Of child traffickers hiding in plain sight

We always think of child trafficking as an event happening in countries that either have high cases of insecurity or are in the grip of conflict.

But if we were to take a closer look, we’d see it happens in the best of countries with tight security and no conflict to speak about.

The perpetrators are not warlords and their emissaries, but individuals deemed to be of high standing in society and with good intentions.

Take Jeffrey Epstein, for example, who was once a teacher, albeit charged with sex trafficking.

He was a well-connected individual linked to the royal family and US presidents Bill Clinton and Donald Trump.

Yet, he trafficked children to his private islands in the Virgin Islands for his abhorrent indulgencies.

This might seem so far removed from us, but we have our own child traffickers masquerading as generous helpers to those who need help desperately.

Many households employ children as their house helps or house managers. Whatever fancy terms you choose to give them doesn’t make it any less of child labour.

Oddly enough, some of these children are blood relatives. The guise used to lure parents to release these children to their relatives in the ‘city’ is that the parents will be provided with financial assistance and the relatives will ensure the child goes to school. What a load of bull!

These children never get the education that is promised. Instead, they are detained to the confines of the house, with strict ‘rules’ of what to do, when and where.

They are not treated as children or family anymore but are reduced to prisoners in what should be their home.

If you thought Epstein’s sex trafficking was a bit too far-fetched, adults defile these children repeatedly.

Should the child not toe the line, physical abuse from the matriarch is added to the child’s troubles and they are lucky if they get any medical treatment for their injuries.

The poor child just cannot catch a break even from the children they are labouring for, who also pile on verbal and emotional abuse.

The worst and most saddening thing is the child is admonished not to disclose any of the abuse to their parents or guardians.

Any communication with the parents is closely monitored, with the relatives lurking and listening in, giving a death stare should the child dare say anything that would paint the relatives in bad light.

So how are these ‘generous’ relatives any different from child traffickers?

By its own definition, you illegally relocated the child and used them for forced labour and sexual exploitation.

In the process you committed child abuse and modern slavery. You are just as bad as the warlord who took children from their homes and is using them as child soldiers to advance his political motives.

You are not any different from R. Kelly, who lured children to his home in the pretext of giving them a bright future in music, only to end up sexually and emotionally abusing them; locking them up in his home with strict ‘rules’, and keeping them away from their parents.

Let’s have some quiet introspection on our actions. Enough with the lies and disguises. Stop abusing children in the name of helping.