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This resolution on orphanage trafficking was adopted by consensus at the 147th IPU Assembly and endorsed by 180 parliaments.
This report from Lumos defines the global problem of institutionalization of children - including the factors that drive it and the harmful impacts it has on children's physical and cognitive development - and proposes global solutions in line with the Sustainable Development Goals. Featuring a variety of global thought leaders, the publication comprises twelve articles which tackle the major issues fueling institutionalization and how to achieve transformative change for affected children.
Chapters include:
- Children in Institutions: A Neglected Group in Monitoring…
The U.S. State Department Trafficking in Persons Report sheds light on the practices of modern slavery around the world and highlights specific steps governments can take to protect victims of human trafficking, prevent trafficking crimes, and prosecute traffickers in the United States and around the world. This year's report "takes a deeper dive into one such gap, common in many countries around the world, whereby governments concentrate on transnational human trafficking cases at the expense of cases taking place within their borders. This spotlight is not intended to suggest that…
This report from Disability Rights International documents the human rights violations, exploitation, and trafficking of children with and without disabilities in Guatemala. Guatemala has failed to create the protections and support needed to help children live with a family – especially children with disabilities. DRI is also concerned that private charities and international donors are supporting orphanages and perpetuating discrimination. International support – including “voluntourism” – leaves children open to segregation, abuse, and further exploitation by traffickers.
A year after…
This expert paper by Forget Me Not Australia was published as a part of the Global Study on Sexual Exploitation of Children in Travel and Tourism and it presents as a case study the story of the organization from its founding to its current work.
Forget Me Not (FMN), an Australian NGO, established an orphanage in Nepal and was soon asked to take over operations of another orphanage in Uganda. After conducting an audit of the Ugandan orphanage and realizing that the "orphanage directors were siphoning funds for personal profit," FMN investigated further and discovered that the children…
In this position statement, the Association of Massage Therapists (AMT) of Australia clearly states that it does not endorse orphanage volunteering, referring to the positions of the Better Care Network, UNICEF, Save the Children and the ChildSafe network. The brief statement provides rationale behind this position and “recommends that massage therapists focus their volunteer efforts on initiatives that support communities and aim at keeping children within their families and kinship groups.”
The International Association of Infant Massage in Australia has launched a position paper on volunteering in orphanages in order to address the problem of untrained volunteers being encouraged to conduct child care and infant massage practice in residential care centres, particularly in developing countries. This statement clearly lays out IAIM Australia’s position against such practices and reasoning behind this position.
This overview is intended to contribute to discussions on international volunteering in residential care centres as an anecdotal research piece on the situation in Nepal. Nepal was chosen as a focus country due to recommendations from a range of informants who raised concerns about severe negative impacts of international volunteering in centres in Nepal. Availability of research and connections also contributed to the choice of Nepal as a country focus. This overview was informed by online resources, academic and institutional literature, and interviews with informants. The authors would…
Through informant interviews, literature reviews, internet searches, and surveys, organisations were identified that are engaged in promoting positive change in the area of volunteering. Their activities fall broadly into three areas:
1) Advocating against volunteering in residential care centres
2) Promoting ethical volunteering
3) Advocating for the inclusion of child rights and child protection principles within businesses and non-profit organisations.
The focus of this project is primarily on 1) and 2), but instances of 3) have been included as these efforts have been found to be…
This overview is intended to contribute to discussions on residential care centres as an anecdotal research piece on the situation in Cambodia. Cambodia was chosen as a focus country due to visibility of the issue in international media, and the ready access to key actors on the ground. This overview was informed by online resources, academic and institutional literature, and input from a range of organisations and individuals working to address and raise awareness of this issue in Cambodia.