3071. Child Trafficking in Africa: The Need for Child-Centered Approaches
- Author:
- Ifeyinwa Mbakogu
- Publication Date:
- 01-2012
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- Institute for the Study of International Development, McGill University
- Abstract:
- About 200,000 African children are susceptible to trafficking each year. Children are likely to be trafficked for prostitution, forced and domestic labour and early marriage. Trafficking is considered a violation of the rights of children in several African countries however, the poverty existing in households and the absence of social protection safety nets for vulnerable households, the high profits earned by traffickers for successfully delivering trafficked children to user destinations, and the low conviction rates for trafficking offences across African countries, have caused child trafficking to persist. Moreover, frameworks for addressing the issue of child trafficking are not grounded in the social, cultural, political and economic realities of the people vulnerable to the practice. It is expected that policies for addressing child trafficking should be based on the lived experiences of African children within the contexts of trafficking in their individual countries; rather than uniform frameworks for addressing trafficking or protecting children that are based on western notions of children, childhood, child protection and development. To ensure that policies adopted to combat child trafficking target and are suited to the needs of children and families vulnerable to the practice, this policy brief recommends that African countries adopt a child-centered approach that is built on encouraging the participation of affected children in decision making on trafficking, and reinforces the need for evidence-based research with trafficked children themselves that provides useful information for policy making.
- Topic:
- Children, Human Trafficking, and Child Labor
- Political Geography:
- Africa