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Day of the African child
International Organisation for Migration (IOM)
June 16, 2007

The 16th of June is the Day of the African Child and this year's theme is Child-trafficking.

In respect of this day, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) in Zimbabwe has launched an intense information awareness campaign on child trafficking with a specific focus on Chiredzi and Chipinge Districts.

In the build up to the day of the African Child, IOM has conducted a two day counter-trafficking awareness raising workshop in Chiredzi attended by law enforcement and social service officials, as well as youth peer educators. Furthermore, a Roadshow will be touring selected areas in the above mention districts and will start at IOM's SAFE ZONE Youth Centre in Chiredzi.

The Roadshow will give four performances a day comprised of an educational drama, peer-education, group discussions and music. Information materials will be disseminated on the risks and realities of trafficking of human beings.

Trafficking of children is one of the gravest violations of human rights in the world today and has become an increasing global business generating huge profits for traffickers and organized crime syndicates. There are an estimated 1.2 million children trafficked every year and constitutes one of the worst forms of child labour.
Children and their families are ensured by the empty promises of the trafficking networks - promises of a better life, of an escape route from poverty - and every year hundreds of children are trafficked across borders or internally within the country and sold as mere commodities. Their survival and development are threatened, and their rights to education, to health, to grow up within a family, to protection from exploitation and abuse, are denied.

Children and adolescents are trafficked into many forms of labour and for similar purposes as adults for factory work, domestic service, sex work, and as brides. They are exploited in ways that are more particular to children, such as child pornography, camel jockeying, begging, mining and organ donation. During a trafficking experience, a child is exposed to a physical and psychological environment that damages her/his potential for normal and healthy development. The experience is traumatic for the children involved who endure mental and physical stress with long lasting effects.

Trafficking of children is a human rights violation that requires immediate and coordinated action.
For further information please contact: Cecilia Cantos on CCantos@iom.int

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