April 2022 (ICMEC)  Millions of children around the world—accompanied and unaccompanied—have been forced to migrate or displaced within their countries. Their lack of maturity and education, as well as vulnerabilities related to their ongoing physical and psychological development, predispose them to an increased risk of exploitation and to going missing prior to, during, and after their migratory journeys. With this publication, we hope to provide even greater insight into the ongoing and ever-evolving issue of child migration and the risks children face throughout their journeys.  ICMEC aims to encourage cross-sector, cross-industry collaboration and engagement; promote ongoing training and education of healthcare professionals, educators, border personnel, and other key stakeholders; and encourage the provision of safe spaces for children regardless of their migrant status to ensure their basic rights are being upheld. With the proper resources, partnerships, and tools in place, migrant children will have a better chance of living healthier and safer lives. Read More

This toolkit is designed to assist medical and mental health professionals, health administrators, government officials, shelter staff, and other care providers in assessing and improving health care services available to trafficked children and adults, either on-site at their own organization, or at one or more local facilities (‘referral network’). The kit contains four sections: (1) an overview of human trafficking, (2) a service-assessment tool for determining strengths and challenges in a given facility’s medical and/or mental health care delivery, (3) guidelines for developing or improving medical and mental health services for trafficked persons, and (4) a template for organizing the names of key local and national partners and their contact information. This list will help ensure comprehensive care for trafficked persons.Read More

(ICMEC) - The Internet has global reach, which fuels the need for international legal cooperation to develop more stringent, overt laws to protect children from technology-facilitated child sex trafficking. While vast research exists regarding child sex trafficking broadly, this paper specifically focuses on: how and why technology is increasingly used to recruit, advertise, and send/receive payments for child sex trafficking; examining available international and regional legal instruments; reviewing a sampling of relevant national legislation; presenting model legislative language for consideration; and discussing the role of the technology and financial industries to deter traffickers from misusing their platforms to sexually exploit children.Read More

(Keeping Children Safe Coalition, 2014) The first Child Safeguarding Standards were launched over 12 years ago by a coalition of relief and development charities that later became known as Keeping Children Safe. Since then there has been a growing recognition that, as well as risks to children from staff and associates, inappropriately designed programmes and poor operational management can also create the possibility of risks to children. Keeping Children Safe represents a commitment by those working in this sector to ensure that their organisations “do no harm” and that they meet the responsibilities set out in the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child to protect children from all forms of abuse, neglect, exploitation and violence. An online audit tool is available, and this pdf is available in English, French, Spanish, Arabic and Korean.Read More

(ECPAT International) The Terminology Guidelines for the protection of children from sexual exploitation and sexual abuse ("Luxembourg Guidelines") are a tool guiding child protection professionals all over the world in their choice of words. Adopted by large consensus by the Interagency Working Group (IWG), composed of major international child protection agencies, they contribute to a more coherent, but also a more adequate and child-centered terminology in the work against sexual exploitation and sexual abuse. To respond to the needs expressed by child protection professionals, and make sure that the Luxembourg Guidelines can be a useful tool for professionals at all levels, ECPAT International developed this Handbook to facilitate the translation and adaptation of the Luxembourg Guidelines into other languages.

(UNODC) This Case Digest arose from a need the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) identified among practitioners who fight trafficking, to be given tools to address typical evidential problems which arise in trafficking cases. Therefore, the Case Digest aims first and foremost to assist criminal justice practitioners worldwide in addressing the evidential issues typical to trafficking cases, under the assumption that there are particular issues which recur and are central to the success or failure of cases. It aims to equip these practitioners with an arsenal of possible creative solutions that have been tried and tested elsewhere in actual cases before courts. It is hoped that by using these tools, practitioners will be inspired to think “outside the box” when encountering problems related to evidential issues in human trafficking cases.Read More

(ICMEC, UNICEF) The primary objective of these guidelines is to determine whether laws and policies exist in Latin America that address prevention, reporting mechanisms, tools, and specialized units for the investigation and prosecution of crimes related to online child sexual abuse and exploitation through the review of the regulatory frameworks in each country. The guidelines are intended to be used by relevant stakeholders including law enforcement, investigators, prosecutors, judges, and governmental and non-governmental organizations seeking to promote reform in legislation and in their fields of action, as well as to advocate for the development and reform of policies concerning prevention, victim assistance, and investigation of production, sale, distribution, and possession of child sexual abuse material.Read More

(ECPAT, Terminology and Semantics Interagency Working Group on Sexual Exploitation of Children) The purpose of this document is to provide all individuals and agencies working for the prevention and elimination of all forms of sexual exploitation and sexual abuse of children with guidance for the understanding and use of the different terms and concepts they may encounter in their work.  Read More

(ICMEC) This article reviews the international legal framework and supporting initiatives aimed at combating the abuse of information and communication technologies for purposes of child sex trafficking.Read More

(Barnardo’s) Research focused on running away, child sexual exploitation (CSE) and youth homelessness has documented an intrinsic relationship between running away and CSE. However, a review of this research literature reveals that none of the research projects addressing running away have explored the issue of CSE in depth. Previous research has started to explore the relationship between running away and CSE but there is need for research that explicitly explores this relationship. In recognition of this gap in learning, Barnardo’s and Paradigm Research developed a proposal to undertake an action research study to address the relationship between running away and CSE in England. This report presents their findings.Read More

(The Protection Project) This booklet explains these five basic elements as based upon the United Nations Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children, Supplementing the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime as well as the Council of Europe Convention on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings. The United States Trafficking Victims Protection Act is included to provide a comparative model in combating trafficking in persons. Trafficking-related statutes under international law and domestic legislation are also considered.Read More