Child Trafficking: All you need to know

Photo by Ehteshamul Haque Adit on Unsplash

First, I would like to start this article with an introduction to child trafficking. Child trafficking is a form of human trafficking where the children are made to leave their homes or kidnapped and they are enslaved, labored, or used for sexual exploitation.

According to savethechildren.org, human trafficking consists of a shocking 27% of child trafficking. It also states that out of 3 children trafficked 2 are girls.

These trafficked children are made to engage in a lot of illegal hard and sorrowful work.

Forced marriages
Labors in factories
Domestic labor
Theft
Drug trafficking, etc.

These are just some of the illegal things that a child is made to do. Instead of going to school and learning these children are made to work as house servants. Instead of playing on the grounds, they are made to work in the fields.

For these reasons, child trafficking is considered to be a heinous and despicable crime.

Why are children being trafficked?

There are various reasons for children being trafficked around the world. But what may be the reason, it does not justify this despicable act and can never be tolerated.

Poverty

One of the main reasons for child trafficking is said to be poverty. Often the parents cannot raise their children properly due to their economic status and poverty. So they are made to work at an early age. They are even made to work in dangerous environments and paid low wages. Due to poverty, there are many children abandoned and orphaned, living in the streets.

Child traffickers often make use of this situation and make the children their property and either sell them or make them do hard and illegal work and the traffickers make their profit from them while the children are being tortured.

Lack of education

Lack of education is also another reason for child trafficking. Most of the parents suffering from poverty believe that moving to other places can help their child escape poverty and they can lead a peaceful and happy life. They are unaware of the effects and results of child trafficking and what their children are made to do.

Natural disasters

Trafficking is at a high range when there is a crisis such as a natural disaster. One of the most recent situations was the earthquake in Haiti. Many children were targeted and trafficked as they were vulnerable and economically affected.

Types of child trafficking

There are various types of child trafficking.

Forced labor

This is a type of trafficking where the children are made to work in rash and dangerous environments, like construction, and given very little or no wages for their work. They are also forced to work in agriculture, restaurants, farms, domestic work, etc.

Sexual exploitation

It is one of the major forms of child trafficking. Both boys and girls are trafficked to be exploited but the number of girls exploited is higher than that of boys.

Armed forces

Children are also made to be joined in the armed forces and engaged in hostile activities such as directly taking part in armed conflicts, making them spies, etc.

Drug trafficking

Children are often used in the drug trade. The traffickers train them as drug dealers and suppliers. They are also made to consume drugs.

Who does this Child trafficking?

These child traffickers can be any individual. They may be someone in our country or a foreigner, persons who are not known. But surprisingly these traffickers sometimes contain people you may know, people who are close and friendly. This includes friends and families.

So there is no specific answer to this question. It may be anyone from a person you may know to someone you don't or even from other countries.

Are girls only trafficked?

No, girls are not the only victims of trafficking. Boys are also trafficked for various reasons. This is a misunderstanding among people that females are only exploited and trafficked but that is not true.

Boys too are trafficked, the reason that this misconception occurs is that girls are trafficked more than boys. As seen above, approximately 2 out of 3 children trafficked are girls.

Boys are mostly trafficked for forced labor and training in the armed forces and girls are usually trafficked for forced marriages and exploitation.

How does Child trafficking take place?

We know that child traffickers are not only strangers who kidnap young and vulnerable people. They can also be someone close to the victim such as a friend, family member, or a lover or person they are in a relationship with.

But how they are lured or how the traffickers manage to traffic the children. We saw about the kidnapping of weak and vulnerable children but surprisingly polarisproject.org states that only 10% of trafficking involves kidnapping.

Mostly the trafficked children are made to obey the traffickers and held against their will by force. They are also controlled by physical threats, deception, and by making them drug addicts. The traffickers also use restraints and they take advantage of the fact that these children are financially unstable and they have no other way than to obey these monsters.

The traffickers usually target weak and vulnerable children such as orphans, runaways, addicts, victims of abuse, or children from very poor families or after disasters such as earthquakes as the children will be orphaned or pushed into a sudden economic crisis.

Often the traffickers pose as good human beings, helping them by offering food or support or any other things to make the children believe them. Apart from these vulnerable people, other children are also targeted. They are either kidnapped or made to believe that these strangers will help them.

This kind of activity takes place in malls, theaters, and other public places. Even social media and other platforms are used where the traffickers pose as job recruiters and the children of a certain age looking for jobs are kidnapped and coerced into believing and obeying them.

How to stop Child trafficking?

There are many ways to stop child trafficking. Some of them are

Education and Awareness

One of the basic and necessary ways to stop child trafficking is by educating the children and their families and creating awareness among them. They should know what happens after the trafficker gets hold of the children.

They should be taught about their basic rights and the means to defend themselves from traffickers. This is not only taught to the children but also to their families.

Strong laws and severe punishments

Many laws and organizations are trying to stop child trafficking but it seems that these are not sufficient. The punishments for these types of crimes are severe and these kinds of despicable people should never think about touching another child.

Cooperation

To stop child trafficking completely, these organizations, police, and other law enforcement are not just enough. They cannot be everywhere and to stop these kinds of illegal activities support and cooperation from the public are very important.

Parent’s relationship with the child

Parents must maintain a friendly relationship with their children. If the children are ready to open up to their parents these kinds of activities can be prevented at the early stages itself. When the children share their life with their parents, the parents know if their child is in any kind of trouble or being harassed or followed by someone or anything that can harm their children.

The kids also need to understand that the parents say certain things or rules or stay strict for their benefit. They are just scared that something will happen to their children. But it should be of a certain limit. Being over strict or more than necessary can lead children to believe that their parents do not care about them.

This makes the process of manipulation easier for the traffickers as the children have already started to lose their hope in their parents.

Conclusion

So, we have finally reached the end of this article. I truly believe that this article will be informative and I hope that it was not boring. We have seen child trafficking and how it is being done. This may even happen to our own if we do not do something. So next time you are pretty sure that something fishy is going on in a child’s life be sure to contact the authorities or if this is someone you know try to speak with them and try to make them understand or open up to them.

Thank you for your time. I believe that this was worth your time. Take care and goodbye.

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