Olara Otunnu, Secretary-General Kofi Annan's Special Representative for Children and Armed conflict, is currently in the Northern Caucassus, discussing the effects of the war in Chechnya on children’
Child slavery is also a major problem and although the victims are usually from the developing world, the practice is global. More than 8 million children live in slavery, according to a recent ILO survey.
(Please see: “U.N. Focus on Slavery” and “U.S. Leads Slavery Inquiry” in our International Law section.)
They are trafficked, forced into prostitution and pornography, forced to work as bonded labour and other forms of forced labour and forcibly recruited into armed service. In West Africa, girls as young as six work as domestics and in the Gulf States, young boys work as camel jockeys. One ten year old boy was recently returned to his parents in Bangla Desh, after he had been abducted while playing with friends, transported through India to Nepal and then to Dubai, where he was sold to the last buyer in the chain.
In the United States, Federal Law Enforcement officials recently rescued dozens of young girls from Honduras and Mexico, who were forced to work as child prostitutes in New Jersey and Texas.
Child slavery is also a major problem and although the victims are usually from the developing world, the practice is global. More than 8 million children live in slavery, according to a recent ILO survey.
(Please see: “U.N. Focus on Slavery” and “U.S. Leads Slavery Inquiry” in our International Law section.)
They are trafficked, forced into prostitution and pornography, forced to work as bonded labour and other forms of forced labour and forcibly recruited into armed service. In West Africa, girls as young as six work as domestics and in the Gulf States, young boys work as camel jockeys. One ten year old boy was recently returned to his parents in Bangla Desh, after he had been abducted while playing with friends, transported through India to Nepal and then to Dubai, where he was sold to the last buyer in the chain.
In the United States, Federal Law Enforcement officials recently rescued dozens of young girls from Honduras and Mexico, who were forced to work as child prostitutes in New Jersey and Texas.