and the Construction of Vulnerability - Child Trafficking

dren, seeing it as opening opportunities for a better future to them”. 43
When children are orphaned, or their parent(s) fall sick, they often find themselves
in a situation whereby they need to earn money to support themselves, sometimes
also their dependent younger siblings or ill parents. As the literature on AIDS
orphans shows, 44 this can be a trigger for independent labour migration. iv Similarly,
when persons under the age of 18 have children of their own, they need to support
them economically. If this is difficult or impossible to achieve in their home
village or town, or in their home country, labour migration may appear to be the
best option.
There is a good deal of research evidence to suggest that independent child labour
migrants are vulnerable to exploitation and abuse at the point of destination (see
Section 6 below). However, employment relations and working conditions range
along a continuum, and even when we focus on the poorest and most exploitative
end of the spectrum, there are still gradations in terms of just how dangerous,
exploitative and poorly paid work is. If we also remember that when children
migrate, they are not necessarily leaving an environment within which their rights
are guaranteed, then it is easier to understand that labour migration (even into working
conditions that are far from ideal) can be viewed by the children concerned as
having positive, as well as negative, outcomes.
For instance, research in Tempane Natinaga, Ghana, found that children who
remained in their place of birth working for their own families were often expected
to undertake extensive and heavy labour without pay, and enjoyed few of the basic
rights set out in the CRC. It also found that children who migrated to work were
often positive about their experiences. Migrant work afforded them “the opportunity
to develop important relationships or skills, and to earn an income which they
had significant control over and which allowed them to buy the things necessary for
their progression into adulthood”. 45 The same point emerges from interviews with
child labour migrants in several African and South Asian countries. 46 These interviews
show that such children are often vulnerable to a range of different forms of
abuse and exploitation. They also demonstrate that many child labour migrants are
actively pursuing their own goals and dreams and evaluate the experience of migration
positively. This is illustrated by the following extract from an interview with a
17 year old who had migrated from Karnakata to Bangalore at the age of 13:
“The advantages of life as a migrant include good food, life in the city, increased
income, business contacts and the opportunity to search for alternative options in
the future.There are no disadvantages.” 47
If, instead of imagining that independent child migration is always a desperate last
resort, we think about the positive value that many children, their parents and their
wider community attach to opportunities to migrate, it becomes easier to explain
43. Whitehead and Hashim, 2005, p. 26; Caouette, 2001; Save the Children UK, 2006
44. Ansell and Young, 2003a and b, 2004; Evans, 2005
45. Hashim, 2003, p. 12; see also Busza, Caste and Diarra, 2004
46. Anarfi et al, 2006
47. Anarfi et al, 2006, p. 24
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Child Migration and the Construction of Vulnerability