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Topic 1: Child Trafficking in West Africa

The number of people in modern day slavery is greater than it was at the height of the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade. Large portions of the victims of modern day slavery are children—a situation that is made all the most difficult and disturbing by the fact that they are often victimized by those that are responsible for their safety. In many cases, a family member sells a child in order to gain a profit or because they provide adequate resources for the child. Although human trafficking is a major concern throughout the world, this committee will focus on Western Africa, an area that has a large number of trafficking victims, but very little support and few resources.

One of the problems with child trafficking in Western Africa is the fact that most law enforcement parties do not recognize the problem as a crime. Many of the police forces that encounter problems with child trafficking do not report or respond to the occurrences. Instead, they often take part, themselves, in the trafficking rings. Even when the authorities may take action against trafficking rings, it is very difficult to find them and there are few cases of missing children reported to them, because it is the families who are selling the children. Countries like Nigeria, Liberia and Cote D’Ivoire are all major players in transnational trafficking. The governments of Western African countries often fail to address child trafficking because they lack either capacity or incentive to deal with the problem. Another problem is the lack of knowledge about child trafficking throughout the world. Even in developed countries such as the United States and Europe, there are many people who are unaware that there is modern day slavery, which makes it more difficult to find support for creating legislation that would cause African governments to take this issue into their own hands and create their own legislation. UNICEF’s goals, with regard to human trafficking include strengthening regional responses, allowing victims to return to their own country, and reuniting them with their families.

Topic 2: Protecting HIV//AIDS Orphans in Africa

This topic will aim to primarily address the challenge of making sure that those children who have lost one or more parents due to this illness are not at risk of dying, themselves, due to causes related to their resulting lack of resources. As the prevalence of HIV/AIDS continues to rise, it becomes increasingly important for the international community to consider and address the radiating impact that these illnesses have on sufferers’ families, particularly on their children. 11.4 million children throughout sub-Saharan Africa have lost at least one of their parents to HIV/AIDS. After losing a caregiver, these children are left vulnerable or orphaned and have very few resources, with which to support themselves. Among children under the age of 3, as there is a much higher death rate after losing a parent because they are thrown into poverty, with no one to provide for their basic needs and ensure that they are both being educated and receiving proper nutrition.

Recently, UNICEF has been working to make sure that these families are provided with the basic resources that are necessary for nutrition and dignity. The results of the programs that they have started to implement in Eastern and Southern Africa have shown promising results, including: making children more likely to return to school, improving their financial resources, and decreasing their overall dependency on others. However, current programs are insufficient and do not adequately address the full range of needs faced by children orphaned as a result of HIV/AIDS. UNICEF will work to develop solutions for these orphans that not only provide for basic needs like food, clothing, and shelter, but also consider how to support their mental and emotional growth. These added initiatives will be intended to help to decrease the number of children that are left with mental problems such as anxiety and depression and will also decrease the number of children that are abused after losing a parent.