Answer

International Trafficking Children

Transnational crime is a violation of law involving more than one country considering their planning and execution. Transnational offences are different from other crimes, they have multinational nature making them unique to handle. Child trafficking is one of the transnational crimes that currently poses global challenge. Children are moved across the borders to be exploited for labour and sex (Dank & Hughes, 2019).  They are forced to work in illegal businesses such as street begging, working in brothels, or selling illegal drugs. Human trafficking is a contentious issue for a long time. However, little is understood on how it occurs, the methods used, and the actual experiences of children who are moved illegally from one country to the next.  Most childrenfalling victim to illegal trafficking experience certain conditions that make them vulnerable to the practice.  For instance, children who are abused in their homes are likely to escape into the hands of human traffickers. Nonetheless, homeless youths are also soft targets for the traffickers.  Poverty and inadequate resources makes it inevitable for children to escape exploitative situations. Therefore, it is crucial to define the problem, assess its nature, its impacts to the victims, and the those who invest andbenefit from the practice.

Definition of the Problem

The Trafficking Victims Protection Act 2000 of the United States of America defineshuman trafficking as the illegal transportation of people to get them involved in activities such as exploitative sex and labour(Dank & Hughes, 2019).  The concept involvessex trafficking and labour trafficking. Sex trafficking is the recruitment,harbouring, and transportation of people to get them involved in commercial sex. On the other hand, labour trafficking involves the illegal transportation of persons to forcefully make them provide labour or service. Since there is no one accepted definition for human trafficking for sex and labour, most children find themselves in a difficult situation with the law (Wood, 2020). That is, they are required to demonstrate that they were involved in child trafficking crimes before action can be taken against the accused. Thus, there is still an open debate on what should be adopted as an inclusive definition on child trafficking.

Nature of the Problem

Child trafficking has become a lucrative business for corrupt individuals wanting to take advantages of the vulnerable children. Primarily, any young individual is at risk of being trafficked(Murphy, 2016). However, some children are more vulnerable to child trafficking than others.  For instance, run away, and homeless children are more likely to fall victims. According to Murphy (2016), one in every five homeless children is a victim of child trafficking. Youthful children have problematic economic and social life forcing them to seek for alternatives. That is,they likely take the opportunity offered by the traffickers. Nonetheless, Parental or caretaker abuse and exposure to drugs also contribute to vulnerability of children to child traffickers. The other soft target for the traffickers is the children placed in foster care and private residential. Neglected children are likely to join high LGBT community making them more vulnerable to the crime (Dank, Yahner, Vasquez- Noriega,Gelatt, &Pergamit, 2017). Labour trafficking is also among child trafficking activities that have diverse negative influences on children. In some cases, the families force children to work in domestic servitude or in family owned businesses.

Impacts of the Problem

Child trafficking has devastating effects on victims. Children undergo both physical and psychological consequences that include sexual transmitted diseases, incarceration, arrest, and posttraumatic stress disorder(Murphy, 2016).  Other severe impacts include sexual assault, family dissolution, and premature death. The youth children of sex trafficking are difficult to identify since most of them hardly come out to explain their challenges. However, established systems and institutions such as the police, teachers, and judges help the victims (Dank, Yahner, Vasquez- Noriega,Gelatt, &Pergamit, 2017).

 The services offered to youths do not address the specific measures that can improve youths’ lives to prevent them from being victims of traffickers. The juvenile justice system has inappropriate measures to solving the challenges of victims of trafficking. For instance, some states believe that the best way to protect vulnerable children is to detain them. However, this is not effective measure to reducing the impacts of child trafficking among the victims (Greenbaum, Bodrick& Committee on Child Abuse and Neglect, 2017). Empowerment, through improving of social and economic systems will help children to stay away from dangerous activities that make them vulnerable to traffickers. Parents are advised to provide sufficient care to children by protecting them from circumstances that would lead them into the hands of child traffickers

Investments in the Problem

The government has invested resources to prevent child trafficking by establishing institutions responsible for incriminating the perpetrators. Besides, social intuitions are created to help victims of child trafficking fit back to the society (Dank, Yahner, Madden, Banuelos, Ritchie, Mora& Conner, 2015). Furthermore, those who benefits from the problem are individuals directly involved in the activities. Drug lords use children to advance their drug selling activities and make huge profits from the business. The middlemen recruiting children from various places are also paid to get the right people for the business. Organizations benefiting from cheap or free labour offered by such children also save on production costs to increase profits.

Conclusion

Child trafficking is on the rise. Vulnerable children are transported across borders to be used for commercial sex and to provide cheap labour. Children who experience family problems and those without stable homes are soft targets for the traffickers. Economic status also forces children to fall prey to child traffickers. The victims experience both physical and psychological challenges that adversely affect their lives.  The government should address the primary cause of the problem and develop mechanisms that enhance the same.  The judicial system must stop regarding victims of child trafficking as criminals and develop more ways of bringing them back to society as normal people.