Worst Forms of Child Labour Data

North America and Canada
Total Child Labour

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Child Slavery -
Child Trafficking

REGIONAL STATISTICS

* It is estimated that 50,000 women and children alone are trafficked to that country every year. There have been reports of trafficking in at least 20 states, with most cases occurring in California, Florida and New York. Primary source countries for the United States are identified as China, the Czech Republic, Mexico, the Russian Federation, Thailand, Ukraine and Vietnam. Women have also been trafficked from Brazil, Honduras, Hungary, the Republic of Korea, Latvia, Malaysia, the Philippines and Poland, among other countries. Women have been trafficked primarily for the sex industry, though also to provide maid services at hotels, peddle trinkets on subways and buses, work in sweatshops and beg. Their average age is thought to be roughly 20 years old. (ILO. Report of the Director General, Stopping forced labour, Global Report under the Follow-up to the ILO Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work, International Labour Conference, 89th Session2001, Geneva: ILO)

* It is estimated that 45,000 to 50,000 people, primarily women and children, are trafficked to the US. annually. Canada is a primarily a transit and destination country for trafficking in persons, primarily from East Asia (especially China and Korea), Eastern Europe, Russia, and Honduras. There are also isolated cases of Canadian minors trafficked by pimps to the United States for the purpose of sexual exploitation.
(US, State dept, staff '01)


Child Prostitution

COUNTRY STATISTICS

* 300,000 to 600,000 juveniles are involved in prostitution in the United States. (CATW, fact book 2001 citing, Gary Costello of the Exploited Child Unit of the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, "Danger for prostitutes increasing, most starting younger," Beacon Journal, 21 September 1997)

* 70 to 80% of those involved in the Canadian sex industry began as children. (CATW, fact book 2001, citing Kimberly Daum, "Sexually Exploitated Children in Canada: The Law is Not on Their Side," Opinion/Essays, 17 October 1996)

GENERAL NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS

* Girls involved in prostitution are increasingly getting younger, dropping from 14, to 13 and 12 years of age in the United States. (CATW, fact book 2001 citing, Lois Lee, founder of Children of the Night, Brad Knickerbocker, "Prostitution's Pernicious Reach Grows in the US," Christian Science Monitor, 23 October 1996)

Children in Crime

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Child Soldiers GENERAL NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS

* The United States has acknowledged that 17-year-old soldiers served in US operations in the Gulf War, Somalia and Bosnia. In June 1999, the Pentagon reported that less than one hundred 17-year-olds were serving in combat units at that time, primarily in the Balkans region. Despite being the first country to ratify the new Optional Protocol, Canada continues to accept voluntary recruits at 16 (although it has passed legislation to prohibit their deployment). (CSUCS, Global Report on Child Soldiers - 2001, 12 June 2001)
Domestic Child Servants

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Other Hazardous Child Labour -

 

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