There are no easy solutions to a problem as complex as child trafficking. Putting an end to this brutal practice requires action on many fronts by national governments, international agencies, and private organizations alike. U.S. Secretary of State Powell has pledged that the United States "will work closely with other governments, organizations, and concerned people throughout the world to put an end to this abomination against humanity." The State Department's Africa Bureau has devised a strategy to combat trafficking by raising awareness and acknowledgment of the problem among high-level African officials and to win their support for specific programs to prosecute traffickers, prevent trafficking among vulnerable groups and communities, and protect victims by rescuing and sheltering them and helping them re-enter society.

The State Department has supported approximately 110 anti-trafficking initiatives in more than 50 countries. The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and the U.S. Department of Labor also assist anti-trafficking programs in more than 25 countries, from Uganda to Ukraine. In 2000, the U.S. Congress passed the Trafficking Victims Protection Act, which established the Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons at the State Department. Pursuant to the act, George W. Bush recently created a President's Interagency Task Force to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons, which will seek ways to bolster U.S. efforts to prosecute traffickers, protect victims, and prevent future trafficking.

Progress is being made on a number of fronts. One of the most heartening international developments has been the rapid response to an international convention calling for immediate action to ban the worst forms of child labor. Adopted in 1999 by the International Labor Organization, a United Nations agency, Convention 182 has been ratified by more than 100 countries, including 30 African nations — making it the fastest-ratified convention in ILO history. Specifically, the convention asks nations to do whatever it takes — pass new laws, strictly monitor and enforce laws, plug leaky borders — in order to stop the trafficking and exploitation of children.

In regional action, the 15 member nations of the Economic Community of West African States recently adopted a Political Declaration and Action Plan against trafficking in human beings, especially women and children. The Action Plan commits the ECOWAS countries to take specific steps, such as launching public awareness campaigns to alert potential victims to methods used by traffickers; creating special police units to combat trafficking; and training police, customs, and immigration officials to catch and prosecute traffickers and to protect the rights of victims. The plan also pledges the states to set up direct communication among their border agencies and expand efforts to collect and share data on trafficking.

In cooperation with ECOWAS, the UN Office for Drug Control and Crime Prevention has produced 30- and 60-second television spots in nine languages to "provide a stark warning to millions of potential victims about the danger of trafficking and to raise consciousness among the general public about the epidemic growth of this modern-day slavery."

Other United Nations agencies, particularly the ILO and UNICEF, have long been leaders in the battle to end child trafficking and to rehabilitate its victims. In conjunction with the 2002 African Cup of Nations soccer tournament, the ILO launched a "Red Card to Child Labor" campaign to educate millions of fans to the harsh reality of child labor and mobilize public opinion against it. Inspired by the red card handed out by referees to signal that a soccer player has been expelled from the game for serious rules violations, the campaign featured banners, thousands of spectators waving the red card, and screened messages from players and celebrities. The ILO says it plans to expand the campaign to tournaments in Latin America, Asia, and Europe, with the goal of celebrating universal ratification of its Convention 182 at the World Cup tournament in 2006.

The ILO's International Program on the Elimination of Child Labor (IPEC) has projects in 75 countries to protect 225,000 children from exploitative work, either by preventing trafficking or by rescuing victims, sending them to school, and providing their families with alternative ways to generate income. Since 1995, the U.S. Department of Labor has contributed more than $112 million to help support these efforts. One of IPEC's projects aims specifically to rescue 9,000 trafficked children and prevent the trafficking of 18,000 more in nine West and Central African nations. Another aspires to rescue 650 children and prevent the exploitation of an additional 13,000 in Bangladesh, Nepal, and Sri Lanka, where children are trafficked for prostitution, pornography, and the sex tourism industry, as well as other kinds of forced labor.

Public education is a key element of IPEC's work. The agency produces printed and audiovisual materials and organizes regional seminars and other events to increase awareness of child trafficking and urge governments to take action against it. In Thailand, for example, IPEC persuaded radio announcers to discuss the problem, while in Nepal, it recruited college students for a door-to-door campaign.

UNICEF also works in many countries to improve educational opportunities for children — especially girls — aid families at risk, publicize the hazards of child trafficking, and train law enforcement and judicial officials to better deal with the problem. In 2000, UNICEF and the ILO organized a regional conference in Libreville, Gabon, to develop a strategy for dealing with the worst forms of child labor and trafficking. The meeting led to a common platform for action adopted by the 21 countries that participated. Several countries, including Togo, Benin, Mali, Gabon, and Nigeria, created inter-ministerial committees to work on the problem. Gabon established a national commission on child trafficking, headed by the vice president. Cote d'Ivoire and Mali signed a Memorandum of Understanding to foster cooperation between the two countries in tracing trafficking networks and repatriating trafficked children. Mali also opened a transit center in Sikasso to shelter rescued children and provide psychological counseling to prepare them to return to their families.

Nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) also are working at many levels to erase the scourge of child trafficking. Research such as the World Bank-funded study of child migration in Benin, conducted by a local Catholic NGO, Carrefour d'Ecoute et d'Orientation (CEO), and the Central Statistical Agency of Benin, has provided valuable insight into the family situations of children who were sold or sent away to work. Similarly, a study by Anti-Slavery International and Enfants Solidaires d'Afrique et du Monde revealed the horrible conditions in which trafficked children live and work in Gabon and the role of relatives in transporting them.

At the local level, NGOs play an important role in educating people about trafficking and in rescuing its victims. The Red Cross, for example, has helped set up watchdog committees in nearly 100 Benin villages to inform parents about what their children face if they are sold to work away from home. In Togo, PLAN International Togo and WAO-Afrique, a local organization, are using traditional methods of communication, such as plays and dramatic sketches, along with radio, television, and print media, to spread the word about trafficking. In 2000 they held a seminar for government officials, trade unions, the press, and NGOs on child labor in Ghana and Togo, which featured tape recordings of actual child laborers recounting their experiences. Perhaps as a result of all this attention to the problem, the Togo government is electing a Children's Parliament to help disseminate the anti-trafficking message.

In Togo and Benin, police rely on a nongovernmental group, Terre des Hommes, to take charge of intercepted and repatriated slave children. In Benin, the Catholic organization CEO also assists in rehabilitating trafficked children. With aid from the U.S. State Department, the International Organization for Migration identifies children trafficked from Mali to Cote d'Ivoire, transports them to shelters in Mali, and helps reunite them with their families. In Nigeria, IOM works with several UN agencies to return women and children who have been trafficked to Europe for prostitution.

A success story from Guatemala highlights what can be done to tackle child labor at the local level. Funded by IPEC, an organization called Habitat launched a 19-month project to rescue children aged 5 to 15 from a quarry, where they worked long hours in extremely dusty conditions crushing 100-pound rocks into gravel with hand tools. Habitat organized the community to seek better health care, promote education, and find alternative methods for crushing rock. The organization produced brochures and a video to encourage school attendance and recruited 300 children for a street theater production about the perils of dropping out of school. As a result of the project, IPEC reports, 121 children stopped working at the quarry, and 240 are now attending school. Some families have formed a cooperative and are purchasing mechanical rock-crushing equipment.

Industry, too, is joining the fight against exploitative child labor. The international cocoa and chocolate industry has launched the first large study of abusive child labor practices on 3,000 cocoa farms in Côte d'Ivoire and Ghana and has signed a protocol pledging to eliminate child slavery in the West African cocoa industry.

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