Reuters and AlertNet are not responsible for the content of this article or for any external internet sites. The views expressed are the author's alone.
"Traffickers look for poor
children, street children who sleep in the streets, children who run from their
homes. They look for these kind of children because it is easy to
traffic them
and to cheat them. They are found on the streets, in the hidden alleyways or
for example in bus stations or train stations where children could sleep in" -
16 year old boy from
Kosovo 18 September 2007 - Save the Children has carried out
an extensive, field-based research in 7 countries/entities in Southeast Europe,
speaking to more than 600 children
in individual interviews and focus-group
discussions on how they perceive the risks of trafficking and exploitation,
what are their own strengths and coping mechanisms and how states and civil
society
can better provide protection and assistance to children most at risk.
The findings from this research are now being presented in a regional report
which will be launched on September 18th
2007 at an event hosted by Ms.
Edit Bauer, MEP, at the European Parliament in BrusselsThe main objective of Save the
Children's research has been to learn more about what causes some
children to
be more at risk of being trafficked than others, and how efforts and
interventions to prevent child trafficking can be designed to better assist and
protect these children. The report "Children Speak Out" also aims to inform national and regional policy
makers, NGOs and civil society at large on what changes are required to meet
the needs of children at risk of
exploitation and trafficking. It documents the importance of listening to
children and taking their views into account.The children in this study have
been randomly selected from groups of
children considered to be at high risk of
trafficking and exploitation, including children living and working on the
streets, children in institutional care and children from ethnic minorities.
The
research documents children's remarkable resources in coping with extremely
adverse conditions and provides invaluable insights into their daily lives and
relationships with family, friends and
community. It also tells us why so many
of these most vulnerable children have lost trust and confidence in people who
should support and protect them as well as the institutions designed to assistthem.The present publication summarises
the findings from the participating countries/entities in one regional
report. The report can be obtained by
e-mail from: savealbania@savealbania.org or download the report here [Adobe PDF, 1759 Kb].
The
research results were also published (May - June 2007) in national reports in
countries/entities that participated in the research, i.e. Albania, Bosnia
& Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Montenegro,
Romania, Serbia and the
UN-administered province of Kosovo. Facts and findings from this research will
inform Save the Children's on-going advocacy and programmes on child
trafficking in Europe
and help identify children most at risk, monitor impact
of programme interventions and formulate more focused and better targeted advocacy
messages.
[ Any views expressed in this article are those of the writer and not of Reuters. ]
Relatives of a child, who died from food poisoning, grieve at the funeral in Gong'an County, central China's Hubei province November 12, 2007. Six Chinese people died from food poisoning after eating dumpling soup and two more remained seriously ill, local media reported on Monday. REUTERS/China Daily (CHINA) CHINA OUT
