Forms of Sex Abuse

Prostitution of children or child prostitution is the commercial sexual exploitation of children in which a child performs the services of prostitution, for financial benefit. The term normally refers to prostitution by a minor, or person under the local age of majority. In many countries there are specific laws against child prostitution which may include people who are older than the local Age of consent.

The form of child prostitution in which people travel to foreign countries for the purposes of avoiding laws in their country of residence is known as child sex tourism.

Definitions

The Optional Protocol on the Sale of Children, Child Prostitution and Child Pornography to the Convention on the Rights of the Child states that child prostitution is the practice whereby a child sells his or her body for sexual activities in return for remuneration or any other form of consideration. The remuneration or other consideration could be provided to the prostitute or to another person. The 131 countries who are parties to the Optional Protocol (at May 2009) undertake to prohibit child prostitution.

The Worst Forms of Child Labour Convention, 1999 (Convention No 182) of the International Labour Organization (ILO) provides that the "use, procuring or offering of a child for prostitution" is one of the "worst forms of child labor." This convention, adopted in 1999, provides that countries that had ratified it must eliminate the practice urgently. It enjoys the fastest pace of ratifications in the ILO's history since 1919.

Terminology

Child prostitution is sometimes used to describe the wider concept of commercial sexual exploitation of children (CSEC). However, child prostitution excludes other identifiable manifestations of CSEC, such as commercial sexual exploitation through child marriage, domestic child labor, and the trafficking of children for sexual purposes.

It was the limitations of the term child prostitution that led to the development in the mid-1990s of the term commercial sexual exploitation of children, or CVE,as a more encompassing description of specific forms of sexual trade involving children. Nevertheless, ‘child prostitution’ remains in common usage and is indeed the wording embedded in international instruments of law.

Children are often forced by social structures and individual agents into situations in which adults take advantage of their vulnerability and sexually exploit and abuse them. Structure and agency commonly combine to force a child into commercial sex: for example, the prostitution of a child frequently follows from prior sexual abuse, often in the child's home.[1]

Child prostitution usually takes place in particular environments, such as brothels, bars and clubs, or homes, or particular streets and areas (usually in socially run down places). According to one study, only about 10% of child prostitutes have a pimp and over 45% got into the business through friends.[2] Sometimes it is not organized, but often it is, either on a small scale through individual pimps or on a larger scale through extensive criminal networks.

Children also engage in prostitution, however, when they exchange sex outside these environments and in return not only for basic needs such as shelter, food, clothing, or safety, but also for extra pocket money for desired consumer goods otherwise out of their reach. There is a subculture of "pocket money prostitution" in many consumer societies, including the United States, whereby girls and boys under 18 rent out their sexual services for cash or expensive gifts, or to save up for cars, motorcycles, even college tuition.

These people are prostituted in conditions that appear otherwise perfectly normal. Enjo kosai, the pay-dating or "sponsored dating" practice reported in Japan, is considered a prime example of this. However, this latter practice is by definition voluntary rather than via manipulation.

Living and working conditions for children that are prostitutes are frequently substandard. Such children are commonly poorly paid or unpaid,[citation needed] kept in unsanitary conditions, denied access to proper medical care, and constantly watched and kept subservient through threat of force.[citation needed] These threats may be physical or psychological in nature.[citation needed]

While some sex tourists may make use of child prostitutes, it has been argued that the majority of their 'clients' are instead the locals. Quoting from the back cover of a recent work:[3]

The Asian sex trade is often assumed to cater predominantly to foreigners. Sex Slaves turns that belief on its head to show that while western sex tourists have played a vital part in the growth of the industry, the primary customers of Asia's indentured sex workers and of its child prostitutes are overwhelmingly Asians

Prohibition

While the legality of adult prostitution varies between different parts of the world, the prostitution of minors is illegal in most countries. Furthermore, many countries whose citizens most frequently engage in international child procurement, such as the United States,[4] Australia and European countries, enforce worldwide jurisdiction on their nationals traveling abroad.

As previously mentioned, some literature refers to prostitutes aged at least 13 but less than 18 years of age as 'teenage prostitutes,' but the most common definition of a 'child' is a person who is under the age of 18.[citation needed] The latter definition is used by the ILO's Worst Forms of Child Labour Convention, discussed above. Therefore prostitution of children usually assumed to refer to the prostitution of persons under 18.

Asia

In Cambodia, it has been estimated that about a third of all prostitutes are under 18.[5]

The exact number of child-prostitutes in Thailand is not known, but Thailand’s Health System Research Institute reports that children in prostitution make up 40% of prostitutes in Thailand.[6]

In India, the federal police say that around 1.2 million children are believed to be involved in prostitution.[7] A CBI statement said that studies and surveys sponsored by the ministry of women and child development estimated that about 40% of all India's prostitutes are children.[7]

An article in the Gulf Times revealed a major sex trade in mostly Nepalese boys who were lured to India and sold to brothels in Mumbai, Hyderabad, New Delhi, Lucknow and Gorakhpur. One victim was lured from Nepal at the age of 14, sold into slavery, locked up, beaten, starved and forcibly circumcised. He reported that he was held in a brothel with 40 to 50 other boys, many of whom were castrated. He escaped and made his way back to Nepal. Two Non Government Organisations, one that work with homosexuals in Nepal, and one that works to rescue and rehabilitate trafficked women and children were co-operating to help these boys.[8]

In Indonesia, UNICEF estimates that 30% of the female prostitutes are below 18.[9]

In Sri Lanka, there are nearly 40,000 child prostitutes, according to UNICEF and ILO.[10]

In the Philippines, there are 60,000 to 100,000 prostituted children, according to UNICEF and non-governmental organisations.[11]

In Nepal, according to research conducted by the International Labour Organization (ILO) on 440 prostitutes from Kathmandu, approximately 30% of them were found to be children.[12]

In Bangladesh, the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) estimated in 2004 that there were 10,000 underage girls used in commercial sexual exploitation in the country, but other estimates placed the figure as high as 29,000.[13]

There are estimated to be at least 70,000 prostitutes in Vietnam, and 20,000 of these are children.[14]

