In her latest blog, Chloe Setter, Senior Advisor, Anti-Trafficking, Modern Slavery & Voluntourism, explores what orphanage trafficking means and why it's so important to take a stand against it. 

It’s hard to believe there are people in the world who deliberately recruit children into orphanages in order to make money. Yet running an orphanage can be a lucrative trade. Vulnerable 'orphans' attract funding, donations and international volunteers.

This phenomenon, commonly referred to as 'orphanage trafficking' means that children are deprived of their family and exploited for profit. Some are also sexually abused or forced into labour or begging. Others are sold on for illegal adoption or servitude. Some are even used for their organs - or simply disappear.

It comes as a shock to most people that around 80 percent of the more the estimated 5.4 million children in orphanages are not orphans and have at least one living parent. Most are there for reasons such as poverty, displacement, disability, or to receive an education. And some children are there because they have been trafficked.

This blog was originally published on the Thomson Reuters Foundation news website. You can read the full article here:  Countries are moving to block the exploitation of children in orphanages - the vast majority of whom have at least one living parent

It’s hard to believe there are people in the world who deliberately recruit children into #orphanages in order to make money. Yet running an orphanage can be a lucrative trade- read my opinion piece for @TRF https://t.co/MTYKi8lgp8 #trafficking #volunteering #philanthropy

— Chloe_Set (@Chloe_Set) April 2, 2019