What Is Child Trafficking

According to the United Nations, human trafficking is: “The recruitment, transportation, transfer, harboring or receipt of persons, by means of the threat or use of force or other forms of coercion, of abduction, of fraud, of deception, of the abuse of power or of a position of vulnerability or of the giving or receiving of payments or benefits to achieve the consent of a person having control over another person, for the purpose of exploitation. Exploitation shall include, at a minimum, the exploitation of the prostitution of others or other forms of sexual exploitation, forced labor or services, slavery or practices similar to slavery, servitude or the removal of organs.”

Although children may legally engage in certain forms of work, forms of slavery or slave-like practices—including the sale of children, forced
or compulsory child labour, and debt bondage and serfdom of children—continue to exist as manifestations of human trafficking, despite legal
prohibitions and widespread condemnation. The U.S. law prohibits the importation of goods produced by forced labour, including forced child labour.

Child Sexual Abuse Material (CSAM) is what most people call child pornography.

Millions of images and videos documents are shared in the deep web. In 2019, reports to the CyberTipline included 69.1 million files with 27,788,328 images, 41,280,816 videos, and 89,053 other files. When these files are shared across the internet, child victims suffer re-victimization each time the image of their sexual abuse is viewed.

In a recent survey led by the Canadian Centre for Child Protection, 67% of CSAM survivors said the distribution of their images impacts them differently than the hands-on abuse they suffered because the distribution never ends and the images are permanent.

When a minor (a person under 18 years of age) is induced to perform a commercial sex act, proving force, fraud, or coercion is not required. It has been estimated that as many as two million children are subjected to prostitution in the global commercial sex trade. The use of children in the commercial sex trade is prohibited both under U.S. law and by legislation in most countries around the world.