South America

By 1999, it was reported that in Argentina child prostitution was increasing at an alarming rate and that the average age was decreasing. The CATW fact book says Argentina is one of the favored destinations of pedophile sex tourists from Europe and the United States.[15] The Criminal Code criminalizes the prostitution of minors of eighteen years of age or younger,[16] but it only sanctions those who “promote or facilitate” prostitution, and not the client who exploits the minor.[17]

It is estimated that Peru has about 500,000 child prostitutes.[18][19]

In Colombia, it is estimated that there are 35,000 child prostitutes, with between 5,000 and 10,000 of them on the streets of Bogotá.[20][21]

In Chile the estimated number of children involved in some form of prostitution has decreased. In 1999 UNICEF informed that there were approximately 10,000 children between the ages of 6 and 18 involved in prostitution, but in 2003, a governmental agency estimated that there were approximately 3,700 minors.[22]

In Ecuador, a 2002 International Labor Organization report estimated that 5,200 minors were engaged in prostitution.[23]

In Bolivia, the average age of entry into prostitution is 16.[24]

Brazil is considered to have the worst child sex trafficking record after Thailand.[25] According to the Protection Project report, various official sources agree that from 250,000 to 500,000 children live as child prostitutes, but other sources in Brazil put the number at up to 2,000,000 children.[25]


North America

A study by Unicef Mexico and the DIF/National System for Integral Family Development estimated that more than 16,000 children in Mexico were involved in prostitution (in June 2000);[26] a 2004 study by researcher Elena Azaola estimated that some 17,000 children under the age of 18 are victims of the sex trade in Mexico;[27] the State System of Integral Family Development (DIF) reported that more than 20,000 minors were victims of child prostitution in Mexico in 2005, an increase since the year 2000.[28] Out of Mexico City’s 13,000 street children, 95% have already had at least one sexual encounter with an adult (many of them through prostitution).[29]

In El Salvador, an NGO study in 1998 indicated that at least 44% of the estimated 1,300 prostitutes in three major red light districts of San Salvador were between the ages of 13 and 18.[30] Among all prostitutes of the country, between 10 and 25 percent of visible prostitutes are minors, and an estimated 40 percent of the hidden prostitutes who cater to upper-class clients are believed to be minors, according to a UNICEF study released in 2000.[31]

In Nicaragua, according to Casa Alianza, in the brothels of Managua there are between 1,200 and 1,500 prostituted girls and young women, and almost half of them are under the age of 18.[32] Every night, hundreds of teenage girls line the Masaya Highway commercial corridor on the capital's south side. Street children engage in prostitution, often to support a drug habit.

Europe

In Ukraine, research has shown that between 30 and 40 percent of prostitutes are between 11 and 18 years.[33]

A 2006 report by World Vision Middle East/Eastern Europe funded by the Canadian government and supported by six United Nations agencies and the International Organization for Migration reported that the sexual exploitation of children, child trafficking and sexual violence towards minors is increasing and that Russia is becoming a new destination for child sex tourism. The report adds that some studies claim approximately 20 to 25 percent of Moscow's sex workers are minors.[34]

Oceania

In Australia, there are an estimated 4000 children involved in prostitution, according to a study by Child Wise, the Australian arm of the global End Child Prostitution Pornography And Trafficking group.[35][36]

2.^ Hinman, Kristen (November 2, 2011). Westword. http://www.westword.com/2011-11-03/news/child-sex-trafficking-stereotypes-demolished/. Retrieved December 4,2011.
3.^ Back cover quote from: Louise Brown, Sex Slaves: The Trafficking of Women in Asia, Virago Press, 2001. ISBN 1860499031.
4.^ US Dept. of Justice, Federal Efforts to Combat Interstate Sex Trafficking of Minors, retrieved April 23, 2007
5.^ "Cambodia Child Rights Sex Abuse Facts Phnom Penh Travel". Archived from the original on 2005-02-09.
6.^ www.unicri.it/wwd/trafficking/minors/docs/dr_thailand.pdf
7.^ a b "Official: More than 1M child prostitutes in India". CNN. May 11, 2009.
8.^ "Former sex worker’s tale spurs rescue mission". Gulf Times. Gulf-Times.com. 10 April 2005. Retrieved 5 October 2010. "“I spent seven years in hell,” says Raju, now 21, trying hard not to cry. Thapa Magar took him to Rani Haveli, a brothel in Mumbai that specialised in male sex workers and sold him for Nepali Rs 85,000. A Muslim man ran the flesh trade there in young boys and girls, most of them luredfrom Nepal. For two years, Raju was kept locked up, taught to dress as a girl and circumcised. Many of the other boys there were castrated. Beatings and starvation became a part of his life. “There were 40 to 50 boys in the place,” a gaunt, brooding Raju recalls. “Most of them were Nepalese.”"
9.^ "Indonesia". HumanTrafficking.org.
10.^ "40,000 child prostitutes in Sri Lanka, says Child Rights Group". TamilNet. 12.06.06.
11.^ Juvida, Sol F. (Oct 12). "Scourge of Child Prostitution". MANILA: IPS.
12.^ www.ecpat.net/A4A_2005/PDF/South_Asia/Global_Monitoring_Report-NEPAL.pdf
13.^ "2008 Human Rights Report: Bangladesh". United States Department of State.
14.^ Vietnam
15.^ ECPAT International, A Step Forward, 1999, referenced in www.gvnet.com/childprostitution
16.^ 1 Codigo Penal y Leyes Complementarias, art. 125 bis (6th ed., Editorial Astrea, Buenos Aires, 2007).
17.^ http://www.loc.gov/law/help/child-rights/argentina.php
18.^ "Child prostitution becomes global problem, with Russia no exception". Pravda (Pravda.Ru). 11-10-2006.
19.^ "Worst Form of Child Labour - Peru". Global March Against Child Labour.
20.^ colombiajournal.org/colombia111.htm[dead link]
21.^ "Soaring child prostitution in Colombia". BBC Online. January 27, 2001.
22.^ www.dol.gov/ilab/media/reports/iclp/tda2004/chile.htm
23.^ www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/hrrpt/2005/61726.htm
24.^ Rights of the Child in Bolivia
25.^ a b "The Crisis of Child Sexual Exploitation in Brazil". libertadlatina.org.
26.^ "Gateways to exploitation". The Globe and Mail.
27.^ "Key Video Evidence Blocked in Child Sex Ring Trial". IPS (MEXICO: ipsnews.net).
28.^ www2.eluniversal.com.mx/pls/impreso/noticia.html?id_nota=17968&tabla=miami
29.^ 16,000 Victims of Child Sexual Exploitation
30.^ www.globalmarch.org/worstformsreport/world/el-salvador.html
31.^ www-rohan.sdsu.edu/faculty/rwinslow/namerica/el_salvador.html
32.^ Gutman, W. E. (April 17, 2004). "Child prostitution: the ugliest part of tourism". The Panama News (TEGUCIGALPA).
33.^ www.ecpat.net/A4A_2005/PDF/Europe/Global_Monitoring_Report-UKRAINE.pdf
34.^ www.alertnet.org/thenews/fromthefield/wvmeero/738456c77d801ec74eddb40555109d00.htmTemplate:Deaink
35.^ www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-84211599.html
36.^ scholieren.nrc.nl/extra/engels/2001/501.shtml
37.^ Scoop: Under Age Prostitution

