Trafficking of People: Child Soldiers

This essay sheds light on the issue of human trafficking with a focus on child soldiers. It discusses the difference between trafficking, slavery, and smuggling, the reasons for the vulnerability of victims, and the methods of recruitment, exploitation, and control. It also evaluates the role of international agencies in identification, rescue, and aftercare. The essay highlights the statistics on child trafficking across the globe and the military advantages obtained by traffickers by engaging children in war.

NU4069: Trafficking of People. Child Soldiers
Introduction
A society's moral principles are best evidenced by the living conditions of the
individuals, especially the children (Gordon, 2012). One of the gravest social issues
is that of human trafficking whose victims are children of the society. The complex
societal issue of human trafficking can be rightly regarded as the growing epidemic,
because of the psychological, physical and social trauma involved. Also, the
countless number of cases and victims go undetected. According to the United
Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (2019), human trafficking is referred to as the set
of activities where persons are recruited, transported, transferred, harboured or
received. This is done with the aid of various forms of coercion, abuse of power,
fraud, and deception, in order to receive or give the benefits in the form of money or
the consent to have the control over another person. The crime is such that it leads
to the destruction of the victim's rights of movement via force and also is practiced as
a means of commercial exploitation (Guidroz, 2017). The issue is prevalent in both
impoverished and wealthy nations and is thus a global issue (Clapham, 2015). One
of the forms of such an issue is the use of the children in armed combat. The crime
is as grave and advancing as the other international trafficking crimes on lines of
drugs and weapons. Trafficking of children for the purpose of use in the armed
forces is a serious human rights violation activity (Clapham, 2015). According to the
Child Soldiers World Index, children have been used in war in at least 18 countries
since 2016 (Child Soldiers International, 2018a). To add to the grievance of the
issue, it can be stated that Children have been used in hostilities, in at least 18
conflicts by both the state armed forces and non-state armed groups since 2016
(Child Soldiers International, 2018a). The work is aimed at shedding light on various
aspects of human trafficking, taking child soldiers as the main focus. Some of the

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elements that will be discussed in work are the difference between trafficking,
slavery and smuggling, the reasons for the vulnerability of victims, and the methods
of recruitment, exploitation and control that are employed in human trafficking. In
addition, the role of international agencies and legislative practices in the
identification, rescue and aftercare in varied areas will be evaluated.
Child Soldiers in human trafficking
The Article 3, paragraph (a) of the United Nations Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and
Punish Trafficking in Persons of the “Palermo Protocol” states that trafficking
involves three main components namely the act, the means and the purpose
(Heinrich, 2010). The act refers to what is done such as the practices like
transportation, recruitment, transfer, or the receipt of persons. The means refers to
how it is done and involves practices like coercion, fraud, treat or use of
force, deception, and abuse of vulnerability or power. The purpose involves why it is
done. The purpose involves either exploitation for the reasons for prostitution,
slavery or to be used in armed forces. Thus, in order to analyse whether a certain
circumstance falls in the purview of human trafficking or not, the above elements are
required to be tested. The Palermo Protocol further defines the term “child” as a
person who has not attained the age of eighteen years (Every Child Protected
Against Trafficking, 2019). It is significant to note that the majority of the countries
around the world have adopted the Palermo Protocol including the UK.
Consequently, the UK regards trafficking as a form of modern slavery.
It would be right to state that the abduction followed by the employment of children in
armed forces as soldiers is the worst form of exploitation (Shelley, 2012). Boys and

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girls as young as eight years old are forced to fight on the front lines, act as
messengers, and participate as spies and in suicide missions globally (Human
Rights Watch, 2019). In addition, majority of the girls are forced to be a part of sexual
slavery.
It must be noted that human trafficking is a hidden criminal activity and the majority
number of cases go undetected (Mlambo, Mpanza & Mlambo, 2019). The following
segment highlights some of the statistics on child trafficking across the globe.
According to the report of the National Crime Agency for the year 2017, there was a
record 35 percent increase from the year 2016, in the potential victims that were
submitted to the agency. In addition, it is significant to note that the victims belonged
to 116 different nationalities, among which the Albanian, UK and Vietnamese
nationals were the most reported victims. Among these, the minor exploitations
recorded an increase of 66 percent in the UK itself as compared to the data of 2016.
(See Appendix 1).
It must be noted that in the same report, as stated above an alarming number of
3000 recruitment cases in the DR Congo armed groups were reported in the year
2017. In addition, South Sudan conflict is believed to include approximately 19000
individuals under the age of eighteen. Further, the Boko Haram's attack around the
Lake Chad Basin region is believed to employ a large number of children in the form
of suicide bombers. Thus, the statistics, as shown above, are descriptive of the fact
that in spite of the achievements in the form of globalisation, humans live in a world
where the children are slaughtered, starved, raped, exposed to brutal conditions and
are devoid of basic human rights.
Distinguishing between trafficking, slavery and smuggling

