Swiss Foundation of Terre des hommes

Swiss Foundation of Terre des hommes

Terre des hommes Foundation, Lausanne, (Tdh) has focused on child trafficking since 1999. Resisting child trafficking is one of its organisational priorities. Terre des hommes has developed an understanding of child trafficking from its fieldwork experience in several countries, from its expertise in child rights and from the collective experience and knowledge of other agencies. From this accumulated experience and knowledge, Terre des hommes has developed its response.

Child trafficking concerns the business of removing children from their homes and families, transporting them elsewhere, whether elsewhere within the country or overseas, to be put to use by others, usually to make money. The purpose of this exploitation is child labour, or child sexual exploitation. Besides the harm inflicted by the exploitation, the separation of the children from its family and its environment aggravates the harm inflicted. Special attention is focused on trafficking for slavery-like practices, as a worst form of exploitation. Terre des hommes understands the existence of child trafficking to be the result of a combination of different factors including poverty, the weakness of child protection systems, basic needs not being covered, and the migration dream and gender discrimination. However, Terre des hommes notices that child trafficking is often the result of collapsed social bonds – often linked to poverty - or the result of a social organization in which trafficking is accepted by some of its powerful members. We recognise, too, that this is often due to a different concept of childhood. Terre des hommes’s intervention acknowledges this fact and it views it within a long-term strategic focus.

In October 2001, Terre des hommes launched an international campaign: Stop Child Trafficking. The campaign is run – together with local partners – by regional coordinators and delegates in 33 countries of the six regions: Europe, Southeast Asia, South Asia, Southern Africa, South America and Western Africa.

Terre des hommes Foundation
En Budron C8
1052 Le Mont sur Lausanne
Switzerland
Tel: +41 21 6546666
Fax: +41 21 6546677
Email: info@tdh.ch
Email: childtrafficking.info@gmail.com
Web: www.tdh.ch
Web: www.childtrafficking.com

Ray of Hope
Ray of Hope is a consultancy organization dedicated to strengthening the activities of protection and care organizations in South Asia, Southeast Asia and around the world that support those who are at risk of, or are victims of:

• ttrafficking
• child prostitution and forced prostitution
• gender aggression
• domestic violence
• sexual abuse
• child labour and harmful labour
• HIV/AIDS and STIs
• Segregation, deprivation or abuse due to age, sex, race, caste, social class, nationality, sexual preference, traditional occupation or religion.
  Ray of Hope provides consultancy in research, intervention design and planning, monitoring and evaluation, and human resources development for local, national and international organizations.

Ray of Hope
Central Project Office
P.O. Box 1129
Kathmandu, Nepal
Tel.: 00977 1 448 2986
Fax: 00977 1 447 2529
Email: johnf@rayhope.org
Web: www.rayhope.org