Press
Centre
Press Release
To end worst forms of child labour, nations
must fight trafficking of children, UNICEF says
On World Day Against Child Labour, UNICEF Highlights
Link With Child Trafficking
GENEVA / NEW YORK, 12 June 2003 – UNICEF said today
that efforts to end the worst forms of child labour would
not succeed without effective cooperative efforts to fight
the trafficking of children and women within and across
national borders. On World Day Against Child Labour, UNICEF
pointed to estimates that the global trade in human beings
is beginning to rival the illicit trafficking of arms
and drugs.
“How can we put an end to the most abhorrent forms
of child labour when the trafficking of children and women
continues unabated?” asked Carol Bellamy, Executive
Director of UNICEF. “Children are increasingly treated
as commodities by organized crime networks, where the
profit derives from these children being sold into servitude
or forced labour. We can no longer simply look at the
worst forms of child labour as a shame. We have to see
it as one part of an inhuman and criminal trade that must
be stopped.”
Trafficking in humans beings is beginning to rival the
illegal trade in drugs and arms, with an estimated revenue
of $12 billion a year, according to a 2003 International
Labour Organization report.
Bellamy said children are seen by traffickers as commodities
since they are more easily manipulated, on high demand
and can be exploited over a longer period. Hidden from
view and often from legal protection, children are lured
by promises of a good education or a “better job”
and smuggled across borders. Far from home or in a foreign
country, trafficked children – disoriented, without
papers, and excluded from any protective environment –
can be forced to endure prostitution, domestic servitude,
early and involuntary marriage, or hazardous and punishing
labour.
Although no definitive data exists on child trafficking,
some estimate that 1.2 million children are trafficked
each year. Girls as young as 13 (mainly from Asia and
Eastern Europe) are trafficked as ”mail-order brides.”
Girls used as domestic servants are denied access to education
and often sexually abused within the homes of their “employers.”
In Fiji, for example, a UNICEF survey revealed that eight
out of ten domestic workers reported sexual abuse by their
employers. In Africa, child trafficking is recognized
as a major concern in at least half of the countries,
according to a study conducted by UNICEF Innocenti Research
Centre.
“Courageous leadership is needed from governments,
who are primarily accountable for ensuring that child
trafficking is criminalized and children are effectively
protected from this form of exploitation.” Bellamy
noted that no country is free from the trade in human
beings, and that efforts to stop it must be also regional
and global in nature.
“Many governments are already signatories to the
Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child
on the Sale of Children, Child Trafficking and Child Pornography”
Bellamy observed. “But much more needs to be done
to ensure its effective implementation, including ample
awareness campaigns, required legal reform, universal
birth registration for children and strong international
cooperation. Another important measure is granting humanitarian
visas or according refugee status to trafficked children.
And there is no better time to start making such commitments
than today, World Day Against Child Labour.”
UNICEF is committed to preventing and eliminating child
trafficking. Its approach focuses on helping countries
to build a protective environment for children –
one which safeguards them from exploitation and abuse
before it happens. Such a “protective environment”
is based on eight common sense actions:
Governments need to show a strong political commitment
to combat child trafficking: This includes ensuring that
the necessary legislation is in place to outlaw trafficking
and punish traffickers. Necessary resources need to be
made available to ensure effective action is always guided
by the best interests of the child.
Laws need to be rigorously and reliably enforced, including
international agreements to help prevent trafficking and
facilitate the safe return of trafficked children.
Attitudes and practices need to change: Getting and keeping
all children in school –especially girls –
would dramatically improve their protection, but 120 million
children still never go to school, the majority of them
girls. Awareness campaigns need to empower communities,
families and children themselves to prevent trafficking.
Children need to be aware of the dangers of trafficking
so that they can protect themselves: Children are often
lured with promises of money and a ‘better life.’
To counter this, at-risk children need to be given practical
skills that allow them to avoid being ensnared. This could
include vocational training or income-generating activities
at the community level to keep them from falling prey
to false offers from traffickers.
All those who interact and spend time with children need
to be able to recognize the risks of trafficking and respond
accordingly: Teachers need to recognize the warning signs
of a troubled home. Police raiding brothels need to know
to search for girls who have come from other countries
and avoid stigmatizing and victimizing them further. A
border guard with limited awareness of trafficking may
not react when seeing young children crossing a border
without their parents.
Media attention is a crucial advocacy and awareness element
in the fight against trafficking and in calling for the
effective and systematic protection of the child victim.
Reintegration and rehabilitation for vicims of trafficking:
Children who have been trafficked need services to help
them escape their situation, and to return home to a safe
environment. Services for child victims of trafficking
need to be guided by the best interests of the child,
including the child’s return to a safe environment.
* * *
For further information, please contact:
Jehane Sedky-Lavandero, UNICEF Media, New York (212)
326-7269, jsedky@unicef.org
|