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It is significant to note that human trafficking and smuggling are not interchangeable
terms (Guidroz, 2017). The key dissimilarity linking human trafficking and smuggling
is the freedom of choice. Trafficking is involuntary and involves forced exploitation of
a person for labor or services. In contrast to this, the smuggling is voluntary and in
smuggling the individual enter into contracts to be taken across the border and once
the border is crossed, the arrangement ends (Guidroz, 2017). In addition, while the
smuggling of migrants is a crime against a state, human trafficking is a crime against
a person (Sanghera, 2017). Human trafficking refers to an offence that is
exploitation-based. It must be noted that trafficking does not necessarily involve any
type of transportation or the movement across the borders (Sanghera, 2017). In
contrast to this, smuggling refers to the importation of individuals in a region with the
aid of deliberate evasion of the immigration laws, for the purpose of monetary or
other benefits. The difference therefore, rests in the realism that smuggling is
voluntary. Some of the factors that play a major role in the smuggling activity are the
high visa fees, restrictive entry requirements, lengthy bureaucratic procedures and
the lack of regular migration channels. Thus, it would be right to state the smuggling
crime as transportation-based, which involves movement.
In addition to the above, it is significant to note that as the traffickers uphold a
continuing authority over the victims, there can be situations where the smuggled
individual can become a victim of trafficking. The situation occurs chiefly when the
victims of smuggling are held and further forced to sex-based trade or labour trade
(Lee, 2013). Thus, while the profits of the human trafficking pertain to activities like
sexual exploitation, slavery practices and forced labour, the profits of smuggling are
resultant from the fee obtained by the smugglers in exchange for transportation or
facilitation of the irregular entrance in another region (Refugees and Migrants, 2019).

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In the present-times the forms of slavery are not straightforwardly defined in
international laws; however, the same are linked to activities like debt bondage,
forced labour, traditional slavery, exploitation of children, and inform of forced
marriages.
CRITICAL POINT 1 Methods of recruitment, exploitation and control
The following segment highlights methods that are being adopted by the armed
forces to recruit children and further exploit and control them. The following figure
provides an insight into the process of recruitment of child soldiers as described by
political scientist Sarah K. Lischer. Accordingly, there are two main methods to
recruit the child soldiers namely the militarisation path and the in‐security path that is
used by the armed groups in the refugee camps.
Thus, the two main ways by which the children become the child soldier are; first, the
abduction or conscription of the children through force or threats and secondly, the
said children are born into the said forces or groups. For instance, the Ugandan
Lord's Resistance Army (LRA), is stated to be a widely known name that used in the
abduction of children from their homes, and further forcing them to carry out loots,
raids and murders on civilians as well as fellow child soldiers (Dudenhoefer, 2016).
It is significant to note that child soldiers are further exploited and controlled by
various means. Female children happened were raped and their body parts
mutilated. Also, the children are forced to live in hazardous conditions, fed ill food,
exposed to the violent acts, exposed to severe trauma, to diseases, alcohol, are
included in the sale and distribution of narcotics and coerced into forced labour, debt
bondage or slavery.

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CRITICAL POINT 2 Role of international agencies in identification, rescue and
aftercare of child soldiers
Some of the relevant agencies that are religiously engaged in the identification,
rescue and aftercare of the child soldiers are listed as follows. United Nations
International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF), has been working for the past
seventy years by rescuing children associated with armed forces. Also, the agency is
also engaged in the assistance provided to such soldiers to return home. A recent
instance of the work of UNICEF can be stated to be Khartoum — REBEL groups
releasing some 68 children used as part of the civil war in South Sudan. This was
followed by the assessment and verification procedure as conducted by the UNICEF
(Bashir, 2019). It must be noted that since the year 1998, the agency has aided the
release and rehabilitation of about 100000 children engaged in the armed forces
(The Borgen Project, 2017).
Besides, the agency World Health Organisation is actively engaged in the healing
and aftercare of the children soldiers. The Department of Violence and Injury
Prevention and Disability at the World Health Organization (WHO) is actively
engaged in rehabilitation of child soldiers by encouraging life skills and economic
autonomy among these children (WHO, 2019).
Another chief international agency that is engaged in the healing of the child soldiers
is the Child Soldiers International. The agency is based in the UK and was
established in the year 1998 by a group of various human rights organisations such
as Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International and others. The agency has carried
out its projects in the past in the areas of Afghanistan, Thailand and Occupied
Palestinian Territories (Child Soldier’s International, 2019).

