States Parties shall take all appropriate national, bilateral and multilateral measures to prevent the abduction of, the sale of or traffic in children for any purpose or in any form. (Art. 35, UNCRC)

(a) Sale of children means any act or transaction whereby a child is transferred by any person or group of persons to another for remuneration or any other consideration; (b) Child prostitution means the use of a child in sexual activities for remuneration or any other form of consideration; (c) Child pornography means any representation, by whatever means, of a child engaged in real or simulated explicit sexual activities or any representation of the sexual parts of a child for primarily sexual purposes […] States Parties shall prohibit the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography as provided for by the present Protocol. (art. 2 and 1 of the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography)

Child trafficking involves treating children as an object for the purpose of exploitation. Not only is it a violation of their human rights and their well-being but it also denies them the opportunity to reach their full potential. It is estimated that over 1.2 million children are being trafficked every year.

Children who have been exploited need protection. Protecting trafficked children involves placing them in a safe and child-friendly environment, providing them with health care, psychosocial support and other social services as well as helping them reintegrate with their families and the community, if it is proven to be in their best interest.

DCI actively promotes and protects children’s rights at the international level. The International Secretariat addresses issues concerning trafficking and directly engages with the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Trafficking. The Secretariat also indirectly cares for children involved in trafficking, as many of which end up deprived of liberty. At the national level, DCI’s work on eliminating child trafficking includes:

• DCI-The Netherlands, especially through the ECPAT (End Child Prostitution And Trafficking) network, is very much involved in the issue of Child Trafficking, as The Netherlands is considered a prime destination for child trafficking and has also been identified as a transit point for children trafficked onwards. In The Netherlands DCI works on an international level to eliminate child prostitution, child pornography and the trafficking of children for sexual purposes, and strongly promotes awareness-raising and collaboration around the issue.

• DCI-Ghana is also active in eliminating child trafficking. In 2011, they organised, in collaboration with Social Research Associates (SRA), a conference which aimed at raising awareness about child trafficking for identifiable groups in Kumasi – a metropolis in Ghana’s Ashanti Region. DCI-Ghana also made an appeal to the media to highlight the problem of child trafficking in order to educate their peers and the community on the dangers of the practice. Ten communities of Ghana benefited from the Child Trafficking Projects implemented by the SRA and DCI-Ghana, and funded by the International Labour Organization (ILO).