Child Trafficking for Sex and Labor

Human trafficking violates the fundamental human rights of child and adult victims and impacts families, communities, and societies. Trafficked persons originate from countries worldwide and may belong to any racial, ethnic, religious, socioeconomic, or cultural group. They may be of any gender. According to the United Nations Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons , child trafficking refers to the “recruitment, transportation, transfer, harboring or receipt of a person” under 18 yr old for purposes of exploitation. Two major types of trafficking involve forced labor and sexual exploitation ( Table 15.1 ). While adult sex trafficking requires demonstration of force, fraud, coercion, deception, or the abuse of power as a means of exploitation, these are not required for persons younger than 18 yr. Interpretation of the international protocol varies across the globe; U.S. law does not require movement of a victim to qualify as human trafficking. In addition, minors who “consent” to commercial sex in the absence of a third party (trafficker) are victims of commercial sexual exploitation, because their age precludes true informed consent.

The word victim is used in this chapter in the legal sense and refers to a person who has been harmed as a result of a crime or other event. It is not intended to imply any subjective interpretation of the person's feelings about his/her situation or imply any judgment about that person's resilience.

Child trafficking may occur within the confines of the child's home country ( domestic trafficking) or may cross national borders ( international , or transnational , trafficking). Globally, victims tend to be trafficked within their own country or to a country in the same region. In the United States, most identified child sex trafficking victims are U.S. citizens or legal residents; few statistical data exist on victims of child labor trafficking. Variations in definitions of terms, problems with data collection, and underrecognition of victims complicate estimates of the prevalence of human trafficking, but the International Labour Organization estimates that 5.5 million of the world's children are victims of forced labor (this includes human trafficking). In a study of 55,000 officially identified trafficking victims, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime estimated that approximately 17% were girls and 10% boys. However, laws that define sexual exploitation in terms of girls and women, as well as cultural views regarding gender roles, lead to underreporting of boys, especially as victims of sex trafficking, so their numbers may be higher than estimated.

Factors creating vulnerability to human trafficking exist at the individual, family, community, and societal levels ( Table 15.2 ). Age is an important risk factor for adolescents since they are at a stage in their development at which they have limited life experience, a desire to demonstrate their independence from parental control, and a level of brain maturation that favors risk-taking and impulsive behaviors over careful situational analysis and other executive functions. They are also very interested in social media and are savvy at internet use, which render them susceptible to online recruitment and solicitation.