Child
trafficking
Trafficking is coercion and exploitation. We consider child
trafficking as the separation of a child from family and a
normal childhood primarily for profit.
Like most NGOs, we use the U.N. Trafficking Protocol
definition of child trafficking: the recruitment,
transportation, transfer, harboring or receipt of any
person under the age of eighteen for the purposes of sexual
or labor exploitation, forced labor or slavery.
In Cambodia, widespread corruption and poverty combined
with a weak judicial and police force makes it difficult to
prosecute child traffickers. But, big strides have been
made with shelters established, successful prosecutions and
growing awareness.
In the community we work in, child trafficking is generally
in three forms: illegal adoptions, child labour and child
prostitution.
ILLEGAL
ADOPTION
Child trafficking for adoption is when a
family gives up a child primarily for payment. If they were
not being paid, they would not relinquish the child. It's
culturally accepted in Cambodia and fairly common. Private
informal adoptions by Cambodian families involve a
"mother's milk" price to recompense the birthfamily for the
cost of the pregnancy,but this often becomes an outright
purchase. The saddest part of this is that Cambodia has
many orphans who desperately need families, but because
child trafficking ensures a steady supply of healthy
infants with perfect papers, these children are left
behind.
Cambodia Adoption Issues
No Child Left Out
CHILD
LABOUR
Child trafficking for labour is when a family
sells a child for exploitative labour. Exploitation can
mean the child is too young to be working full-time, or
that the work is dangerous for a child. All the children in
Riverkids work for their parents, from domestic chores to
pitching in during fishing season or harvest. Some of the
children sell flowers, candy or food at night, on top of
school and chores. In desperately poor families, a child's
labour is essential. At Riverkids, we target exploitative
child labour, such as when a child is forced to drop out of
school entirely or the employers are abusive.
Thousands of Phnom Penh Children Work for
Little or No Wages
2006 TIP report on Cambodian child labour
CHILD
PROSTITUTION
Cambodia is notorious for child prostitution.
The worst places have been shut down, but foreign
pedophiles still use the country as a corrupt and cheap
haven, while local demand for prostitutes has grown for
younger teenage sex workers. Many of the Riverkids children
come from families where a parent, sibling or relative has
been involved in sex work. Abusive families are also more
likely to allow abuse of their children. Either parents
approach the trafficker or the families are tricked by
promises of a good job for their daughter. When the parents
are arranging the sale, the girl usually co-operates
because she believes it is her duty. For boys, sex work is
usually limited to occasional street work, not brothels.
The sold child is watched closely and often beaten, drugged
and raped into submission. Once they have been broken,
they're usually allowed to visit their families and paid
wages. Sex work has become a comparatively lucrative job
for young girls in the Riverkids community. A foreign
'boyfriend' can support an entire family, versus the
initial $200-$400 for virginity, with $1-$5 a time
subsequently.
Dateline report on child trafficking
(includes video)
ChildSafe Cambodia
At What Price, Honour?: Research into
domestic trafficking of Vietnamese (girl) children for
sexual exploitation, from slums in Phnom Penh,
Cambodia - Highly recommended, as this qualitative
report focuses on the same community Riverkids works
in.
Going
further:
Sex Slaves, by Louise Brown
An excellent well-written overview of sex
trafficking in Asia. Explains the economics and cultural
pressures.
Recommended websites:
Child trafficking online resource library
UNICEF's child trafficking resource portal
Coalition Against Trafficking in Women
Human Trafficking
Why so few adoption trafficking cases can
be proved legally (Ethica report)