What is child trafficking?The modus operandi is usually the same: Middlemen promise a better life with the prospect of money, education or a good job to the child, and take the child to a place not known to him in or outside the country. This usually takes place with the approval of the deceived victim or his family. However, there are also cases of kidnapping and abduction. The intermediaries or the traffickers operate on their own or are part of an organized criminal network. The goal is always monetary gains through exploitation of children for various purposes (such as working in the industry or agriculture, forced prostitution, begging).
How many children fall prey to child traffickers each year?
The figures of child trafficking are based on estimations. International organizations estimate that the number of children traded each year is approximately 1.2 million.
What is the annual turnover in child trafficking?
According to UN organizations, apart from the trade in weapons and drugs, trade in human beings has developed into one of the most lucrative illegal growth markets. The UN reckons that the yearly profits are somewhere in the region of seven billion dollars; other estimates are considerably higher.
Is child trafficking primarily a Third World phenomenon?
Child trafficking is a global phenomenon. Since the fall of the Iron Curtain, the problem has also spread to Central Europe. Children from the neighboring countries of Eastern Europe and Southeast Europe are trafficked into Western Europe. It is also the destination for boys, and especially girls, from Asia, Africa and Latin America, who are traded in the European Union and Switzerland. The children are forced to steal, kept as domestic help, used as drug peddlers or exploited sexually as prostitutes and for pornographic films. Even adoption child trafficking has a clientele in the EU countries.
What are the causes of child trafficking?
 | Poverty:
The gap between the rich and the poor is becoming increasingly larger. Lack of local prospects, unemployment and a large number of children make parents susceptible to the promises of money or education for their children given by the traffickers. The young boys and girls leave their village to escape the miserable living conditions.
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| Modernization And Globalization:
A globalized economy with internationally regulated financial markets, and the growth of the free market economy have triggered subsistence crises at the local level. The requirement of cheap labor has led to a market for child slaves. The expansion of international tourism has also created a demand for cheap labor and especially for cheap sex, and this demand is fulfilled increasingly by children. Open borders, faster transportation systems, and improved communication technologies have also managed to create the operative conditions for an international trade in human beings that is usually in the hands of organized criminal networks.
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| Culture:
In some cultures, it is customary that the children will work away from the family and contribute to support the family and show their gratitude towards their parents through money or gifts.
Moreover, in many countries, girls and women have little value. As a result, they are even more threatened by traffickers of human beings. For example, in the male-dominated society of Asia, boys get more encouragement and so they have a better chance of learning a trade. Visits to brothels are also generally accepted.
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| Lack Of Information And Awareness:
Simple people in rural areas are usually uneducated and do not have any perception of the reality outside their village. They can be easily deceived by the traffickers.
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| Corruption And Collaboration:Networks of traffickers can operate with impunity because they are protected by corrupt and indifferent governments and authorities, and as a result there is no effective criminal prosecution. |
Is there a realistic chance of controlling child trafficking?
Yes. If the countries involved act together and give more priority to the fight against child trafficking than before. Some of the campaign activities are aimed at making the governments more aware of this responsibility.
Prevention plays an important role in the fight against child trafficking. Families at risk must be warned and informed. Most of these families live in extreme poverty or under very difficult conditions and have no idea of what awaits them – coercion, rape, and unpaid labor. Therefore, in addition to supporting the victims, terre des hommes stresses on the importance of informing people in its campaign.
However, it is also clear that ultimately, child trafficking is always the result of an unequal distribution of wealth. Only a determined fight against poverty can eliminate the root cause of child trafficking.
What is the duration of the International Campaign Against Child Trafficking by terre des hommes?
Till 2005, but the fight against child trafficking will continue even after that.
