Stop Child Trafficking and Exploitation

Protection of Children from Violence and Abuse

Children worldwide suffer from abhorrent acts of violence, exploitation and abuse—horrors no child should ever know or experience. Over 300 million of them are subjected to hazardous physical labor, commercial sex exploitation, fighting as child soldiers, and child trafficking. Others are irrevocably harmed by cultural practices such as female genital mutilation and early marriage. Without basic protections, children are at risk of death, disease, poor physical and mental development, and homelessness.

UNICEF cooperates with governments, NGOs, and international organizations to stop abuse and violence towards children and to protect vulnerable young people through widespread advocacy of legislation, monitoring systems and rehabilitation and recovery programs. We also work with communities to address harmful practices and empower children through educational, life-skills and prevention programs.

• Data show that the average age for marriage is steadily rising in Bangladesh, Guinea, and Nepal—countries where child wedlock is prevalent.
• In Myanmar, the United Nations signed an agreement with the government to prevent the recruitment of child soldiers by Myanmar armed forces.
• In Sudan, UNICEF played a key role in developing the Child Act for Southern Sudan. UNICEF is supporting the law by establishing child-friendly justice systems, demobilizing child soldiers, and supporting mine-risk education.

Special Child Protection in Emergencies and Conflict

Children are especially vulnerable to abuse, exploitation and trafficking during emergencies and armed conflicts. During times of crisis, UNICEF works diligently to care for children who have been separated from their families; to create protective "child-friendly" spaces; and to offer medical treatment and counseling. In countries wracked by violent conflict and upheaval, UNICEF protects children from military conscription, works to stop trafficking, and helps child soldiers and sex slaves recover and reintegrate into their communities. 

• In 2009 alone, UNICEF facilitated the release of 2,813 child soldiers from on-going civil conflict in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
• In the first six months of 2012, UNICEF and partners were able to aid more than 145,000 internally displaced children and adolescents in Syria.
• By July 2012, UNICEF had reached more than 90,000 people in conflict-affected northern Mali to assist with medical, water, education, and child-protection needs.

UNICEF actively advocates to protect children and women from the systematic sexual violence that is increasingly used as a weapon of war. Without protection from violence and exploitation, children’s basic survival and development are at risk.

Every day, millions of child laborers, sex workers and soldiers are denied their fundamental right to safety and security. UNICEF's child protection programs strive to create a world where every child grows up free from fear and harm.

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