Freedom Fund’s research follows on from a 2010 report with findings showing one third of girls working Kathmandu’s adult entertainment sector. The commercial sexual exploitation of children is reported in alarmingly high statistics where massage parlours, dance bars, cabin restaurants and guest houses and across the wider hospitality industry are used as fronts to allow the behaviour. Their recent 2018 research seeks to explore the root of the issue in the demand for child sexual exploitation. It concludes that while there is common understanding amongst those involved in the industry that sex with children is unacceptable, there are cultural factors and historical narratives that excuses their behaviour. This report highlights the issues with this status quo and challenges such moral norms to guide policy and regulatory action against this demand.
EUROPOL REPORT: Criminal networks involved in the trafficking and exploitation of underage victims in the EU 2018
Europol’s latest report follows as human trafficking is a crime priority in the 2018 – 2021 EU Policy Cycle. Notably, Europol reports that approximately 28 percent of global trafficking victims are children, who are preyed on as they are one of the most vulnerable and weak social sectors. In the EU, traffickers target minors primarily for sexual exploitation, also labour exploitation and forced criminality. A prominent issue is the lack of reporting around male minors trafficked or exploited within the EU.
The aim is to disrupt organised crime groups (OCGs) involved in intra-EU human trafficking and human trafficking from the most prevalent external source countries for the purposes of labour exploitation and sexual exploitation, including those groups using legal business structures to facilitate or disguise their criminal activities.
Local Authority Support for Unaccompanied Asylum-seeking Children
The Local Authority Support for Unaccompanied Asylum-seeking Children is a fact sheet by Coram Children’s Legal Centre that details information for local authorities who are supporting unaccompanied asylum-seeking children. It provides key information from the Children Act 1989, National Transfer Scheme, Entitlements, Financial support, Advocacy, Legal representation and Challenging inadequate support.
Local authority support for unaccompanied asylum-seeking children (UASC) by Coram, read here.
New ILO Worst Forms of Child Labour Convention 1999
The New ILO Worst Forms of Child Labour Convention 1999 was developed by a coalition of over 50 NGO’s that make up the NGO Group for the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) who aim to “facilitate the promotion, implementation and monitoring of the Convention on the Rights of the Child”. Their Sub-Group focussing on Child Labour is responsible for this document which provides guidance to children’s rights groups. They demonstrate case studies from Togo and Guatemala to show the fundamental role civil society groups can have in eradicating the worst forms of child labour.
For the full New ILO Worst Forms of Child Labour Convention 1999, read here.
Home Truths Wellbeing and Vulnerabilities of Child Domestic Workers
The report Home Truths Wellbeing and Vulnerabilities of Child Domestic Workers provides evidence from a case studies executed in Peru, Costa Rica, Togo, Tanzania, India and Philippines over 2009 interviewing approximately 3,000 children, mostly between the ages of 10 – 17. The study found that half of these children were paid or unpaid domestic workers, and the data concludes that “many of these children are seriously harmed on a psychosocial level and that policy and programme level interventions are urgently needed”.
Victim, Not Criminal – Trafficked Children and the Non-Punishment Principle in the UK
UNICEF’s report Victim, Not Criminal analyses the current legal framework concerning non-punishment of child victims of human trafficking involved in forced criminality. The report critiques the implementation of the Section 45 slavery defence and provides recommendations for change. Key recommendations include:
- The reasonable person test relating to the statutory defence in Section 45 of the Modern Slavery Act should no longer apply to children
- Mechanisms are put in place by the prosecuting agencies and government to properly monitor the implementation of the non-punishment principle across the UK
- Further training and awareness-raising is made available for police, prosecutors, judges, legal representatives and relevant practitioners on the protections from prosecution available for trafficked children.
Non-Punishment of Victims of Human Trafficking
It is common that victims of human trafficking will be exploited by their traffickers through forced criminality. The Council Of Europe Convention on Action Against Trafficking in Human Beings and directive states that “Each Party shall, in accordance with the basic principles of its legal system, provide for the possibility of not imposing penalties on victims for their involvement in unlawful activities, to the extent that they have been compelled to do so.”
Article 26, Council of Europe Convention on Action Against Trafficking in Human Beings. The UK’s Modern Slavery Legislation advanced the non-punishment framework by implementing a statutory slavery defence. Throughout England and Wales over the last decade there have been a significant number of cases before the Court of Appeal involving victims of human trafficking and forced criminality who have had their convictions successfully overturned.
The current leading cases are as follows:
- R v O [2008] EWCA Crim 2835
- LM &Ors [2010] EWCA 2327 [LM]
- R v N and R v Le [2012] EWCA Crim 189 [N and Le]
- THN, T, HVN and L [2013] EWCA Crim 991 [THN]
- R v O [2011] EWCA Crim 2226 [O 2011]
- R v LZ [2012] EWCA Crim 1867 [LZ]
- R v VSJ et all [2017] EWCA Crim 36
Ending Child Trafficking in West Africa – Lessons from the Ivorian Cocoa Sector
The report Ending Child Trafficking in West Africa provides an in depth case study on the labour issues surrounding the cocoa sector in Cote d’Ivoire. It outlines interventions to address the worst forms of child labour on cocoa farms whilst exploring the underlying reasons behind the continued exploitation of young people in cocoa farms. It set out a succinct set of recommendations for international governments, the Ivorian government, industry people, civil society and donors and also coordinated action.
Forced Child Begging Toolkit for Researchers
This report provides a number of tools and methods for cases of child begging and exploitation. This toolkit is aimed at researchers and professionals working with minors exploited in this manner and through forced labour and forced criminality. These principles can be used more broadly to analyse vulnerable children and other compromised groups of young people.
For the full report by Emily Delap, Anti-Slavery International 2009, read here.