CBA Record

YLS Special Issue l PROTECTING OUR CHILDREN

By Katherine KaufkaWalts

Efforts to Combat Child Trafficking in the US Victims and Victim-Witnesses

M ost experts and attorneys work- ing in the human trafficking field are familiar with the Trafficking Victims Protection Act and its subsequent reauthorizations, yet may be less familiar with another powerful legal instrument to keep the United States accountable in combatting child trafficking--the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the Sale of Children, Child Prostitution, and Pornography (“OPSC” or the “Protocol”). OPSC prohibits the “sale of children, child prostitution, and child pornography” and defines “sale of children”

as “any act or transaction whereby a child is transferred by any person or group of persons to another for remuneration or any consideration” including forced labor. While the United States continues to be the remaining nation in the world to not ratify the UN Convention on the Child, it has ratified the OPSC. As part of its obligations as a signatory to the OPSC, the US government is required to periodically (every 4 to 5 years) submit a report on its activities under the Protocol, specifically addressing ways in which it is ensuring perpetrators of child trafficking

are punished, that victims are protected, and that that meaningful efforts are made to prevent these heinous crimes. Non-governmental organizations are invited to respond to the governmental reports and submit their own research, findings, and recommendations. The UN Committee on the Rights of the Child considers all governmental and non-gov- ernmental submissions it receives, and then issues final “concluding observations” or recommendations.These recommendations can be powerful policy tools for advocates working in the child trafficking field.

34 FEBRUARY/MARCH 2017