sectors should be
provided with vocational training and skills and some capital to start business ventures on
their own.
The law enforcement agencies and institutions that are responsible for implementing
the various provisions of the Children’s Act and the Human Trafficking Act should be
adequately resourced and empowered to carry out their mandate effectively in order to
address this serious issue.
Conduct in-depth research and evaluation at the local level. Due to nature and scope
of child trafficking, studying this issue on a large scale presents numerous challenges and
obstacles. Therefore, in-depth research and evaluation at the local level, in locations highly
affected by trafficking and/or actively trying to combat trafficking, provides the greatest
opportunity to identify evidence-based practices and learn critical information that can then
be used to inform programs and funding decisions at the regional and national levels.
Develop a national research agenda to prioritize and direct funding for research and
evaluation. While a number of agencies fund programs and research related to child
trafficking, these activities are largely uncoordinated and a national research agenda is greatly
needed to focus and streamline these efforts.
Take immediate and effective steps to prevent the recruitment of children for the
purposes of child trafficking by, among other things, developing a protocol for identifying
and pre-empting potential child traffickers; disseminating information about child trafficking
to students, community and religious leaders and all personnel working for and with children;
giving priority attention to the expansion of educational and vocational opportunities for
children, especially girls; and
targeting orphans and children
affected by HIV/AIDS as a
vulnerable group in the context of
child trafficking.
Intervene in the transport of
trafficked children by reinforcing
border controls and establishing
protocols to identify and apprehend
child traffickers. Monitor the application of these protocols by, among other things,
investigating
A joyous moment for the parents; their children are back home.
any border guard alleged to have accepted bribes from or charged “fees” to child traffickers.
Station security officers not only at national borders but at transit points where
trafficked children are known to congregate before or after arriving at their country of
destination.
Take immediate and effective steps to address the commercial exploitation of
trafficked children. Enact and enforce specific regulations governing minimum age of
employment, hours of work, hazards unique to child labour such as use of dangerous
equipment, forms of labour likely to be injurious to children, corporal punishment,
entitlement to rest and leisure, and compensation.
Establish a Centre for Evidence Based Practice in Human Trafficking Prevention and
Intervention where research results, evidence based practices and recommendations can be
End Child Trafficking NOW!!! Let’s join hands and
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fight it.
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OUR VOICES: WE MUST BE HEARD
I SAY NO TO CHILD TRAFFICKING
shared with policy makers and service providers. Without a central portal to facilitate the
exchange of information it remains difficult, if not impossible, for programs, government
agencies, policy makers, and academics to identify and remain current on all of the
information related to child trafficking. This is especially true for research done at the local
level with limited circulation. Creating a centralized location or database to vet and organize
this information is critical and would significantly enhance its dissemination and utilization
around the world as we work to eradicate the trafficking of human beings.
CONCLUSION
“Stand up and March for your rights”
Child trafficking and slavery are never "stand alone crimes." They are linked to money
laundering, drug trafficking, document forgery, human smuggling, rape, torture and child sex
abuse. This modern-day slave trade is not only one of the most horrific human rights issues of
our time, but is also a significant health issue, for the global sex market is hastening the
spread of HIV-AIDS and other diseases.
This is a complex, multi-national, economically-driven, politically charged reality... a reality
that impacts us even if we do not yet recognize it. We are
called to respond.
Responses to trafficking must be multi-disciplinary and
well-coordinated because a variety of actors are involved in
addressing different aspects of the problem. Often, the
various actors have different and sometimes conflicting
objectives. Since the adoption of the UN Palermo Protocol in December 2000, States have
agreed upon a definition of trafficking in human beings and initiated efforts to prevent and to
respond to the problem. These measures have included awareness campaigns, legislative
reform, and the development of national action plans and national coordinating bodies to
address the issue. Practical co-operation between national bodies, international and non-
governmental organizations has played an important role, particularly in the area of
identification of victims and protection of their fundamental rights.
“We could eradicate child trafficking. The laws are in place. The multi-nationals, the
world trade organizations, the United Nations, they could end child trafficking, but they’re
not going to do it until and unless we demand it.”
REFERENCES
Agbenya. L. (2009). Child labour trafficking in the Lake Volta Fishery of Ghana:A casestudy
Conteh. M. Child trafficking, child prostitution and the potential dangers of the 2010 FIFA
Daguere. A. (2008). Whose problem addressing child trafficking in France and Britain.
Pge.143-152
freeing
The Vienna Forum to fight Human Trafficking 13-15 February 2008, Austria Centre Vienna
The 2010 University of Colorado Model United Nations Conference United Nations
Williamson et al 2008. Where is the research on human trafficking and the evaluation anti-
WEBSITES
International Organization for Migration: http://www.iom.int/
http://www.unodc.org/pdf/HumanTrafficking_leaflet.pdf
http://www.kmk-studio.com/JHU/JHU_Report.pdf
http://allafrica.com/stories/200408300564.html
http://www.hrw.org/reports/2003/uganda0303/uganda0403.pdf
http://www.humantrafficking.org/countries/cambodia