and the Construction of Vulnerability - Child Trafficking

twentieth century. 15 The number of people living on less than US$1 per day rose by
almost 18 million between 1987 and 1998, and yet: “The incidence of poverty has
increased in the past few years not because the world as a whole is getting poorer,
but because the benefits of growth have been unevenly spread.” 16 Not only are there
massive disparities of income between rich and poor nations, but also, within countries
there are often huge gaps “between regions and districts, especially between
urban and rural communities”. 17
So, for example, economic development in China through the 1990s has generated
vast inequalities in terms of the living standards and life chances of those at the
hub of economic growth, and those at its margins. Average rural incomes remain
less than half of that enjoyed by urban city dwellers, and earnings from agriculture
continue to stagnate. 18 This has prompted perhaps the largest internal migration in
the world, with more than 100 million migrant workers now living in urban areas. 19
In Latin America too, economic restructuring has sharpened social inequalities
and intensified the polarisation of wealth. In Brazil, the rate of child malnutrition
increased from 12.7 per cent of all children in 1985 to 30.7 per cent in 1990. The
UNDP’s Human Development Index (an aggregate measure of well-being based on
life expectancy at birth, educational attainment and GDP per capita) decreased for
many Latin American countries in the 1990s. 20 Such inequalities have been a trigger
for migration as people seek to move to more prosperous cities or countries.
In some places, economic decline (in combination with political and social destabilisation)
has taken place so rapidly that a majority of the population wish to
migrate. An extremely high percentage also manages to do so. For example, out of
a total population of 4.3 million, between 600,000 and one million people have left
Moldova since independence in 1991. 21
2.2 Democracy, Political Instability and Human Security
In many countries and regions, political instability, corruption, authoritarian government,
and various forms of armed conflict have added to the pressure to
migrate. 22 Many millions have been displaced (often internally) by recent conflicts
and wars in the Balkans, Rwanda, East Timor, Afghanistan, Iraq, and Sudan, to
name but a few.
However, militarization, armed conflict, and corrupt and authoritarian political
regimes are not the only factors threatening human security. For women and children
in particular, domestic violence and/or the consequences of family breakdown
(often linked to economic decline and political and social destabilisation) may rep-
15. Castells, 1998
16. UNRISD, 2000, p. 11, cited in Sklair, 2002, p. 48
17. Sklair, 2002, p. 49
18. AMC, 2000, p. 116
19. Cai et al, 2002
20. Robinson, 2004, pp. 46-47
21. UNICEF, 2001, p. 9-10
22. GCIM, 2005
Child Migration and the Construction of Vulnerability
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