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IFCW Member's New Publication on Kids as CommoditiesMore than a million children are trafficked every year, more than 100,000 every month. Cases are reported regularly in Western Europe and North America, as well as throughout Africa, Asia, the Middle East and Latin America. These startling facts give some sense of the seriousness of the subject of a new study about child trafficking in today's world, published by Terre des Hommes. In the Foreword to this new study, Graça Machel notes how many people have come across trafficked children in airports or on the streets, without realising where they come from or what they are being subjected to. She observes that it is vital to encourage more effective forms of action to stop child trafficking. 'Kids as Commodities? Child Trafficking and What to do about it' describes the business of taking children away from their homes and families, transporting them elsewhere, often across frontiers and even to other continents, to be put to use by others, usually to make money. It is about crimes committed against children and a pattern of human rights violations being committed on a massive scale. The crimes and abuse involved are nothing new, but there are signs that the problem has been growing and that governments have been ignoring it or doing too little in response. The study explains the complexity of child trafficking, noting that unless different patterns of trafficking and exploitation are understood properly, the action taken to prevent them or protect the children concerned is likely to be misguided. It examines the responses of both governments and inter-governmental organizations and pays particular attention to the actions taken by non-governmental organizations (NGOs) to prevent child trafficking or to protect children who have been trafficked. In many situations, the study argues, the most obvious action to take is not one best suited for the children concerned. For
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