Developmental approach to child trafficking.

Abstract

Children comprise almost 12% of victims of human trafficking worldwide, almost evenly divided into labor trafficking versus sex trafficking (International Labour Organization [ILO] et al., 2022). The ILO defines forced labor as "all work or service which is exacted from any person under the menace of any penalty and for which the said person has not offered himself voluntarily" (ILO et al., 2022). The Trafficking Victims Protection Act (2000) defines human trafficking as consisting of one of two primary forms, sex and labor. It further distinguishes sex trafficking in that minors, those under 18, are considered victims of human trafficking, or sex trafficking, regardless of the elements of force, fraud, or coercion. Since that 2016 report, the number of victims involved in forced labor has increased by 2.7 million to 49.6million people, reflecting 27 million in forced labor and 22 million in forced marriage (ILO et al., 2022).Trafficking beginning in childhood has a lifelong impact on the developmental path of the survivor. Trafficking is rarely the only traumatic experience in the victim's life (Hopper, 2017). The cumulative impact of trafficking and additional adverse childhood experiences markedly affects the life course, 4 DEVELOPMENTAL APPROACH TO CHILD TRAFFICKING