Human trafficking is the illegal trade of human beings for the purposes of reproductive slavery, commercial sexual exploitation, forced labor, or a modern-day form of slavery. The Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, especially Women and Children (also referred to as the Trafficking Protocol) was adopted by the United Nations in Palermo, Italy in 2000, and is an international legal agreement attached to the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime. The Trafficking Protocol is one of three Protocols adopted to supplement the Convention.[1]

The Protocol is the first global, legally binding instrument on trafficking in over half a century and the only one that sets out an agreed definition of trafficking in persons. The purpose of the Protocol is to facilitate convergence in national cooperation in investigating and prosecuting trafficking in persons. An additional objective of the Protocol is to protect and assist the victims of trafficking in persons with full respect for their human rights. The Trafficking Protocol defines human trafficking as:

(a) [...] 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;

(b) The consent of a victim of trafficking in persons to the intended exploitation set forth in subparagraph (a) of this article shall be irrelevant where any of the means set forth in subparagraph (a) have been used;

 (c) The recruitment, transportation, transfer, harbouring or receipt of a child for the purpose of exploitation shall be considered “trafficking in persons” even if this does not involve any of the means set forth in subparagraph (a) of this article;

 (d) “Child” shall mean any person under eighteen years of age.[2]

Overview and differentiation

Trafficking is a lucrative industry. It has been identified as the fastest growing criminal industry in the world.[4] It is second only to drug trafficking as the most profitable illegal industry in the world.[5] In 2004, the total annual revenue for trafficking in persons were estimated to be between USD$5 billion and $9 billion.[6]

In 2005, Patrick Belser of ILO estimated a global annual profit of $31.6 billion.[7] In 2008, the United Nations estimated nearly 2.5 million people from 127 different countries are being trafficked into 137 countries around the world.[8]

However, it is argued that many of these statistics are grossly inflated to aid advocacy of anti-trafficking NGOs and the anti-trafficking policies of governments. Due to the definition of trafficking being a process (not a singly defined act) and the fact that it is a dynamic phenomenon with constantly shifting patterns relating to economic circumstances, much of the statistical evaluation is flawed.[9]

Human trafficking differs from people smuggling. In the latter, people voluntarily request or hire an individual, known as a smuggler, to covertly transport them from one location to another. This generally involves transportation from one country to another, where legal entry would be denied upon arrival at the international border. There may be no deception involved in the (illegal) agreement. After entry into the country and arrival at their ultimate destination, the smuggled person is usually free to find their own way.

While smuggling requires travel, trafficking does not. Much of the confusion rests with the term itself. The word "trafficking" includes the word "traffic," which means transportation or travel. However, while the words look and sound alike, they do not hold the same meaning.

Victims of human trafficking are not permitted to leave upon arrival at their destination. They are held against their will through acts of coercion and forced to work or provide services to the trafficker or others. The work or services may include anything from bonded or forced labor to commercialized sexual exploitation.[10][11] The arrangement may be structured as a work contract, but with no or low payment or on terms which are highly exploitative. Sometimes the arrangement is structured as debt bondage, with the victim not being permitted or able to pay off the debt.

Bonded labor, or debt bondage, is probably the least known form of labor trafficking today, and yet it is the most widely used method of enslaving people. Victims become bonded laborers when their labor is demanded as a means of repayment for a loan or service in which its terms and conditions have not been defined or in which the value of the victims’ services as reasonably assessed is not applied toward the liquidation of the debt. The value of their work is greater than the original sum of money "borrowed."[12]

Forced labor is a situation in which victims are forced to work against their own will, under the threat of violence or some other form of punishment, their freedom is restricted and a degree of ownership is exerted. Men are at risk of being trafficked for unskilled work, which globally generates $31bn according to the International Labor Organization.[13] Forms of forced labor can include domestic servitude; agricultural labor; sweatshop factory labor; janitorial, food service and other service industry labor; and begging.[12]

Sex trafficking victims are generally found in dire circumstances and easily targeted by traffickers. Individuals, circumstances, and situations vulnerable to traffickers include homeless individuals, runaway teens, displaced homemakers, refugees, job seekers, tourists, kidnap victims and drug addicts. While it may seem like trafficked people are the most vulnerable and powerless minorities in a region, victims are consistently exploited from any ethnic and social background.[14]

The Russian Mafia promises unemployed women a job in the United States. Upon arrival in United States they take the females passport from her, show her photos of her family back home and threaten her family if she runs. She is forced to work as a stripper in a strip club that is a front for a prostitution ring. She is forced to strip as a way to meet John's for her prostitution work. She is forced into prostitution with the threat that her children, parents, grandparents, siblings, aunts, uncles and cousins will all be killed if she says no. This is how the drug cartels and mafias get the cooperation of the women all around the world. They threaten the female's family. This is how they make the woman compliant and take a professional female who is seeking a job and turn her into a prostitute. A job seeker who has not traveled outside of her nation, has lead a sheltered life is unaware the job recruiters are a front for the mafia or drug cartel recruiting women for prostitution. The jobs that are promised vary depending upon the nation, if the nation is a first world nation, third world nation, the job skills of the job seeker, the desires of the job seeker and the education level of the job seeker. There are no real jobs, but the office looks real. The job seeker is told what they want to hear so they will agree to go with the agent. The job is what they want and the money is very high. Alternatively, a recruiter might go out into the community with business cards seeking applicants. There are no shortage of applicants in third world nations or the former Soviet Block Nations with high unemployment. Desperation for a job and the desire for a better life makes a female easy prey for the fake job recruiters who feed the women to the human traffickers.

