United Against Child Exploitation : Terre des Hommes Netherlands’ Thought Leadership in Asia
Ms Bushra Zulfiqar, our Regional Director, highlighted our efforts to tackle child exploitation in Asia and the importance of a shared understanding of the issue on ‘GNA Insight’, an interview programme by Green Network Asia, covering top leaders on sustainable development at the ASEAN level.
Child Exploitation in Asia
Asia, a region known for its rapid economic growth and technological advancements, is also grappling with a huge challenge: child exploitation. Despite being the fastest-growing region in the world, many children in Asia continue to face serious risks to their safety and well-being, being vulnerable to forced labor, child marriage, and the horrors of online sexual abuse.
“Between one to 20% of all children in Asia have experienced online sexual exploitation, depending on which country they are in,” Ms Bushra Zulfiqar, our Regional Director of Terre des Hommes Netherlands in Asia, pointed out the huge issue underneath the shining story of Asia during the interview with Ms Lalitha from Green Network Asia.
The Scale of the Problem
Among many forms of child exploitation, the most common form in Asia is human trafficking. “A recent study that was conducted by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, the UNODC, states that Malaysia and Thailand are the leading destinations of human trafficking from Cambodia, Laos, and Myanmar,” Bushra continues, “and one third of the victims of this cross-border human trafficking are children.” The human trafficking in this context often results in other forms of exploitation, such as prostitution, child marriages, and recruitment of children and minors in armed conflicts.
Underlying Causes
The root causes of child exploitation are complex and interconnected. Poverty, lack of education, power imbalances, and harmful socio economic and cultural factors play significant roles in driving children into exploitative situations. Despite the General assembly resolutions of the United nations and international legal treaties, there has been a lot of sophisticated growth in the IT sector and in social media, which has posed heightened risks to the safety and well-being of children.
Bushra emphasises “it's very important that at the ASEAN level, at the level of this region, we are all coming together to tackle the new forms of child exploitation that children are faced with the expansion of the IT and technology groups.”
The Role of Stakeholders
Addressing child exploitation requires a multifaceted approach involving various stakeholders. Governments, civil society representatives and businesses all have a role to play in combating this issue. The financial sector and law enforcement partners play an important part when it comes to sharing vital information and intelligence since the international cross border cooperation and collaboration can make it possible to trace and track suspicious transactions and to initiate joint investigations to bring the perpetuators to justice.
A Call for Action
“In Terre des Hommes Netherlands in Asia, we are all inspired and committed to our new global strategy, the “Listen Up” Strategy, which inspires us to be a catalyst for systemic change to fight child exploitation,” Bushra explains about the works of Terre des Hommes Netherlands in Asia.
The fight against child exploitation is urgent and requires immediate action. It is imperative to strengthen law enforcement capabilities, provide comprehensive support services to affected children, and promote awareness of this issue.
Bushra concludes that “we are working with strategic partners to work together and really work with the sector, taking an approach where we are actually using our collective strengths to advocate for sustainability, systemic change, and national policies and laws that best address the issues faced by children.”