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CRITICAL POINT 3 Vulnerability of victims
There are several military advantages that are obtained by the traffickers by
engaging the children into war. A large section of child population, combined with the
technological advancements into pistols, assault rifles, and other light-weight
weapons have led to the trending employment of children into warfare (Gates &
Reich, 2010). Children are recruited into the armed forces either through the means
of voluntary recruitment combined with hidden forms of coercion or through the use
of force (Gates & Reich, 2010). Common places from where the children are seized
to be recruited in the armed forces are schools, orphanages and the streets. There
are several factors that contribute directly or indirectly towards the children to join the
armed forces. Some of the chief factors are elaborated as follows.
Change in the landscape of combat is one of the chief reasons that has led to the
increased employment of children in the armed forces (Mlambo, Mpanza and
Mlambo 2019). These days, global wars are not characterised by temporary
situations, rather the same continue for long periods of time to result in permanent
disorders and mass violence (Shelley, 2010). As a result of mass violence around
the globe, orphan and vulnerable children are captured and transformed into the
soldiers. These are further viewed as a cost-effective measure in terms of the war.
Mlambo, Mpanza and Mlambo (2019) elaborated in their work that child soldiers who
were part of the provinces of Tanganyika and South Kivu, quoted to join the warfare
because of lack of affordances to school fees and consequent involvement in the
military as a means to avoid roaming endlessly. In addition, the parents of these
soldiers had encouraged them to join the armed forces in the hopes of families
getting protection against any attacks.

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Another chief reason for the involvement of children in warfare is that of poverty and
other economic issues. Utas (2013) has argued in work on the lines of Sudan Civil
War that poverty and the deficiency of elementary needs of children are two most
significant factors leading them to join armed groups. For the armed forces involved
in such acts, children are considered a cheap source of labour who can be easily
lured for an exchange of small benefits. In addition, they are easy to control, lead
can be easily intimidated, and are much more physically vulnerable than the adult
population. For instance, Gupte (2018) noted in their work that the Myanmar National
Army in combination with Burmese ethnic groups were engaged in the recruitment of
the child soldiers. In their work, they further elaborated that the child soldiers had
stated to be involved to gain the necessities of life in terms of food, shelter and
protection. Some of these children had joined the Myanmar National Army by the
only reason for the provision of two meals a day.
Also, the primary reason for the said vulnerability is the social causes and
psychological state of mind of these child soldiers. These soldiers have been a
witness to their families are killed on the warfare, their homes burnt and the country's
population being dragged out of their region leading to being called them as
refugees. As a result, their state of mind can be stated to be that of in want of
revenge and the apparent absence of rationale behind the same. Masten & Narayan
(2012) noted one of the reason in their work for the engagement of child soldiers to
be the loyalty towards their community, leading to psychological reasons influencing
to join the armed forces. A number of these children are abducted and scared to
death, and other atrocities if they are unwilling to fight for their country and
community.

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One more reason for the vulnerability of such children to becoming the child soldiers
can be stated to increase in the use of small personal weapons. According to recent
verified figures of UN, children are seeing to be taking active roles in the warfare in
the modern times, in the form of manning checkpoints, carrying guns and actively
trained as paid soldiers (The Guardian, 2017). As per the report of International
Relations and Security Network, very few countries have contributed towards
combatting the child soldiers by taking the restrictive steps to limit the transfers of
weapons, exceptionally light weapons that further facilitate the use of children in
armed conflict. For instance, China exported a huge number of weapons to South
Sudan where the child soldier's recruitment is known to be entirely on high (Stohl
and Dick, 2015). Besides, the countries of Germany and France are stated to be
consistently providing the weapons and military assistance to Yemen, in spite of the
worldwide condemnation of child soldiers being employed there.
Thus, the above factors make a strong base for the recruitment, training,
transportation and the overall indulgence in the human trafficking of the child soldiers
to be used in the armed forces.
CRITICAL POINT 4 International agencies and laws relating to the use of child
soldiers
The human trafficking in the form of child soldiers leads to the intersection of four
areas of law that are interrelated to each other. These are human trafficking,
children’s rights, exploitative child labour and slavery. Thus, the victims of the
criminal issue of child soldier are protected by laws of war, international human rights
laws, international labour laws and international criminal laws. Some national and

