The Girl Effect, Part 31 - Child Trafficking

Article 3, paragraph (a) of the Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons defines Trafficking in Persons as the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harbouring or receipt of persons, by means of the threat or use of force or other forms of coercion, of abduction, of fraud, of deception, of the abuse of power or of a position of vulnerability or of the giving or receiving of payments or benefits to achieve the consent of a person having control over another person, for the purpose of exploitation. Exploitation shall include, at a minimum, the exploitation of the prostitution of others or other forms of sexual exploitation, forced labour or services, slavery or practices similar to slavery, servitude or the removal of organs
UNODC: What is Human Trafficking?

Nonprofits are asking the Obama administration to renew the Trafficking Victims Protection Act (TVPA), which would provide resources for those trying to protect the 27 million people who are considered modern-day slaves engaged in forced labor and sex.
Congress allowed the TVPA to expire in 2011 after years of bipartisan support, leaving programs that fight trafficking at risk, according to a release from the Alliance to End Slavery and Trafficking (ATEST). Nonprofits say the political inertia is stalling real progress.
Huffington Post: Human Trafficking Awareness Day: Nonprofits Call On Obama To Do More To Fight Modern-Day Slavery

 Trafficking in persons is a widespread form of modern-day slavery, and as we observe National Slavery and Human Trafficking Prevention Month, we’d like to update you on what the FBI—with its partners—is doing to go after the traffickers and help the victims.

...Along the same lines, the sex trafficking of U.S. children is also a priority within our crimes against children program. During fiscal year 2012, we opened 363 investigations into the commercial sexploitation of domestic minors. Fortunately, we were also able to locate more than 500 young victims of sex traffickers.

We participate in 88 human trafficking task forces and working groups around the country. Our efforts include not only investigating cases where we find them, but also proactively using intelligence to drive and support these cases, looking at known areas of human trafficking activities, and developing liaison relationships within communities to promote awareness of these crimes...
Human Trafficking Awareness Targeting Traffickers, Helping Victims

 To spark awareness and vigilance against a growing global human rights crisis, President Barack Obama has proclaimed January as National Slavery and Human Trafficking Prevention Month.

Linda Dixon, the Defense Department’s program manager for combating trafficking in persons, told the Pentagon Channel and American Forces Press Service in a recent interview that DOD has strengthened training modules and reporting avenues to combat trafficking in persons...

    State Department officials said the three most common forms of trafficking are labor trafficking, sex trafficking and child soldiering....
DOD Heightens Training, Prevention to Target Human Trafficking

It's always the same story: A lack of care and education lead to poverty and despair - hopeless situations that human traffickers worldwide take advantage of.
The force their victims into prostitution, force them to work and misuse them for illegal trade in organs. Experts estimate the number of victims to be in the millions. The UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) said in its annual report that based on official data supplied by 132 countries, children and young people up to the age of 18 make up a large percentage of all human trafficking cases: 27 percent between 2007 and 2010. Of these, two-thirds were girls.
According to the study, the majority of child victims were found in Africa, the Middle East, South Asia and the Pacific...
Deutsche Welle: Child trafficking on the rise, UN says