Fake job offers are a common way to obtain women in Asia, the Former Soviet Block Nations and Latin America.

Female tourists can be targeted as they are far from home and not likely to be missed quickly. A female tourist is vulnerable as she is moving around and no one back home is tracking her hourly movements. She can go missing for quite some time and no one will know. She can be snatched off the street and sold within an hour and no one even knows what brothel bought her. She is not in contact with locals so they do not report her missing. Locals cops do not know she is gone or to go looking for her. Tourists are very vulnerable.

Traffickers, also known as pimps or madams, exploit vulnerabilities and lack of opportunities, while offering promises of marriage, employment, education, and/or an overall better life. However, in the end, traffickers force the victims to become prostitutes or work in the sex industry[14] Various work in the sex industry includes prostitution, dancing in strip clubs, performing in pornographic films and pornography, and other forms of involuntary servitude.

Human trafficking does not require travel or transport from one location to another, but one form of sex trafficking involves international agents and brokers who arrange travel and job placements for women from one country. Women are lured to accompany traffickers based on promises of lucrative opportunities unachievable in their native country. However, once they reach their destination, the women discover that they have been deceived and learn the true nature of the work that they will be expected to do. Most have been told false information regarding the financial arrangements and conditions of their employment and find themselves in coercive or abusive situations from which escape is both difficult and dangerous.[15] According to a 2009 U.S. Department of Justice report, there were 1,229 suspected human trafficking incidents in the United States from January 2007- September 2008. Of these, 83 percent were sex trafficking cases, though only 9% of all cases could be confirmed as examples of human trafficking.[16]

Trafficking in Children

Main article: Trafficking of children

Trafficking of children is the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harboring, or receipt of children for the purpose of exploitation.

Trafficking and commercial sexual exploitation of children can take many forms and include forcing a child into prostitution[17][18] or other forms of sexual activity or child pornography. Child exploitation can also include forced labour or services, slavery or practices similar to slavery, servitude, the removal of organs, illicit international adoption, trafficking for early marriage, recruitment as child soldiers, for use in begging or as athletes (such as child camel jockeys or football players), or for recruitment for cults.[19]

It was reported in 2010 that Thailand and Brazil were considered to have the worst child sex trafficking records.[20]

Trafficking in children often involves exploitation of the parents' extreme poverty. Parents may sell children to traffickers in order to pay off debts or gain income, or they may be deceived concerning the prospects of training and a better life for their children. They may sell their children for labor, sex trafficking, or illegal adoptions.

The adoption process, legal and illegal, when abused can sometimes result in cases of trafficking of babies and pregnant women between the West and the developing world.[21] In David M. Smolin’s papers on child trafficking and adoption scandals between India and the United States,[22][23] he presents the systemic vulnerabilities in the inter-country adoption system that makes adoption scandals predictable.

Thousands of children from Asia, Europe, North America and South America are sold into the global sex trade every year. Often they are kidnapped or orphaned, and sometimes they are actually sold by their own families.[24][not in citation given] In the U.S. Department of Justice 07-08 study, more than 30 percent of the total number of trafficking cases for that year were children coerced into the sex industry.[16]

There is no universally accepted definition of trafficking for sexual exploitation. The term encompasses the organized movement of people, usually women, between countries and within countries for sex work with the use of physical coercion, deception and bondage through forced debt. However, the issue becomes contentious when the element of coercion is removed from the definition to incorporate facilitating the willing involvement in prostitution. For example, in the United Kingdom, The Sexual Offenses Act, 2003 incorporated trafficking for sexual exploitation but did not require those committing the offence to use coercion, deception or force, so that it also includes any person who enters the UK to carry out sex work with consent as having been trafficked.[25] In addition, any minor involved in a commercial sex act in the United States while under the age of 18 qualifies as a trafficking victim, even if no movement is involved, under the definition of Severe Forms of Trafficking in Persons, in the U.S. Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000.[26]

The international Save the Children organization stated: "... The issue, however, gets mired in controversy and confusion when prostitution too is considered as a violation of the basic human rights of both adult women and minors, and equal to sexual exploitation per se. ... trafficking and prostitution become conflated with each other. .... On account of the historical conflation of trafficking and prostitution both legally and in popular understanding, an overwhelming degree of effort and interventions of anti-trafficking groups are concentrated on trafficking into prostitution."[27] The line between forced and voluntary prostitution is very thin, and prostitution in and on itself is seen by many as an abusive practice and a form of violence against women. In Sweden, Norway and Iceland it is illegal to pay for sex (the client commits a crime, but not the prostitute).

Sexual trafficking includes coercing a migrant into a sexual act as a condition of allowing or arranging the migration. Sexual trafficking uses physical coercion, deception and bondage incurred through forced debt. Trafficked women and children, for instance, are often promised work in the domestic or service industry, but instead are usually taken to brothels where their passports and other identification papers are confiscated. They may be beaten or locked up and promised their freedom only after earning – through prostitution – their purchase price, as well as their travel and visa costs.[28][29]

The main motive of a woman (in some cases, an underage girl) to accept an offer from a trafficker is better financial opportunities for herself or her family. In many cases, traffickers initially offer ‘legitimate’ work or the promise of an opportunity to study. The main types of work offered are in the catering and hotel industry, in bars and clubs, modeling contracts, or au pair work. Traffickers sometimes use offers of marriage, threats, intimidation and kidnapping as means of obtaining victims. In the majority of cases, the women end up in prostitution. Also some (migrating) prostitutes become victims of human trafficking. Some women know they will be working as prostitutes, but they have an inaccurate view of the circumstances and the conditions of the work in their country of destination.[30][31]

Trafficking victims are also exposed to different psychological problems. They suffer social alienation in the host and home countries. Stigmatization, social exclusion, and intolerance make reintegration into local communities difficult. The governments offer little assistance and social services to trafficked victims upon their return. As the victims are also pushed into drug trafficking, many of them face criminal sanctions.

