What you don't know about child trafficking might surprise you. Find out what you can do to stop exploitation of children.
What is child trafficking?
Child trafficking is when a child is moved within a country or across borders to be exploited. Sometimes this happens by force and sometimes willingly. No country—including Canada—is immune to child trafficking. In many cases poverty, natural disasters and armed conflict in developing countries push children to work outside of their homes to survive and sometimes to support their families. These children end up in the thriving child trafficking industry. There is a market demand for cheap, easily controlled labour. Traffickers prey on poor and uneducated people, especially children, because it is easier to abuse their rights. Some families believe they are providing their children with a better life or following a cultural tradition. However, trafficked children are often vulnerable to severe physical and psychological abuse, arrest, dangerous working conditions and long hours.
Read true stories recounted by women, men and children who have been trafficked, in this World Vision report.
How are trafficked children exploited?
- Forced and bonded labour like when they become forced child domestic servants in Haiti
- Armed conflict such as the boys and girls in the Democratic Republic of Congo who are recruited to fight and provide for armed groups
- Sexual exploitation as experienced by young girls in brothels in Cambodia
- Illicit activities such as the involvement of children in the illegal drug trade and organized crime in some Latin American countries
- Child marriage as experienced by girls in Afghanistan
Global Statistics:
- Human trafficking is grossly underreported because victims often don't understand their rights and are afraid to go to police.
- Human trafficking has estimated annual profits of US$31.6 billion and is the third largest grossing sector of organized crime after drugs and arms.
- An estimated 1.2 million children are trafficked every year for labour and sexual exploitation.
- Canada is a source, transit, and destination country for human trafficking.
What can you do?
- Join the Justice Network and stay up to date on what you can do to stop child trafficking and other rights violations against children.
- Give a gift from the Gift Catalogue that can help victims (and help prevent victims) of trafficking and sexual exploitation. These gifts include, birth registrations that help protect children. Without the legal identity and proof of age provided by a birth certificate, children don't officially exist and are more likely to be exploited.
What is World Vision doing?
World Vision's human trafficking work aims at preventing and addressing trafficking by raising awareness, educating children and their communities, providing shelter and care for victims and speaking out about exploitation. World Vision is partnering with governments, law enforcement, civil society and children to address this abuse.