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international agencies are working towards combatting the heinous crime. Some of
these agencies and the legislation are explained as follows.
The first and the foremost effort to address the rights of the children are stated to be
taken in the form of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child which
was established in the year 1989. The Optional Protocol to the Convention on the
Rights of the Child on the Involvement of Children in Armed Conflict (OPAC) further
amended the age of recruitment in the armed forces to the eighteen years of age. As
of the year 2018, 167 of 197 UN Member States have ratified OPAC. The central
African Republic is the latest country to endorse the same in September 2017.
Another major step that was taken by the United Nations in the year 2000 was in the
form of enactment of Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in
Persons, Especially Women and Children, supplementing the United Nations
Convention against Transnational Organized Crime.
Further, the International Labour Organization Convention No.182 also states the
compulsory or forced recruitment of children in the armed forces to be the worst form
of the child labour (ILO, 2019a). Consequently, the Rome Statute of the International
Criminal Court regards the children soldiers’ below the age of fifteen years, in
involvement in the armed forces as a war crime. The ILO’s International Programme
on the Elimination of Child Labour popularly known as the IPEC is engaged in
working towards fighting child trafficking. The programme calls for the combined
efforts with the international governments, NGOs, and the workers and employers’
organizations together with the aim of providing the protection to children at risk,
enforcing of the laws and prosecuting of traffickers, prevention of the crime of
trafficking and assisting the victims in need (ILO, 2019b). Following the ILO
convention, the ILO has developed a strategy to prevent recruitment as well as

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ensuring the sustainable reintegration of the child soldiers that were previously
involved in the warfare. The approach is focussed towards the provision of
sustainable employment opportunities to the children who have attained the legal
working age.
In terms of the UK context, the Modern Slavery Act, 2015 has been enacted to
formulate the provisions concerning slavery, forced or compulsory labour, servitude
and human trafficking (UK Government, 2015). The act further possesses the
regulations for the protection of victims. The act regards slavery and human
trafficking as a serious offence. Additionally, various provisions have been laid down
in terms of penalty, damages, sentences and others to address the issues of human
trafficking.
In terms of the USA context, the United States Victims of Trafficking Protection Act is
a significant step to address and eliminate the issue of human trafficking, referred to
as a form of slavery. They are enacted in 2000 and carries criminal sentencing of
thirty years as a deterrent in preventing human trafficking. The U.S. Prosecutorial
Remedies and Other Tools to End the Exploitation of Children Today (Protect) Act of
2003 is the act on similar lines to safeguard the interests and rights of children and
women from conditions like forced soldiering, forced labour and forced prostitution.
Conclusion
The discussions conducted in the previous parts aid us to conclude that human
trafficking is one of the most heinous and grave crime because of some elements
involved in the same such as slavery, sexual and other forms of exploitation and
other incidental atrocities and criminal activities. The central point of the work was
the child soldiers as a form of human trafficking. The work attempted to provide an

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insight into the grievance of the crime by assembling the statistics of human
trafficking and child soldiers over recent years. Further, the work distinguished
human trafficking with the smuggling, thereby identifying the chief difference to be
the consent.
Also, the work identified the various reasons that contribute towards the vulnerability
of the children leading them to engage in such a critical criminal and societal issue.
Some of the main reasons identified were the poverty and other economic problems,
the rise of the use of small weapons, social conditions of the victims and their
families; and others. Further, the work examines the method of recruitment and
exploitation involved by the armed forces employing the children. The last segment
of the work explored the role of the international agencies concerning the aftercare
and rescue of the victims and provided a glimpse of international legislative steps
being taken to combat the issue. It can, therefore, be concluded that human
trafficking in the form of child soldiers is one of the worst criminal forms and requires
a consistent set of efforts and regulations to address the same.

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References
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https://allafrica.com/stories/201902050367.html
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scale of child recruitment around the world. Retrieved from: https://www.child-
soldiers.org/news/child-soldiers-world-index-reveals-shocking-scale-of-child-
recruitment-around-the-world
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from: https://www.child-soldiers.org/international-laws-and-child-rights

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Clapham, A. (2015). Human rights: a very short introduction. UK: OUP Oxford.
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https://www.hrw.org/topic/childrens-rights/child-soldiers#

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https://refugeesmigrants.un.org/sites/default/files/ts5_issue_brief.pdf

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World Health Organisation. (2019). Healing child soldiers. Retrieved from:
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Appendix 1
The above table is descriptive of the data collected and reported by the National
Crime Agency for the year 2017 on the trafficking stats among the adults and the
minors. Source: National Crime Agency (2018).
Appendix 2.
The following picture gives a glimpse of vital statistics about the child soldiers.

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(Source: Child Soldiers International, 2018b).

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(Source: Mlambo, Mpanza & Mlambo, 2019).