Research Paper

Forum: 3rd committee – Social, Humanitarian and Cultural

Issue: Taking measures against international human child trafficking

Chair: Laura Lind-Holm

Co-chair: Polina Jerosevska

Description of Issue:
Trafficking of children is a form of human trafficking and is defined as the "recruitment, transportation,
transfer, harbouring, and/or receipt" of a child for the purpose of slavery, forced labour and exploitation.
This is a significant problem taking place in most parts of the world. Children are bought and sold to do
manual labour or work in illegal sex-industries, where they receive little to no payment. Changes should be
made to combat these traffickings, as this is a cross-boarder issue affecting most countries.

Background Information
The International Labour Office in Geneva estimates that 1.2 million children are at any given moment
affected by child trafficking, about 300.000 of these are taken from all over the world and sold as slaves. In
2012 it was estimated by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime that the percentage of child victims
in trafficking had risen from 20% to 27% over a 3-year span. Reports have been made by anti-trafficking
organisation Thorn1, showing that sites like “Craigslist” are often used as a means of conducting business,
these reports also showed that 70% of child sex trafficking victims was at one point sold online.

A high percentage of people being trafficked are children, this is either due to parents selling them in hopes
of giving them a better life, or because there is higher profit in children as they are easier to intimidate, and
influence and they can be “used” for longer. It is important to note, once a child or person is trafficked, they
will most likely continue being trafficked for the rest of their life.

1
https://www.thorn.org
Key Terms:
Child: a person under the age of 18

Trafficking: recruitment, transportation, transfer, harboring or receipt, whether by force or not, of persons,
by third person or group.

Useful sources:
Protocol by UN – Prevention of Human trafficking

International Labour Office - "Child Trafficking – Essentials"

Anti-trafficking organization - Thorn

Expectations for Position Papers

To write a position paper it is needed that the delegate researches what their countries
opinion on this issue is.
A position paper should include if possible:
 a brief résumé of the country’s history regarding the issue
 current state of the country regarding the issue
 any future plans from the government right now
 any statistics found regarding the issue
 UN treaties or actions that the country supported or opposed
 For this issue please consider following questions:
 what is your country’s opinion on this issue?
  what has your country done regarding this issue?
 is your country for or against the issue?
In this particular case, it is very important that you consider the following:
What is your county’s role in trafficking of children – does recruitment, transportation, transfer, harboring
or receipt take place? Debate your county’s opinion on measures taken against trafficking of children.