Child traficking and action to eliminate it

This is an excerpt from the International Labour Office [PDF] -

In the Middle East and North Africa, there are a number of different patterns of trafficking, depending to a large extent on the proximity of other regional centres, but into the more affluent countries of this large region, trafficking is mostly characterized by discrimination on ethnic or gender grounds and high demand for child labour and commercial sex. Girls are trafficked to work in domestic service, and boys are trafficked into the region to work as ‘camel kids’.

More from the same article:

According to the US Department of State, some, 150,000 South Asians are trafficked every year. Both boys and girls are trafficked internally and across borders, principally into other countries in the region, the Middle East and South-East Asia. This parallels a general increase in illegal and undocumented migration within the region. Within the region, also, the prevalence of commercial sex outlets at many levels (low-class brothels, high-class escort services, etc.) coupled with increasing rates of HIV/AIDS and STD infection,provides a ready market for those who exploit children for commercial sex. It has been reported that, of the approximately 200,000 sex workers trafficked from Nepal to India, 40,000 are below 16 years of age.

Recent ILO-IPEC Rapid Assessment research suggests a speculative figure of 12,000 children per year.

In the Middle East and North Africa, women and girls come from a number of regions, pulled by the demand for commercial sex and the wide economic disparities that make the Gulf States, in particular, a potentially profitable market for traffickers and exploiters.

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