Author: Vassilia Orfanou
Editors: LUDCI.eu editorial team
Child trafficking is a menace to the society. It is focused on enslaving children by force or luring them through fake promises of a better life and opportunities. In reality, all ends in exploitation; threats; and years of physical and emotional heartache. The exploitation ranges from illegal labor to sexual exploitation.
Child trafficking is a serious threat. It is the most common type of human trafficking – a multi-billion industry. Any child is at risk of abduction, while traffickers use different techniques depending on the age of the child; the different needs; their development; insecurities; problems at home; their surroundings; their character. This is not a threat that applies to underdeveloped and impoverished countries as many people incorrectly think.
To play a role in child trafficking prevention, it is important to understand and educate yourself around the issue in the first place. Only upon acquiring the necessary knowledge and understand the gravity of the issue could anyone be involved and support towards raising awareness from an individual or community perspective. This article is mainly focused to raise awareness on child trafficking and the possible ways to prevent its acceleration. We highly encourage to check all of our articles, both open and closed here to learn more. The more you learn, the more you would be able to protect your child, your friend’s or your neighbor’s child. This is not a problem that will go away on its own.
Public Education:
Child trafficking should be a mandatory course of Public education; early schooling and adolescence. Only by creating awareness early on in life could its acceleration stop. Public education would entail teaching in schools, communities, colleges the tricks and methods used by child traffickers to lure kids. Despite that this a multi-billion industry, its nature is invisible. The issue is not discussed, covered, or tackled as it should have been. Meanwhile, it is happening just around the corner. Only via an enforced public education at all levels, could such an issue receive the necessary importance. Involving parents and children early on and throughout their schooling, and community work and common networks should be the starting point.
Awareness about the targets:
To raise better awareness of the child trafficking issue, it is important to educate common citizens about how traffickers choose their targets; strategies used; common weaknesses and type of children usually being targeted. For instance, recent migrants, homeless youth, victims of natural disasters, and children in welfare systems are vulnerable to child trafficking. Knowing, understanding and being educated on the subject will help prevent it. Ignorance only helps its growth.
Awareness on methods used by traffickers:
Awareness on the common methods used by traffickers is the best approach in raising awareness on this issue. The common methods used by these trafficker’s ranges from forced kidnapping to exploitation through money. Online platforms are commonly used to groom and lure potential victims. The first step is to acknowledge the issue and inform on the facts around it to support the society eradicate it from a grassroot level. This is where LUDCI.eu is helpful. We invite you to check back and go through our articles here.
Media campaigns:
Media is proving to be one of the most useful and effective tools, despite that it does not receive much attention. Initial, regular and inspiring awareness can be raised on the issue through media campaigns, specific articles, short movies, documentaries, videos, and many more. LUDCI.eu works in this direction and aims to circulate, replicate and increase the awareness of such initiatives. For instance, the Global television campaign on the trafficking by UNODC (United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime), has proved to be very effective. Please check back other initiatives here and share them as you read. It all starts from 1 person that decides to send it to 20; these 20 become 100, and then 1000 or more. We cannot stand still going about our daily lives when this is a problem that affects the children of the world, no matter where they are. We need to act now!
Call to action:
Everybody is supposed to play their part in these campaigns and achieve results. All media campaigns are required to be made useful by introducing them at school levels. Looking for our own children and those around us is an important duty to perform. Child trafficking is and will remain an invisible crime that keeps growing unless we treat it at a grass root level with the support of governments, ministries, NGOs, media and more. Playing part in every activity which leads to prevention is a must. This is where LUDCI.eu is helpful. We invite you to check back and go through our articles here and be part of our network here. The OSCE action plan has proved to be helpful in combating trafficking in human beings.
Conclusion:
Awareness can be raised at any level. But it has to start from somewhere. Some of the approaches discussed here, like educating the public, awareness on the targets and the methods used by the traffickers or increasing the media campaigns may be some of the approaches to raise awareness on child trafficking and help to de-escalate its growth. It is a beginning. It is an initial step forward that we all need to make. The least we can do is sharing articles of this type and others here.
