Forced child marriages as a form of child trafficking

Child trafficking and child marriages have been condemned globally as practices which are harmful to girls' health and which violate their rights. The significance of child trafficking and child marriages for a range of development outcomes explains why both are prohibited by law and given recognition as major policy issues in many countries. Despite international conventions and corresponding regional conventions and national legislations and the efforts of numerous non-governmental, faith-based and international organisations, many girls (especially in developing countries) are still trafficked and/or subjected to forced and early marriages and the measurement of this practice remains relatively unsophisticated. This paper demonstrates that some child marriages have slave-like characteristics similar to those of child trafficking and can thus be argued to be a form of child trafficking. This is because children in forced marriages coerced into these unions and are made to engage in acts similar to victims of sex and labour trafficking.     

Exploitation of Intercountry Adoption: Toward Common Understanding and Action

The conflation of various illicit intercountry adoption activities under the umbrella of “child trafficking” has caused confusion in the adoption literature. Utilizing a pragmatic approach, this article explores the cacophony of opinions that have arisen with regard to trafficking in illicit adoption activities and identifies the concept of exploitation as a useful framework for differentiating among them. To improve and increase the accuracy of research, policy, and programming, the authors suggest the new labels child trafficking, the sale of children, birth mother trafficking, and abuse of process for use in identifying and discussing different forms illicit adoption.     

Trafficked children and child protection systems in the European Union

Child trafficking is a significant social problem across the European Union (EU). A discourse has emerged of state services failing trafficked children, who are portrayed as especially vulnerable. Less attention is paid to the socio-political conditions within the EU that result in exclusion. Such exclusion adds to the situational vulnerability that many children on the move experience and it may lead to exploitation. This paper is based on a review of 20 multi-national European Commission funded projects about child trafficking. The projects addressed the child trafficking priorities outlined in the EU Anti-Trafficking Strategy [(2012). Strategy towards the Eradication of Trafficking in Human Beings 2012–2016, COM (2012) 286, final. Retrieved from http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/PDF/?uri=CELEX:52012DC0286&;from=EN]. Projects were reviewed via in-depth reading. Protective services for children in origin, transit and host countries contribute to the conditions that sustain child trafficking. Systems do not have the capacity to manage the consequences of globalisation. Consequently, exclusionary criteria are applied on the basis of gender, form of exploitation and ethnicity. In this review, being an EU citizen did not result in any guarantees of protection. Better protection requires commitment and investment in preventative programmes.     

Challenges in assistance provision to child victims of transnational trafficking in South Africa

Child trafficking is a violation of multiple human rights and a child protection challenge in South Africa and worldwide. Thus, assistance provision can be a protective factor in the emotional and the psychosocial well-being of trafficked child victims. Stakeholders (including social workers) working in the field of trafficking were studied qualitatively to understand the nexus between child trafficking and service provision. The challenges the participants had encountered within assistance provision were explored through in-depth interviews and analysed using thematic analysis. The findings from the study indicate that assistance provision is not an easy linear process and that multinational, multi-agency, long-term sustained response, with multi-focus on prevention, prosecution and protection (including rehabilitation) is required to enhance successful resettlement and adaptation. This response should be based on the rights of the child rather than based on law enforcement and immigration.     

The Determinants of Human Trafficking: A US Case Study

Human trafficking is a global problem. In this paper, I seek to find the determinants of international human trafficking by using the US as a case study. Previous studies have drawn primarily from the migration literature, proposing hypotheses that focus on economic factors, the level of democracy and other “push” factors in the countries of origin that create incentives for individuals to migrate. However, we know that international human trafficking is an involuntary form of migration and may be influenced by additional factors. I hypothesize that factors that influence the cost–benefit calculation of the trafficker determine the volume of human trafficking, in addition to the factors that affect the size of the pool of trafficking victims. I test my theory using the negative binomial regression model. My results indicate that while income inequality within a country and poor protection of women's rights are likely to produce a specific pool of victims, it is the reduction of operational costs for the trafficker that increases the number of individuals who are trafficked.     

The Social Construction of Trafficked Persons: An Analysis of the UN Protocol and the TVPA Definitions

This study is an investigation of the discourse surrounding trafficked persons. The U.S. federal government constructs human trafficking as “illegal immigration” and “prostitution.” As such, it may prioritize punishing those who violate trafficking laws. In order to examine this, a content analysis was conducted examining the United Nations Protocol on Human Trafficking and the U.S. Trafficking Victims Protection Act. Findings suggest that the way in which these laws construct the meaning of trafficking and the surrounding discourse may be influenced by political agendas and subsequently may also influence the utilization of policies and the allocation of social services.     