The Yogyakarta Principles, document on international human rights law on sexual orientation and gender identity also affirm that "States shall (c) establish legal, educational and social measures, service and programs to address factors that increase vulnerability to trafficking, sale and all forms of exploitation, including but not limited to sexual exploitation, on the grounds of actual or perceived sexual orientation or gender identity, including such factors as social exclusion, discrimination, rejection by families or cultural communities, lack of financial independence, homelessness, discriminatory social attitudes leading to low self-esteem, and lack of protection from discrimination in access to housing accommdation, employment and social services.[32]


Human Trafficking in the United States

Human trafficking is the illegal trade of human beings for the purposes of commercial sexual exploitation or forced labor; a modern-day form of slavery; and the fastest growing criminal industry in the world and is tied with the illegal arms industry as the second largest, after the drug-trade.

According to a 2007 Washington Post expose entitled "Human Trafficking Evokes Outrage, Little Evidence", human trafficking into the United States is essentially nonexistent.[2] In response to this article in the Washington Post, Donna M. Hughes of the National Review countered the claims raised by the Washington Post writer questioning the seriousness of human trafficking in the United States. She notes: "The Washington Post article says that only 1,362 foreign victims of human trafficking have been identified since 2000. The Post reporter slants the article to imply that relatively few victims have been found because few victims exist. This number represents the number of foreigners confirmed as victims of trafficking. There are many more known victims than those who have applied for and been granted certification. First of all, certification requires that the victim be willing to cooperate with a police investigation. Following a police raid, some victims just want to go home, some victims don’t want to cooperate with police and are deported, and some victims are afraid to testify against vicious traffickers. The application for certification requires support from law enforcement. If the victim is not seen as useful for a case, or if the police don’t want to pursue a case, they have no support to stay in the U.S. and will not be counted as victims of trafficking. One cannot discount the fear that victims live under. They usually have been physically and sexually assaulted, and the emotion-battering involved in psychological control is constant. A frequent and effective hold that traffickers have over victims is to threaten to harm family members, sometimes even the children of the victims. Even after a woman or girl is safe herself, her family is still at risk. That prevents many victims from admitting that they are victims and cooperating with police. ... Millions of dollars were spent on a hotline that almost no one called, because there was a false assumption that victims would just pick up the phone and call for help. The highly paid contractors didn’t understand that victims are physically and psychologically controlled. When a victim does get access to a phone, she usually calls home, not the police or a hotline.[3]

The United States’ Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000 defines "severe forms of trafficking in persons" as:

1.Sex trafficking in which a commercial sex act is induced by force, fraud, or coercion, or in which the person induced to perform such act has not attained 18 years of age, OR

2.The recruitment, harboring, transportation, provision, or obtaining of a person for labor or services, through the use of force, fraud, or coercion for the purpose of subjection to involuntary servitude, peonage, debt bondage, or slavery.[4]

Human trafficking in the United States has become a serious social problem in many parts of the country, and both federal and state authorities have taken measures to prevent it. On a global scale, the victims of human trafficking are used in a variety of situations, including forced labor (bonded labor or debt bondage), child labor (for purposes which include labor, military, adoptions, and commercialized sexual exploitation of children), sexual slavery, commercialized sexual exploitation, and other forms of involuntary servitude.

The findings of the U.S. Department of Justice's 2011 report, “Characteristics of Suspected Human Trafficking Incidents, 2008-2010,” include: 1) From 2008 to 2010, Federal anti-trafficking task forces opened 2,515 suspected cases of human trafficking; 2) 82% of suspected incidents were classified as sex trafficking; nearly half of these involved victims under the age of 18; 3) Approximately 10% of the incidents were classified as labor trafficking; 4) 83% of victims in confirmed sex-trafficking incidents were identified as U.S. citizens, while most confirmed labor-trafficking victims were identified as undocumented immigrants (67%) or legal immigrants (28%); 5) Only 25% of the confirmed victims of human trafficking received a “T-visa,” part of a federal program designed to aid victims of trafficking. While the findings represent the government’s best estimate, the authors caution that “the data described in this report reflect the information that was available to, and entered by, these state and local law enforcement agencies,” and such data systems are still being established and are likely not recording all incidents.[5]  

10,000 forced laborers 

Asian apartment massage parlors exist all over the USA, especially in Silicon Valley, California. Many of the prostitutes are females from North Korea, either brought illegally across the borders of Mexico and Canada, or with the use of fake student visas. A Sunnyvale, California police officer was accused of human trafficking and taking bribes from the local highly organized crime syndicate.[8] They are forced to work out of apartment complexes for many hours a day. They are forced to use narcotics and amphetamines and to have sex with many men.[9] Also, they often have to undergo plastic surgery and forced abortions.[10]

Victims of human trafficking in the United States are largely from Mexico and East Asia, with some coming from South Asia, Africa, Central America, and Europe as well, though US citizens have also been victims of human trafficking [11] . In the 2003 report released by the National Human Rights Center, the general pattern of origin for victims of forced labor in the United States suggested that China is estimated to be the largest country of origin of victims, followed by Mexico and Vietnam. When looking at the origins of forced laborers up to that year, however, victims who were US citizens had a disproportionately high number of reported cases, second to only Mexico, compared to victims from other counties, which may be attributed to an increased likelihood of media coverage and ease of detection. Patterns of where human trafficking occurred was consistently in areas with high-population areas that serve as hubs for international travel and also have large immigrant populations.In the study, higher numbers of reported cases were found in California, New York, Texas, and Florida. This is consistent with the US Department of Justice report that the largest concentrations of survivors of human trafficking were located in California, Oklahoma, New York, and Texas.[12]

Forced Prostitution and Domestic Servitude

Research conducted by University of California at Berkeley on behalf of the anti-trafficking organization Free the Slaves found that about 46% of people in slavery in the United States are forced into prostitution. The U.S. Department of Justice prosecuted 360 defendants for Human Trafficking from 2001 to 2007 and gained 238 convictions.[13]

