CBA Record

YLS Special Issue l PROTECTING OUR CHILDREN

An “Alternative” Report to the UN Last fall, the Center for the Human Rights of Children at Loyola University Chicago, in collaboration with the Young Center for Immigrant Children’s Rights at the University of Chicago, along with over 50 organizations and experts from around the country submitted our “alternative” report to the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC), with a focus on the sale of children for the purpose of forced labor as defined under Articles 2-3 of the OPSC. Our recommendations addressed three larger thematic areas in which the US government could improve its efforts to combat human trafficking, emphasizing issues facing children who are victims of labor trafficking. Our report acknowledged that victims of both labor and sexual trafficking face similar chal- lenges and emphasizes the importance of advancing efforts to address both labor and sexual exploitation of all children equally, regardless of nationality or legal status. First, we emphasized that while there has been much progress since the last reporting period, child labor trafficking continues to remain largely hidden, unidentified, and misidentified. Documented cases in the United States include children working as domestic servants, in restaurants, in agriculture, in factories, peddling on the streets, and in forced criminality. Yet many first responders make little to no effort to identify child labor trafficking. Current data collection, research, training, and policy efforts focus overwhelmingly on child sex trafficking. For example, the Preventing Sex Traf- ficking and Protecting Families Act, mandates that child welfare professionals create screening instruments, data collec- tion tools, and services for victims. This is a seminal piece of legislation that has tremendous impact on child protection systems working with at-risk and vulner- able youth in every state, but it focuses exclusively on child sex trafficking. Simi- larly, many states, including Illinois have passed important Safe Harbor laws that decriminalize and protect children who are being commercially sexually exploited.

While these laws advance the rights of child sex trafficking victims and improve oppor- tunities to identify sex trafficked children, they ignore children who are trafficked for labor. This exclusion of child labor traffick- ing creates a false hierarchy of crimes and victims contrary to the principles of the OPSC and TVPA, which seek to combat all forms of human trafficking. Second, our alternative report identified the need for greater protections for vulner- able youth populations to human traffick- ing. For example, unaccompanied and separated migrant children are extremely vulnerable to trafficking and exploitation. Often smuggling arrangements turn into trafficking arrangements, with the burden of paying a large debt incurred for the transport of the child to the US falling on the child. The US government projects record number of children will arrive this fiscal year–more than 70,000, which is an increase of over 60% from the surge in 2014. Under the current legal system, unaccompanied immigrant children have the burden of establishing their eligibil- ity for relief from deportation—the US immigration system for children is not protection based (in contrast to domestic child welfare systems for children). Vulnerable Groups Groups vulnerable to child trafficking including “system-involved” youth, home- less and runaway youth, LGBTQ youth, and children engaged in forced criminality. Recent research indicates that trafficked children suffer higher incidents of neglect and of physical and sexual abuse. In one study, at least one-third of young people receiving services as trafficking vic- tims had been involved in the child welfare system and nearly two-thirds of one NGO’s clients had been involved in the juvenile justice system. Homeless youth are often targeted by labor traffickers because they lack access to shelter, food, and personal connections. A survey conducted by the National Network for Youth in 2013 found that runaway and homeless youth had been targeted by door- to-door trafficking sales rings. These youth

were lured by the promise of housing, employment, and food but found them- selves living in overcrowded motel rooms with other labor-trafficked youth, receiving little or no pay, and given unreasonable sales quotas. National Network for Youth, Human trafficking and the runaway and homeless youth population (2014), avail- able at: http://bit.ly/1KpKC5O. Research shows that LGBTQ youth are at higher risk of both homelessness and exploitation, including both sex and labor trafficking. The Need for Attorneys Our final overarching recommendation was the need to provide all vulnerable children legal representation and advocacy to ensure their rights are protected. For unaccompanied, migrant children, there are no special courts for children in immigration proceedings, no special judges, and no statutory best interest stan- dard for foreign national children who are victims of child trafficking. While there have been modest improvements to pro- vide unaccompanied children attorneys, children continue to appear in adversarial immigration proceedings, alone, without legal representation. For children who are not represented by counsel, less than 20% receive some form of legal protection. This is compared to cases of children who are represented, in which over 70% receive protection. Unaccompanied children should be provided attorneys and indepen- dent child advocates to ensure their rights are being protected, and that they have a better chance of being identified as a crime victim under the OPSC and TVPA. Under federal anti-trafficking laws and state Safe Harbor statutes, more children are being identified as victims. This is a positive step forward. This also means that more children are not just being identified as victims, but are also serving as victim- witnesses in legal proceedings against their accused perpetrators. As victim-witnesses, To see a full text of our alternative report and its ten recommendations, visit http://bit. ly/2k15qZz.

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