La Strada Documentation Center

The Small Hands of Slavery

Document number
1365
Date
2007
Title
The Small Hands of Slavery
Author/publisher
Save the Children UK
Availability
View/save PDF version of this document
Document type(s)
Research/Study/Analysis,
Keywords
Child Trafficking, Commercial sexual exploitation, Bonded labour, Forced labour, Child marriage, Child soldiers,
Summary
In this report, Save the Children reveals theeight most prevalent forms of child slavery thatshockingly are still destroying the childhoods ofchildren across the world.• child trafficking• commercial sexual exploitation• bonded child labour• forced work in mines• forced agricultural labour• child soldiers/combatants• forced child marriage• domestic slavery.As young slaves, children survive in appallingconditions. Through a combination of threats,physical and sexual violence, family debt and chronicpoverty, they are forced to work long hours forlittle or nothing in return, often for years on end.Many are coerced into commercial sexualexploitation, while others are forced to work inextremely hazardous conditions in agriculture,mining, construction or as household domesticworkers. Two million children are being abusedthrough prostitution and pornography. More thana million are trafficked every year, either withintheir own country or across borders. Every childconfined in slavery is treated as an object to behumiliated or abused, and can be lent or sold toanother owner without warning.The Small Hands of Slavery presents an overviewof the scale of child slave labour across the world,focusing on the eight most prevalent forms ofslavery-like conditions in which children are forcedto work. There are stark facts about where andhow children are forced to work, details of theconditions they endure, and the direct impact thishas on their lives. This report presents two casestudies, updates on our current work, informationon our local and regional partner organisations, andstrategies to end child slavery in all its guises.
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