“Right Here is the Gateway”: Mobility,Sex Work Entry and HIV Risk along the Mexico–US Border

Women comprise an increasing proportion of migrants. Many migrate voluntarily for sex work or practise survival sex; others are trafficked for sexual exploitation. To investigate how the context of mobility shapes sex work entry and HIV risk, during 2010 to 2011 we conducted in‐depth interviews with formerly trafficked women currently engaged in sex work (n = 31) in Tijuana and their service providers (n = 7) in Tijuana and San Diego. Women's experiences of coerced and deceptive migration, deportation as forced migration, voluntary mobility, and migration to a risk environment illustrate that circumstances resulting from migration shape vulnerability to sex trafficking, voluntary sex work entry, and HIV risk. Findings suggest an urgent need for public health and immigration policies providing integrated support for deported and/or recently arrived female migrants. Policies to prevent sex trafficking and assist trafficked females must consider the varying levels of personal agency involved in migration and sex work entry.

Policy Implications

• There is a need for coordination between public health and immigration policies to ensure that these are not at odds with one another
• Findings suggest the need for public health and immigration policies that provide integrated support for female migrants, especially trafficked women and girls
• Policy changes are urgently needed to protect deportees' health and promote their social integration
• Policies to prevent sex trafficking and assist trafficked females must consider the range of agencies involved in migration and sex work entry

     

Hospital Health Provider Experiences of Identifying and Treating Trafficked Persons

ABSTRACT

Over the past 20 years, human trafficking (“trafficking”) has generated much public attention throughout the world. The problem has received growing media coverage and increased anti-trafficking activism. Additionally countries have created new policies, laws, and enforcement mechanisms to tackle the problem. This micro level study examined the lived experiences of 22 health and allied health workers situated within St Vincent’s Health Australia’s Melbourne facility, and reports on their identification, assessment, treatment, and outreach to trafficked persons. The results indicated that trafficked persons were predominantly invisible within the health setting. When practitioners did suspect trafficking, they considered themselves as lacking the professional skills and knowledge, or the clear organisational policy or procedures to confidently identify and manage the complex health needs of the suspected trafficked persons. The findings contribute to St Vincent’s Health Australia’s goal of formulating contextually appropriate policy and practices that will assist in the identification of and response to the health needs of trafficked persons.

IMPLICATIONS

• The health needs of trafficked persons are multiple and interrelated and require health care providers and systems to be skilled in the identification, intervention, and treatment of trafficked persons.

• Education and training of health professionals is the cornerstone of the identification, intervention, and treatment of trafficked persons.

• Social workers’ specific focus on person-in-environment may be an important contribution to the identification and treatment of trafficked persons.

     

I agreed to go because........examining the Agency of Children within a phenomenon conceptualised as trafficking in Ghana

The legal and policy framework on child trafficking is dismissive of children's agency and regards them as vulnerable personalities. This paper examines the scope of children's agency in their transportation to other communities for fishing in Ghana. Using a phenomenological design, 17 child returnees' views were elicited on their movement for fishing activities. Findings revealed that children's agentive capabilities progressed primarily from consent giving to negotiation. Highlighting the relational and material context within which children's agency unfolds, the study suggests that it is erroneous to generally ascribe the discursive label of ‘innocence’ to children who are considered as trafficked.     

Trafficking,Exploitation and Migration on the Thailand‐Burma Border: A Qualitative Study

Migrant workers from Burma 1 often experience exploitation, abuse and violations at various stages of travel to and within Thailand and in workplaces in Thailand. Guided by Zimmerman et al.'s conceptual framework, which identifies the potential risks associated with trafficking process, this article presents findings from in‐depth interviews with 61 migrant workers living and working in and around Mae Sot, Thailand, on the Thailand‐Burma border, to describe the broader context of irregular migration from Burma to Thailand, and trafficking‐related risks in this context. Results demonstrate that use of transporters (“carries”) and brokers in order to travel to Thailand and find employment can enable trafficking. Moreover, migrant workers are exposed to a range of exploitative experiences in workplaces in Thailand, including violence, coercion, and economic exploitation. This article explores dynamics of migration that can enable trafficking in this context, as well as exploitative working conditions consistent with forced labour.     

