Trafficking of People: Child Soldiers

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

ESSAY 1
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

ESSAY 2
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

ESSAY 3
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).