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Child Trafficking Summary - A Brief Overview

Every year millions of people are trafficked illegally worldwide. They are taken forcefully, or more often, led to believe they are traveling legally or being smuggled illegally to a better paying job, a chance at an education, or to an opportunity to escape painful discrimination and persecution. However, traffickers, unlike smugglers, have other plans: exploitive and slave labor, prostitution, pornography, and/or combat. Few, if any, countries are immune to this practice.

Due to its clandestine nature and the fact that it is extremely difficult to monitor, human trafficking has become the third largest criminal industry in the world after illegal arms and drug trafficking. An estimated 120,000 women are trafficked into Western Europe each year and forced into illegal prostitution (Protection Project 2002). In the United States, the Department of State estimates an average of 50,000 women and children are trafficked into the country every year.[1]  NGOs working in this field claim this number to be much higher.

Trafficking is a form of modern slavery, and children account for approximately 50% of all its victims, with the median age of trafficking victims estimated to be 20 years of age.[2] These children and youth, whether traveling with parents or traveling alone, find themselves trapped in domestic servitude, exploited in agricultural labor, or confined to a bed for prostitution. Unfortunately, the trafficking industry is highly lucrative and it is growing.    The United Nations estimates that this industry now generates $7 to $10 billion annually for traffickers.[3]

Much is being done by the NGO world, and several governments are now taking action domestically and internationally, but much more needs to be done. It is critical the public is made aware of this growing industry; that trafficking laws are enforced and traffickers punished; and that those who have been trafficked are provided the care, counseling, and rehabilitation services they need.

The following maps have been provided to YAP International by the Protection Project at Johns Hopkins University for our use in better illustrating the worldwide practice of trafficking. If you are interested in learning more about trafficking, we strongly encourage you to visit: www.protectionproject.org.

[1] U.S. Department of State - 2002 Trafficking Report

© copyright - Youth Advocate Program International 2003-05
Last updated 12/14/2004