violence against children WORLD REPORT ON - CRIN

“My job was to make 2-3,000 beedis (cigarettes) in 24 hours. I didn’t know how to make beedisso they used to beat me up and I was in a lot of pain because of that. I realized they were trying to traffic mesomewhere else so I tried to run away, but they noticed and I was tortured.”Boy, 13, trafficked from Bangladesh to India, South Asia, 2001 IV7car parks and public places is a characteristicof child work in Romania and is ‘exported’through the trafficking of children domesticallyand into other parts of Europe. 102Trafficking may involve abduction, but inmany cases it begins with deception or enticement.For example, many recruiters and traffickersdeal directly with the parents, who maybelieve they are being offered an opportunity toimprove the child’s chances in life, gain a wellpaidjob, and that the child can remit moneyhome to help the family. Once the child is awayfrom the home and the community, however,he or she is vulnerable to many forms of violence.These include physical and sexual abuseexperienced by a significant proportion of victimsduring the course of their voyage, beingheld captive while waiting for ‘job’ placement,and the kind of situations into which they aretrafficked. Such situations range from low-paiddomestic work to prostitution, or labour onagricultural plantations in conditions of servitudeor debt bondage (see the chapter on violenceagainst children in places of work). 103For example, in India, reports of professionaltraffickers recruiting girls from poor villagecommunities in coastal areas suggest that,while the girls’ expectation is of domesticemployment and city life, the reality is entryinto the sex trade in various cities. Traffickerssimilarly operate in Nepal for outlets in India,and in Myanmar for Thailand. Thousandsof children from Bangladesh have been traffickedinto sexual exploitation in Pakistan andthe Middle East, as have teenage girls fromWest Africa into Italy. The trade from EasternEurope into Western European cities is similarlywell documented. 104Victims often face stigma if they manage toescape: because they are viewed as immoral or‘unclean’, girls are often rejected by their familyand community, and may return to a life ofprostitution. A trafficked child is generallyundocumented and often unable to speak thelanguage of the host country, so will have difficultyin finding or reaching home. In manycases, children go home to unchanged socialcircumstances, and so risk being re-trafficked.Where trafficked children are rescued orescape, they may be detained by the police orimmigration authorities, and risk deportationto their country of origin. 105 This has beenreported from countries in every region andtypically occurs without referral either to thecourts or other authorities. Repatriation takesplace without any attention paid to the child’sbest interests or to their right to be consultedwhen making decisions affecting their future.Child victims of trafficking are often treatedas if they were criminals because of their supposedor actual involvement in offences committedas a result of being trafficked, or ofcoercion by their captors, such as theft, prostitution,or illegal immigration.Factors contributingto violenceIndividual and family factorsMany key factors contributing to violenceagainst children are found or begin in the301Violence against children in the community