Child+Trafficking

Country: Zimbabwe Committee: UNICEF Nov Topic: Child Trafficking

I. Country Profile: ** __A. Physical Geography__ ** 1. Formerly Southern Rhodesia; now the Republic of Zimbabwe 2. Located in the tropics; hot and dry season is from August to October; rainy season from November to March 3. (a) Location: 20 00 S, 30 00 E; Zimbabwe is seperated into two cities with provincial status: Harare and Bulawayo (c) Size: 386,670 sq. km. ** __B. Political Geography__ ** 4. Zimbabwe is a republic; the political parties include: The Movment for Democratic Change, The Zimbabwe African National Union, and The Zimbabwe African Peoples Union. The current president is Robert Mugabe. He is a member of the Zimbabwe African National Union. 5. Zimbabwe's capital is Harare. 6. Zimbabwe is affiliated with: RF, ZAPU, UDI, ANC, ZANLA, PF. 7. Zimbabwe was a former British colony known as South Rhodesia, until it gained its independence in 1980. That was when President Mugabe became president in 1987. __**C. Cultural Geography**__ 8. The official langueage of Zimbabwe is English. However, the majority of the population speaks Shona, the native language of the Shona People. Sindebele is also spoken amongst the Matabale people. African american groups make up 98.5% of the population. Portugese and dutch people make up .5% of the population. 62% of the population attend Christian churches. Amongst those churches the most popular are Anglican, Roman Catholic, and methodist. Ancestral worship and muslim practices are also practiced in Zimbabwe. 9. Population: 12,891,000 with increasing growth ratesand falling death rates. Population growth rate is .595% since 2007. The age structure as of 2007 is : 0-14, 37.2% of the population; 15-64, 59.3% of the population; 65 and over, 3.5% of the population. 10. The major citites of Zimbabwe include: Bulawayo, Chitungwiza, Gweru, Harare, Mutare. 11. Since 2003, the infant mortality rate has been 66.47 deaths and 1,000 live births. 12. Literacy rate for the whole population is 90.7%

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Mugabe http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_political_parties_in_Zimbabwe http://www.encyclopedia.com/category/Places/Africa/zimgeo.html http://www.worldtravelguide.net/country/315/climate/Africa/Zimbabwe.html II. __Background__ Child trafficking is the recruitment of children for the purpose of exploitation. This atrocity is an active global trade and it is estimated that as many as 1.2 million children are trafficked every year. Trafficking emits a child's right to grow up with a family, and it exposes them to many potential dangers such as violence, sexual abuse, kidnapping. or deportation because some children are arrested for being suspected as an illegal alien. The main gender that is targeted for exploitation are girls. This is mainly for sexual exploitation. The average child who is invloved in this trade is derived from a family struggling for survival. Some children are sold into trafficking by their own parents in order to earn more money to survive. However, others are decieved by job offers, but then are forced into some sort of violating exploitation. The people trafficking these children go unpunished all too often because there are no laws against the cruel form of exploitation in many countries. An example of one of these countries is Zimbabwe. Zimbabwe is one of nine nations in africa who hasn't signed protocols or made laws to prevent the trafficking and sexual exploitation of children. This conflict has been a global conflict that many governmental and non-governmental organizations have fought against.

III. __UN Involvement__ The UN stronlgy opposes the issue of child trafficking, and their method of eradicating thhis problem, is being majorly involved, and that is exactly what they have done. Many organizations such as UNICEF, The International Program on the Elimination of Child Labour (IPEC), office of the United NAtion's High Commissioner for Human Right (OHCHR), United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), and many more are all committees created to help raise awareness about the dangers and damages of child trafficking. In 1989, UNICEF held the COnvention on the Rights of the Child. In 1999, UNICEF created the ILO Convention on Worst Forms of Child Labor. In 2001, UNICEF launched their Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons in Eastern and Southern Africa, 11 of 20 nations ratified this protocol. In order to execute the issue globally, the U.N created the Global Initiative to Fight Human Trafficking. In Africa, the U.N anti-crime chief urged action to prevent child trafficking the the nations that need the support the most. In 1949, the U.N created the Convention for the Suppression of the traffic of Persons and the Exploitation of the Prostitution of others. in 1996, the U.N general assembly addressed the "Promotion and Protection of the Rights of Children." the UN has worked globally to further resolve the issue of child trafficking, and they have done their best to recieve the cooperation of all nations suffering from the dilemma.

IV. __Country Policy__ Child trafficking has become an increasing problem in Africa, especially in Zimbabwe. It is estimated that between 100 and 200 Zimbabwean children are deported from South Africa every week. Government officials in South Africa have voted to take action against this cruelty, yet, no laws have yet been passed banning human trafficking. However, in 2007, they took initiative and joined the New Hope Foundation and marched from Harare to plummtree. 150 people were involved in the march. Government officials and humanitarians from other child focus organizations joind the march in the fight against child trafficking. Some suggested resolutions in order to eradicate this issue are, POOF, or Protection Of Our Future, an organization that will hold conferences in first, the countries that need it the most, and educate families that are very poor and that would potentially sell their children into trafficking, about what damage is caused and how a child is supposed to live their childhood. Also, they willwork with government officials and other U.N officials to fight against the traffickers and produce laws banning the trafficking of humans and sexual exploitation.

http://www.kubatana.net/html/archive/chiyou/081201nhz.asp?sector=CACT&year=0&range_start=1 __http://www.osisa.org/node/9361____ http://www.loc.gov/lawweb/servlet/lloc_news?disp0_115_text__