Defining child trafficking for labor exploitation, forced child labor, and child labor

Abstract

Child trafficking for labor exploitation is one of the worst and most invisible forms of human trafficking. Moreover, this specific form of trafficking is intertwined with other phenomena ranging from forced child labor to broader concepts like child labor and child work. The convergence of factors related to child trafficking for labor exploitation not only complicates efforts to regulate child work and criminalize forced child labor and child trafficking for labor exploitation, but it also hampers attempts to establish adequate and effective preventive measures. This chapter aims to unravel this complexity in three steps. Firstly, child work is defined as a comprehensive term that includes work legally undertaken by children as an economic activity. Secondly, the term child labor is defined as a concept that encompasses diverse categories of work prejudicial to children. These categories, based on specific conditions of work, differ in seriousness, and the International Labour Office (ILO) has classified forced child labor and trafficking for labor exploitation as two of the unconditional worst forms of child labor. Thirdly, these two graver forms are explained with emphasis placed on two special circumstances: the specific role of consent when children are the victims of forced labor and the progressive approximation of these two different concepts as a necessary strategy to effectively combat the exploitative situation.