Special Adoption in Japan: Its Problems and Prospects

About 400 children in need in Japan are placed in a “special adoption” each year. The modest numbers are partly the result of a cultural predisposition to think of adoption in terms of family lineage, which discourages the adoption of nonrelatives or children of “bad blood.” Special adoption is also limited by concerns over the confidentiality of family registers, by a heavy reliance on institutional care, and by a narrowly defined concept of an “ideal child.” The limited professional organization of adoption services in Japan makes national reform difficult. However, some adoption agencies have made local efforts to increase placements by avoiding institutional care or assisting in maintaining confidentiality. Potential parents have also been encouraged to extend their idea of an acceptable child in trial placements, and some children have been placed with mixed couples and foreign residents.     

“Phil's Calling Grandma… ”: The Role of External Support in Human–Companion Animal Identity Pairings

This exploratory paper deals with human–animal role identity pairings such as parent–child or sibling–sibling and the necessity of support from other actors both for the formation of these idiosyncratic identities, as well as for their situational placement in social environments not limited to the nonhuman animal. Taken from a qualitative study examining identity formation counter to the nonhuman animal, I use in‐depth interviews of both people with and without human children to demonstrate how human‐to‐human relationships are formed by categorizing the companion animal as a “child” of sorts within the family structure. These relationships prove integral to the continued development and enactment of identities such as the animal “parent” or the animal “sibling” via three different groups: their own parents, partners, and, in one case, adult siblings. This creates positive affect and commitment to the identity across other social situations. Implications of these findings for identity theory and family research are discussed.     

The Thai Government’s Repatriation and Reintegration Programmes: Responding to Trafficked Female Commercial Sex Workers from the Greater Mekong Subregion

Since the 1990s, trafficked women and girls from neighbouring countries in the Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS), including Myanmar, Lao People’s Democratic Republic (Laos), Cambodia, Viet Nam, and Yunnan province in southern China, have increasingly migrated to Thailand and worked in the country’s thriving commercial sex industry. In response, the Thai government has launched a range of programmes to supplement its earlier programmes designed primarily to combat internal trafficking. This paper concentrates on one component of the Thai government’s response: repatriation and reintegration. The paper is organized as follows: First, a definition of human trafficking, particularly as it relates to women and children, is provided. Second, a succinct discussion of the history of the domestic trafficking of women and girls into commercial sex work in Thailand, focusing especially on the Thai government’s broad response to this dilemma, is given. Third, the dynamics of the relatively recent surge of trafficked women and girls from neighbouring GMS countries working in Thailand’s commercial sex industry and the Thai government’s efforts to combat this are discussed. Finally, the paper focuses on repatriation and reintegration in Thailand ; by briefly discussing the situation that trafficked women and girls confront in this process, and by defining repatriation, reintegration, and reintegration assistance. The Thai government’s repatriation and reintegration programmes are then described and critically reviewed, focusing particularly on the Kredtrakarn Protection and Occupational Development Centre. Recommendations on how to improve existing repatriation and reintegration programmes are provided. Above all, greater collaboration must take place in order to effectively and efficiently implement policies, plans, and projects to more successfully reintegrate trafficked women and girls back into neighbouring GMS countries, in particular at the local level.     

Intergenerational Continuity and Change in Conceptualization of the “Child” Among Guji People of Ethiopia

The rapidly growing globalization that embodies new technologies has greatly characterized intergenerational difference by fostering change and hindering continuity of values and traditions. However, the effects of cultural change on intergenerational continuity and change in less technologically developed societies have not been documented adequately. This article presents change and continuity between adults and children in conceptualization of the “child” in the context of the Guji people of Ethiopia. It discusses how the meaning of “child” is variable across synchronic generations among the Guji people and how this variability reflects discontinuities and continuities in intergenerational transmission of local knowledge. The difference between adults and children in their knowledge of generational structure is observed as a ground for their divergence in conceptualization of the “child.” Accordingly, for adults, one’s position in generational structure is a basis for identifying somebody as a child. However, for children, one’s level of physical maturity is a basis for defining somebody as a child. The data on which this article is based are drawn from 10 months of ethnographic fieldwork among the Guji people.     

