Expert Workshop
“Research on Child Trafficking: Needs and
Challenges”.
22-23 September 2004
UNICEF Innocenti Research Centre (IRC)
Florence Italy
Background
The UNICEF Innocenti Research Centre (IRC) is the
independent research arm of the United Nations dedicated to the protection of
children and the promotion of child rights. Working on the issue of child
trafficking for a number of years, the IRC enjoys close collaboration with
UNICEF Regional and Country Offices, UN agencies and other partners. Current IRC
research on Europe focuses on developing research methodologies for gathering
specific and reliable data on the trafficking of children. This research pays
particular attention to the difficulty in gathering data - the lack of
quantitative and qualitative data on trafficked children is one of the main
constraints to effective intervention and evidence-based policy making. In
addition, a dearth of empirical data limits the ability to determine whether
implemented strategies are indeed improving the protection of trafficked
children.
Objectives
The workshop is intended for a limited number of
researchers and practitioners with responsibility for promoting and managing
research on child trafficking. Accordingly, sessions will concentrate on:
Optimizing current research tools and methodologies to understand and
monitor child trafficking;
• Enhancing data collection and promotion of its
use;
• Sharing of experiences and ideas among researchers;
•
Inter-agency collaboration and interaction.
The workshop will encourage active involvement of all participants through
personal contributions, working sessions in small groups, and plenary
discussions.
Expected Results
Identification of major challenges and needs in doing research on child
trafficking • Identification of information gaps on patterns (flows, root
causes, uses) and responses (impact)
• List of indicators on child
trafficking (what can be measured?)
• Clarification on the participation and
role of children in the research
• Clarity vis. ethical consideration in
doing research on child trafficking
• Promotion of the inter agency research
network on trafficking
Tangible outputs
A working paper on workshop results
• A model questionnaire for the
Europe component
• A shared research agenda or possible area of inter-agency
collaboration/synergy
Inter Agency Research Network. Following a first informal meeting done
during the XII Session of the Commission on Crime Prevention and Criminal
Justice in Vienna in 2003, and the recommendation of the recent meeting on
"Improving Data and Research on Human Trafficking" on the need to promote
contact and networking among researchers, a final session of the workshop will
be dedicated to the promotion of the Inter Agency Research Network in
Trafficking in Human beings. Objectives of this session will be the continuous
sharing of information and the definition of possible areas of collaboration and
synergy. Each organization will participate as joint and equal partners.
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