From January 2007 through September 2008, there were 1,229 alleged cases of human trafficking nationally. 1,018 of them, nearly 83 percent, were sex trafficking cases. Sex trafficking has a close relationship with migrant smuggling operations headed by Mexican, Eastern European, and Asian crime organizations. Research on forced prostitution in the US is difficult because it there is limited data on the connection between forced prostitution of migrants and the sex market that already exists in the US.[14] Domestic servitude claims 27% of people in slavery in the US, agriculture 10%, and other occupations 17%.[15][16]

Trafficking within the US occurs as well. It is estimated that between 240,000 and 325,000 children are at risk for sexual exploitation each year in the US. Children who are considered runaways are at particular risk of prostitution or trafficked into the sex industry. Of the 1,682,900 children who were considered runaways for a period of time in 1999, 71% were considered at risk for prostitution. In 2003, 1,400 minors were arrested for prostitution, 14% of whom were younger than 14 years old. A study conducted by the International Labor Union indicated that boys are at a higher risk of being trafficked into agricultural work, the drug trade, and petty crime. Girls were at a higher risk of being forced into the sex industry and domestic work. In 2004, the Department of Labor found 1,087 minors employed in situations that violated Hazardous Occupation Standards. The same year, 5,480 children were employed violating child labor laws. Due to the secretive nature of trafficking, it is difficult to piece together an accurate picture of how widespread the problem is.[17]

14,000 People Trafficked Each Year

An estimated 14,000 people are trafficked into the United States each year, although again because trafficking is illegal, accurate statistics are difficult.[18] The United States Justice Department estimates that the number may be as high 17,500 people a year, but it is unclear how they calculated this estimate. According to the Massachusetts based Trafficking Victims Outreach and Services Network (project of the nonprofit MataHari: Eye of the Day) in Massachusetts alone, there were 55 documented cases of human trafficking in 2005 and the first half of 2006 in Massachusetts.[19][not in citation given] In the 2009 Trafficking in Persons Report, Secretary Hillary Clinton addressed that the global financial crisis has decreased the global demand for labor and increased the number of people willing to take risks for economic opportunities will likely increase the prevalence of cases of forced labor and prostitution.[20]

Examples

Evelyn Chumbow, 21, was lured from Cameroon by a rich Maryland couple promising a bright future and a top rate education, as she was a top ranked student in her native country. Instead she was given no education and forced into servitude for the wealthy couple.[21]

R&A Harvesting was a Florida citrus farm that coerced workers into forced labor with little or no pay. In 2002 four men were charged with organizing forced labor and sentenced to 15 years in jail. They were ordered to turn over their $3 million dollar estate and all their property.[22]

Cristina Andres pleaded guilty to two counts of commercial sex trafficking. She recruited two girls 13 and 17 at the time and told them she would get them a job in Nashville at a restaurant. Physical force and threats against the victims and their families were used to keep the girls under the control of those in charge.[23] Other operations can be larger. 31 people were taken into custody following allegations of illegal smuggling of women through Canada and Mexico into the U.S. The Korean women involved were forced to pay off their smuggling debts through prostitution and were shipped around seven different states, including Maryland and Washington, D.C. In total, 70 women were freed from the suspected trafficking ring.[24]

Anti-Trafficking Laws and Policies

Laws Against Trafficking

Laws against trafficking in the United States exist at the federal and state levels. Over half of the states now criminalize human trafficking though the penalties are not as tough as the federal laws. Related federal and state efforts focus on regulating the tourism industry to prevent the facilitation of sex tourism and regulate international marriage brokers to ensure criminal background checks and information on how to get help are given to the potential bride.

Policy of the Federal Government

The United States federal government has taken a firm stance against human trafficking both within its borders and beyond. Domestically, human trafficking is a federal crime under Title 18 of the United States Code. Section 1584 makes it a crime to force a person to work against his will, whether the compulsion is effected by use of force, threat of force, threat of legal coercion or by "a climate of fear" (an environment wherein individuals believe they may be harmed by leaving or refusing to work); Section 1581 similarly makes it illegal to force a person to work through "debt servitude." Human trafficking as it relates to involuntary servitude and slavery is prohibited by the 13th Amendment. Federal laws on human trafficking are enforced by Immigration and Customs Enforcement as well as the United States Department of Justice Civil Rights Division, Criminal Section.

Victims of Trafficking and Violence Protection Act

The Victims of Trafficking and Violence Protection Act of 2000 allowed for greater statutory maximum sentences for traffickers, provided resources for protection of and assistance for victims of trafficking and created avenues for interagency cooperation. It also allows many trafficking victims to remain in the United States and apply for permanent residency under a T-1 Visa.^[25] While previously, trafficked individuals who were often in the country illegally were treated as criminals. According to the section on Severe Forms of Trafficking in Persons, the definition extends to include any "commercial sex act... in which the person induced to perform such act has not attained 18 years of age." ^[26] This means that any minor engaged in prostitution is a victim of human trafficking, regardless of citizenship or whether or not movement has taken place.^[27] The law defines trafficking as “the prohibition against any individual who provides or obtains labor or services for peonage, slavery, involuntary servitude, or forced labor.” The law distinguishes trafficking, where victims are coerced into entering the United States, from smuggling, where migrants enter the country without authorization.^[28] The act also attempted to encourage efforts to prevent human trafficking internationally, by creating annual country reports on trafficking and tying financial non-humanitarian assistance to foreign countries to real efforts in addressing human trafficking. The benefits of the law, however, are dependent on the survivor’s cooperation with prosecuting the perpetrators. This can be complicated if the victim fears retribution from their trafficker or has a fear of authority that remains from their country of origin.^[29]

The original TVPA of 2000 has been reauthorized three times, the most recent being the William Wilberforce Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act of 2008. These reauthorizations have clarified definitions of trafficking and forced labor in order to aid in both prosecution of traffickers and in aiding the victims of trafficking. The reauthorized versions have also required the federal government terminate all contracts with overseas contractors involved in human trafficking or forced labor. Extraterritoriality jurisdiction was also extended to cover all U.S. nationals and permanent residents who are living overseas.^[30]

In ”October 2000, the Trafficing Victims Protection Act of 2000 (TVPA) (Public Law 106-386) was enacted. Prior to that, no comprehensive Federal law existed to protect victims of trafficing or to prosecute their trafficers”. [9] In 2003, the Bush Administration authorized more than $200 million to combat human trafficking through the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act of 2003 (TVPRA). TVPRA renews the U.S. government's commitment to identify and assist victims exploited through labor and sex trafficking in the United States. The U.S. has also set up programs to help those who have been victims. In the U.S. the government can help victims, once identified, by stabilizing their immigrant status. The Health and Human Services (HHS) enables victims who are non-U.S. citizens to receive federally funded benefits and services to the same extent as a refugee; as well U.S. citizens who are victims are eligible for many benefits.

