Protecting Children from Trafficking
blurb:isstoday:220808trafficking
22 August 2008: Protecting Children from Trafficking
The need to protect children from trafficking cannot be overemphasized. It is reported that children trafficked are used as sex workers, child soldiers or child labourers which endangers their lives, violates their rights and destroys their future. Whether an African state is a signatory to international instruments specifically aimed at protecting children from trafficking or not, it has an obligation to protect children’s rights under the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC).
All African states, except Somalia, have ratified the CRC. By doing so African governments undertake the obligations imposed by the CRC to carry out steps and measures for the protection and promotion of children’s rights. Furthermore, by ratifying, they have also agreed to hold themselves accountable before the international community. They are, accordingly, obliged to develop and undertake all actions and policies in the best interests of the child.
Many of the practical measures for protecting children from being trafficked can be drawn from the CRC Committee’s recommendations. The committee is a body of independent experts that monitor implementation of the CRC and its Optional Protocols by State Parties. For instance, in relation to Rwanda, in 2004 the committee recommended that the state extend the protection from sexual exploitation and trafficking contained in all relevant legislation to all boys and girls below the age of 18 years, and ensure that child victims of sexual exploitation are not considered offenders. In the same year, the committee recommended to Angola that the state further strengthen its efforts to identify, prevent and combat trafficking in children for sexual and other exploitative purposes, including by finalizing the elaboration of a national plan of action in this area and ensuring the appropriate legal framework and sufficient human and financial resources for its implementation. The committee also encouraged the state to define‘trafficking’ as a special criminal offence under the penal code.
The CRC Committee has also made some general comments that could be used for the protection of child victims of trafficking. These elaborate the nature of the state’s obligation imposed by the CRC. Under General Comment No.6 on the Treatment of Unaccompanied and Separated Children Outside their Country, for example, the committee made it clear that state obligation under the CRC apply to each child within the state’s territory and to all other children subject to its jurisdiction. Therefore, the enjoyment of rights stipulated under the CRC includes trafficked children irrespective of their nationality. Furthermore, General Comment No.6 states that the involvement of child victims in criminal activities shall not undermine their status as both a child and a victim or their related rights to special protection.
Article 2 of the Optional Protocol to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (Sale of Children, Child Prostitution and Child Pornography) defines the sale of children as ‘any act or transaction whereby a child is transferred by any person or group of persons to another for remuneration or any other consideration’. The Optional Protocol sets out the activities that should be criminalized, whether committed within the country or outside, and including isolated incidents and those committed on an organized basis. It also recognizes specific forms of sexual abuse, such as sex tourism and the use of children as prostitutes.
There are also a number of international instruments to protect children from trafficking, violence and exploitation. For example, the Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children, supplementing the United Nations Convention Against Transnational Organized Crime, is intended to prevent and combat trafficking in persons and to facilitate assistance to victims.
It is not necessary for the child to have been subjected to abuse for a case to be regarded as trafficking. It is sufficient that a child under the age of 18 has been recruited and moved elsewhere to be exploited. The Protocol recognizes that threats, deception or abduction could be used to achieve this.
A wide range of issues under the International Labour Organization (ILO) Convention have direct connection with the CRC, for example, sexual exploitation, trafficking in children and use of children in armed conflict.
According to the United Convention on the Elimination of the Worst Forms of Child Labour, the worst forms of child labour comprise: slavery and forced labour, including child trafficking and forced recruitment for armed conflict; use of a child in prostitution and pornography: use of a child in illicit activities including drug production and trafficking and work likely to harm the health and safety or morals of children.
Thus, the key international instruments on the protection of children from trafficking suggest that domestic legislation should provide the legal framework, while public awareness campaigns are key to informing the general public about child trafficking, and about the services available to child victims. The committee further recommends assistance programmes for their recovery and reintegration.
Lea Mwambene, Intern, Organized Crime and Money Laundering Programme, ISS Cape Town
