Dec. 14 (UPI) — More than 5 million children around the world are susceptible to trafficking and exploitation, according to a charity report that calls for urgent action on the matter.
International children’s charity Lumos said in its report that there are many at-risk children in orphanages worldwide that are neglectful and cannot meet their needs.
According to the 60-page report, more than 80% of children in orphanages aren’t orphans and almost 10 million live in modern slavery.
Many are recruited and trafficked into institutions for money and other forms of profit, it says.
The report, which was published Monday, cites evidence from organizations and individuals across 45 countries between July 2019 and November 2020.
It points to specific examples of cyclical exploitation, including more than 100 children who attempted to flee an orphanage in Guatemala in 2017, but were caught by police and placed in confinement. Facing neglect, 56 girls who were piled into one room started a fire to draw attention. Police didn’t respond, the report says, and 41 girls died.
The research shows that orphanage trafficking is more prevalent in tourism-driven countries with institutions that are established in key tourist areas. The report also warns of psychological harm to children caused by a revolving door of volunteers and tourists.
“Currently, there is no generally accepted definition for the different forms of trafficking in the context of institutional care for children,” the report states. “The term ‘institution-related trafficking’ is intended to remedy this and is used in this report.”
Barrister Parosha Chandran said the report could come as a shock to well-intentioned orphanages or generous donors.
“Reading what follows may be the first time that they realize that they’d unwittingly played a part in propping up a harmful ecosystem in which children, most of whom have at least one living parent, act as commodities in an industry of profit-making orphanages,” she wrote in the report.
British-based Lumos was founded in 2005 by author J.K. Rowling.