Pressure from Human Rights Groups

International NGOs such as Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International have called on the United States to improve its measures aimed at reducing trafficking.They recommend that the United States more fully implement the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, especially Women and Children and for immigration officers to improve their awareness of trafficking and support the victims of trafficking.^[31][32]

Policy of State Governments

Several state governments have taken action to address human trafficking in t heir borders, either through legislation or prevention activities. For example, Florida state law prohibits forced labor, sex trafficking, and domestic servitude, and provides for mandatory law enforcement trainings and victim services. A 2006 Connecticut law prohibits coerced work and makes trafficking a violation of the Connecticut RICO Act. Washington State was the first to pass a law criminalizing human trafficking in 2003.^[33] In 2011, California enacted a new law called the “Transparency in Supply Chains Act.”^[34] The law requires certain retailers to disclose their efforts to eradicate slavery and human trafficking from their supply chains. The law goes into effect January 1, 2012 and it applies to any company that is in the “retail trade” that has annual worldwide gross receipts in excess of $100 million and annual California sales exceeding $500,000.^[35]

Trafficking as a Moral Panic

A number of authorities and critics of contemporary anti-prostitution activism have pointed out that the hysteria over human trafficking and its conflation with voluntary adult prostitution has all the hallmarks of a moral panic, and indeed closely resembles the white slavery hysteria at the beginning of the 20th century. As is typical in such panics, broad claims are made with insufficient factual support, "horror stories" of victims take the place of research, and legislators rush to enact dangerously broad and vague legislation which infringes on civil rights. Anthropologist Laura Agustín has written at great length about the way voluntary migration is purposefully conflated with involuntary trafficking, and how anti-trafficking laws tend to assume any foreign or underage prostitute is a "trafficking victim" even if she denies it. In a similar vein, ethnographers studying US born adolescents involved in street-based sex markets have argued that the relationships that these adolescents have with the adults in their lives who help facilitate their market activity typically have a far greater mutuality and equality than is understood by policy-makers, social service providers, and not-for-profit advocates who embrace the human trafficking model..^[36] Such critiques of this narrative have generally been dismissed by activists as evidence of Stockholm Syndrome, thus denying the prostitute agency and treating her as mentally ill.^{[37][38][39][40][41][42][43]}

Intergovernmental organizations and public international law

United Nations

 Main article: United Nations Global Initiative to Fight Human Trafficking

In 2000 the United Nations adopted the Convention against Transnational Organized Crime, also called the Palermo Convention, and two Palermo protocols there to:

Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, especially Women and Children; and

Protocol against the Smuggling of Migrants by Land, Sea and Air.

All of these instruments contain elements of the current international law on trafficking in humans.

The UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) has assisted many non-governmental organizations in their fight against human trafficking. The 2006 armed conflict in Lebanon, which saw 300,000 domestic workers from Sri Lanka, Ethiopia and the Philippines jobless and targets of traffickers, led to an emergency information campaign with NGO Caritas Migrant to raise human-trafficking awareness. Additionally, an April 2006 report, Trafficking in Persons: Global Patterns, helped to identify 127 countries of origin, 98 transit countries and 137 destination countries for human trafficking. To date, it is the second most frequently downloaded UNODC report. Continuing into 2007, UNODC supported initiatives like the Community Vigilance project along the border between India and Nepal, as well as provided subsidy for NGO trafficking prevention campaigns in Bosnia, Croatia, and Herzegovina.[35] Public service announcements have also proved useful for organizations combating human trafficking. In addition to many other endeavors, UNODC works to broadcast these announcements on local television and radio stations across the world. By providing regular access to information regarding human-trafficking, individuals are educated how to protect themselves and their families from being exploited.

The United Nations Global Initiative to Fight Human Trafficking (UN.GIFT) was conceived to promote the global fight on human trafficking, on the basis of international agreements reached at the UN. UN.GIFT was launched in March 2007 by UNODC with a grant made on behalf of the United Arab Emirates. It is managed in cooperation with the International Labour Organization (ILO); the International Organization for Migration (IOM); the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF); the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR); and the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE).

Within UN.GIFT, UNODC launched a research exercise to gather primary data on national responses to trafficking in persons worldwide. This exercise resulted in the publication of the Global Report on Trafficking in Persons in February 2009. The report gathers official information for 155 countries and territories in the areas of legal and institutional framework, criminal justice response and victim assistance services.[35] UN.GIFT works with all stakeholders — governments, business, academia, civil society and the media — to support each other's work, create new partnerships, and develop effective tools to fight human trafficking.

The Global Initiative is based on a simple principle: human trafficking is a crime of such magnitude and atrocity that it cannot be dealt with successfully by any government alone. This global problem requires a global, multi-stakeholder strategy that builds on national efforts throughout the world.

To pave the way for this strategy, stakeholders must coordinate efforts already underway, increase knowledge and awareness, provide technical assistance, promote effective rights-based responses, build capacity of state and non-state stakeholders, foster partnerships for joint action, and above all, ensure that everybody takes responsibility for this fight.

By encouraging and facilitating cooperation and coordination, UN.GIFT aims to create synergies among the anti-trafficking activities of UN agencies, international organizations and other stakeholders to develop the most efficient and cost-effective tools and good practices.

UN.GIFT aims to mobilize state and non-state actors to eradicate human trafficking by reducing both the vulnerability of potential victims and the demand for exploitation in all its forms, ensuring adequate protection and support to those who fall victim, and supporting the efficient prosecution of the criminals involved, while respecting the fundamental human rights of all persons.

In carrying out its mission, UN.GIFT will increase the knowledge and awareness on human trafficking, promote effective rights-based responses, build capacity of state and non-state actors, and foster partnerships for joint action against human trafficking.