A study of disabled children and child protection in Scotland — A hidden group?

This paper is based on analysis of data collected for a study, commissioned by the Scottish Government, which examined child protection work with disabled children. At a conceptual level, the paper draws on Goffman's frame analysis and on different models of disability. Focus groups were conducted with five Child Protection Committees (40 individuals) and semi-structured interviews with a further 21 practitioners from social work, education, health services, third sector organisations and the police. The findings show that, for various reasons, abuse of disabled children may go undetected. Where it is suspected, effective action does not always follow, for example, where practitioners over-empathise with parents. When child protection work is undertaken, disabled children may remain relatively invisible in terms of participation and professional focus. It is suggested that the ways in which practitioners and managers “frame” disabled children has implications for how abuse is responded to and how well these children are protected. Participants also “framed” disability in different ways, and it is suggested that a social relational model seems particularly applicable. In conclusion, in many respects disabled children experiencing abuse may remain absent from or to some extent hidden within child protection services in Scotland. While some creative work is taking place, considerable changes are required to make child protection services accessible to all disabled children, sensitive to their needs and respectful of their rights.     

Claiming Competence: Biographical Work among Victim‐Advocates and Counselors

Advocates and counselors at agencies that assist victims of domestic violence and sexual assault argue that they are especially suited to help their clients develop safe and practical strategies to protect themselves from further abuse. Yet the backstage of these agencies can depict a reality of confusion, doubt, and sometimes fear—especially when clients’ cases do not go according to plan. Data collected from in‐depth interviews and participant observation over fourteen months show how advocates and counselors engaged in “biographical work” (Gubrium and Holstein 2000) to construct coherent and consistent narratives as competent service providers in the aftermath of their clients’ unanticipated outcomes. Calling on different discursive strategies accessible to them according to their position within the agency, both groups were able to interpret negative results as beyond their responsibility. However, the counselor's rhetoric of “professionalism” proved more effective in this regard compared with the advocates’ “empowerment.”     

The public and private purposes of case records

Social welfare agencies have official reasons and requirements for the construction of case records. Sociologists have detected a set of unofficial reasons that shape case records in practice. This paper suggests that case records that record the lives of children in child welfare systems are written, inter alia, to deny the failure of interventions, to justify the refusal to serve “bad clients,” and to justify the decision to extend hegemony over “good” clients.     

The attitudes of medical professionals toward children and children at risk of separation from parents in Eastern Europe

This article reports the findings of a multi-country study of medical professionals' perceptions and evaluations of children. The primary aim of the study was to establish the perceptions medical professionals working in three Eastern European countries (Romania, Bulgaria, Moldova) hold toward children identified as “typical”, “at-risk” and “with disability”. A second aim was to explore the existence of country-level differences in medical professionals' perceptions of children. The third aim was to examine the pattern of associations between attitudes toward children and a change in use of institutional care to family and community-based alternatives. Over 800 respondents provided survey responses using paper-based and online returns. Findings indicated that positive affect toward children was associated with the favourability of attributes generated about “typical” children. In contrast, positive affect toward children was associated with less favourability toward at-risk children. Attribute favourability ratings generated for at-risk children were positively associated with attributes generated for children with disability. Differences were identified between respondents working across the three countries. No association was identified between attitudes toward children and endorsement of a statement supportive of de-institutionalisation as part of child protection reforms. These findings illuminate how children are conceptualised and understood by a group of medical professionals who hold considerable sway over decisions and recommendations about their relative risk and vulnerability.     

Knowledge and Skills of Sexual Abuse Prevention: A Study on School-Aged Children in Beijing,China

To examine the level of child sexual abuse prevention knowledge and skills in a sample of school-aged children, a total of 559 children from first to fifth grade were recruited from one primary school in Beijing, China. Participants were asked to finish a questionnaire surveying their knowledge and skills of child sexual abuse prevention. Results showed that accurate rate of knowledge on child sexual abuse prevention were between 44.0% and 80.0%. Percentage of participants having applied the self-protection skills of “saying ‘no,’” “going away,” and “telling adults” properly in hypothetical situations was 57.4%, 28.3%, and 48.3%, respectively. Third-to-fifth graders had a better performance than first-to-second graders, and girls performed better than boys. Findings suggest that Chinese school-aged children are in need of knowledge and skills related to child sexual abuse prevention, and education programs should be developed as soon as possible.