On World Day Against Child Labour, MGA Focuses on Migrant Children at Risk of Trafficking

On 14 June, 2021, in commemoration of the World Day against Child Labour, the NGO Committee on Migration and the NGO Committee to Stop Trafficking in Persons hosted an event, “Improving Outcomes for Migrant Children at Risk of Trafficking,” to call attention to the urgent need for prevention of trafficking and forced labour of migrant children. The event also took place during the International Year for the Elimination of Child Labour, which aims to address the challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic, and accelerate progress towards the goal set by SDG 8.7, to end all forms of child labour by 2025.

The recording of the event is now available.

MGA Global Policy and Research Advocate, Cecilie Kern, who is the Vice Chair of the NGO Committee on Migration, and a member of the NGO Committee to Stop Trafficking in Persons, gave the welcoming remarks during the event.

The interactive panel discussion was moderated by award-winning journalist Leif Coorlim, the Executive Editor of CNN International’s Freedom Project. After more than 10 years of broadcasting, the Freedom Project has told more than 1,000 stories of modern-day slavery and helped to free nearly 2,000 people held in slavery.

The distinguished panellists included:

• Mama Fatima Singhateh, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Sale and Sexual Exploitation of Children;
• Fernando de la Mora Salcedo, the Coordinator for Economic, Social, Human Rights and Humanitarian Affairs at the Permanent Mission of Mexico to the United Nations, and a member of the co-facilitation team of the Global Compact for Migration;
• Saskia Blume, the Deputy Lead of UNICEF’s Children On the Move Team where she coordinates UNICEF’s work for migrant, displaced and trafficked children; and
• Kwami Adoboe-Herrera an anti-trafficking advocate, speaker and trafficking survivor, who was trafficked from Togo into the United States, where he endured 6 years of child labour and modern-day slavery.

The conversation revealed the importance of distinguishing trafficking in persons from migrant smuggling, ensuring that migrant children are included in social protection systems to reduce vulnerabilities in countries of origin, transit and destination, addressing demand for child labour and migrant exploitation, as well as bolstering systems of justice to ensure that perpetrators are held accountable.

Watch the event: “Improving Outcomes for Migrant Children at Risk of Trafficking”

Messages to: Cecilie Kern - Global Policy & Research Advocate MIA-MGA