For more information view the UN.GIFT Progress Report 2009.[36][37]

Further UNODC efforts to motivate action launched the Blue Heart Campaign Against Human Trafficking on March 6, 2009,[38] which Mexico launched its own national version of in April 2010.[39][40] The campaign encourages people to show solidarity with human trafficking victims by wearing the blue heart, similar to how wearing the red ribbon promotes transnational HIV/AIDS awareness.[41] On November 4, 2010, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon launched the United Nations Voluntary Trust Fund for Victims of Trafficking in Persons to provide humanitarian, legal and financial aid to victims of human trafficking with the aim of increasing the number of those rescued and supported, and broadening the extent of assistance they receive.[42]

Council of Europe

In Warsaw on 16 May 2005, the Council of Europe Convention on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings[43] was opened for accession and has since been signed by 43 member states of the Council of Europe. The Convention established a Group of Experts on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings (GRETA) which monitors the implementation of the Convention through country reports.

Complementary protection is ensured through the Council of Europe Convention on the Protection of Children against Sexual Exploitation and Sexual Abuse (Lanzarote, 25 October 2007).

In addition, the European Court of Human Rights of the Council of Europe in Strasbourg has passed judgments concerning trafficking in human beings which violated obligations under the European Convention on Human Rights: Siliadin v. France, judgment of 26 July 2005, and Rantsev v. Cyprus and Russia, judgment of 7 January 2010.
 

Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe

Main article: Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe

In 2003 the OSCE established an anti-trafficking mechanism aimed at raising public awareness of the problem and building the political will within participating States to tackle it effectively.

The OSCE actions against human trafficking are coordinated by the Office of the Special Representative for Combating the Traffic of Human Beings.[44] Since 2006 this office has been headed by Eva Biaudet,[45] a former Member of Parliament and Minister of Health and Social Services in her native Finland.

Other Government Actions

Actions taken to combat human trafficking vary from government to government.[46] Some have introduced legislation specifically aimed at making human trafficking illegal. Governments can also develop systems of co-operation between different nations' law enforcement agencies and with non-government organizations (NGOs). Many countries have come under criticism for inaction, or ineffective action. Criticisms include the failure of governments to properly identify and protect trafficking victims, immigration policies which potentially re-victimize trafficking victims, or insufficient action in helping prevent vulnerable people from becoming trafficking victims.

A particular criticism has been the reluctance of some countries to tackle trafficking for purposes other than sex.

Another action governments can take is raising awareness of this issue. This can take three forms. First, in raising awareness amongst potential victims, particularly in countries where human traffickers are active. Second, raising awareness amongst police, social welfare workers and immigration officers to equip them to deal appropriately with the problem. And finally, in countries where prostitution is legal or semi-legal, raising awareness amongst the clients of prostitution to watch for signs of human trafficking victims.

Raising awareness can take on different forms. One method is through the use of awareness films[47] or through posters.[48]

During the time racism was a major issue in the U.S., Congress feared White slavery. The result of this fear was the White Slave Traffic Act of 1910, which criminalized interracial marriage and banned single women from crossing state borders for morally wrong acts. In 1914, of the women arrested for crossing state borders under this act, 70% were charged with voluntary prostitution. Once the idea of a sex slave shifted from a White woman to an enslaved woman from countries in poverty, the U.S. began passing immigration acts to curtail aliens from entering the country among other reasons. Several acts such as the Temporary Quota Act of 1921 and Immigration Act of 1924 were passed to prevent emigrants from Europe and Asia from entering the United States. Following the banning of immigrants during the 1920s, human trafficking was not seen as a major issue until the 1990s. However, during 1949, the first international statute that dealt with sex slavery was the 1949 UN Convention for the Suppression of the Traffic in Persons and Exploitation of Prostitution of Others. This convention followed the abolitionist idea of sex trafficking as incompatible with the dignity and worth of the human person. Serving as a model for future legislation, the 1949 UN Convention was not ratified by every country.

Before America’s recent efforts to take on a major role in the anti-trafficking movement, the U.N. was the main regulator in solving the global issue of human trafficking. Under the Bush Administration, fighting sex slavery worldwide and domestically became a priority with an average of $100 million spent per year, which substantially outnumbers the amount spent by other countries. Before President Bush took office, Congress passed the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000 (TVPA). The TVPA strengthened services to victims of violence, law enforcements ability to reduce violence against women and children, and education against human trafficking. Also specified in the TVPA was a mandate to collect funds for the treatment of sex trafficking victims that provided shelter, food, education, and financial grants. Internationally, the TVPA set standards that governments of other countries must follow in order to receive aid from the U.S. to fight human trafficking. Once George W. Bush took office in 2000, restricting sex trafficking became one of his primary humanitarian efforts. Attorney General under President Bush, John Ashcroft, heavily enforced the TVPA. Today the State Department publishes the annual Trafficking in Persons Report, which examines the progress that the U.S. and other countries have made in destroying human trafficking businesses, arresting the kingpins, and rescuing the victims.

The Anti-trafficking Policy Index

The '3P Anti-trafficking Policy Index' measures the effectiveness of government policies to fight human trafficking based on an evaluation of policy requirements prescribed by the United Nations Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, especially Women and Children (2000).

The policy level is evaluated using a five-point scale, where a score of five indicates the best policy practice, while score 1 is the worst. This scale is used to analyze the main three anti-trafficking policy areas: (i) prosecuting (criminalizing) traffickers, (ii) protecting victims, and (iii) preventing the crime of human trafficking. Each sub-index of prosecution, protection and prevention is aggregated to the overall index with an unweighted sum, with the overall index ranging from a score of 3 (worst) to 15 (best). It is available for up to 177 countries over the 2000-2009 period (on an annual basis).

The outcome of the Index shows that anti-trafficking policy has overall improved over the 2000-2009 period. Improvement is most prevalent in the prosecution and prevention areas worldwide. An exception is protection policy, which shows a modest deterioration in recent years.

Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, especially Women and Children; and

Protocol against the Smuggling of Migrants by Land, Sea and Air.

ILO Forced Labour Convention, 1930 (No. 29)

ILO Abolition of Forced Labour Convention, 1957 (No. 105)

ILO Minimum Age Convention, 1973 (No. 138)

ILO Worst Forms of Child Labour Convention, 1999 (No. 182)