FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 

Broken Chalk Statement on World Day Against Trafficking in Persons 

By Leticia Cox   

Date: 30 July 2025 

 A Global Silence: Confronting the Epidemic of Missing and Trafficked Children 

On this World Day Against Trafficking in Persons, Broken Chalk raises an urgent alarm about one of the most devastating and underreported crises of our era: the widespread trafficking and disappearance of children.  

From war-torn provinces to bustling urban centres and hidden online spaces, children are vanishing—many into exploitative systems that thrive on silence and impunity. 

The renewed public interest sparked by developments in the Jeffrey Epstein case reminds the world that trafficking is not confined to remote or unstable regions—it infiltrates elite circles, crosses international borders, and exploits the world’s most vulnerable populations. As attention returns to the global crisis of missing and trafficked children, Broken Chalk demands a unified international response to a problem that transcends geography. 

North America: Indigenous Communities in the Crosshairs 

In Canada and the United States, Indigenous children face disproportionate risks of trafficking. Despite representing a small fraction of the population, Indigenous women and girls account for roughly 50% of all trafficking victims in Canada. In the U.S., up to 40% of trafficking survivors in some regions are Indigenous, often enduring cycles of abuse rooted in systemic racism, intergenerational trauma, and historical displacement. Underreporting, legal loopholes, and jurisdictional confusion further obscure the true scale of this crisis. 

 Africa: The Hidden Epidemic 

Across the African continent, thousands of children vanish each year. Many are trafficked for forced labor, sexual exploitation, or ritual killings—particularly during election seasons or business ceremonies where traditional “muti” medicine fuels demand. 

Contributing factors include: 

• Cross-border trafficking for labour, sexual exploitation, and organ harvesting. 

• Digital grooming, with traffickers exploiting social media to lure victims. 

• Corruption and institutional failure paralyse investigations and silence cases before they’re even reported. 

This is not simply a law enforcement issue—it is a structural failure, and it is costing lives. 

Asia: Trafficking in the Shadows of War and Poverty 

In South and Central Asia, endemic poverty and armed conflict create ideal conditions for child trafficking. 

• In Pakistan, up to 4,300 children are reported missing annually. 

• In Sri Lanka, unresolved “white van” abductions from the civil war era still haunt families. 

• In Afghanistan, the continued exploitation of young boys through bacha bāzī persists, often shielded by corrupt officials. 

Despite international scrutiny, justice remains elusive and protection mechanisms remain weak. 

Europe: Disappeared in the Heart of Civilisation 

In Europe, trafficking networks have evolved to exploit migrant and vulnerable children with chilling efficiency. Between 2021 and 2023, over 51,400 migrant children went missing across the continent—an average of 47 children every single day (Lost in Europe, 2025). The majority were unaccompanied minors or children in state care. 

In Eastern and Central Europe, most trafficking cases involve sexual exploitation. 

In Western Europe, forced labor and criminal exploitation of boys are on the rise. 

Trafficking in Europe is not a fringe issue—it is a mainstream human rights emergency hiding behind closed doors. 

 Australia & New Zealand: Legal Frameworks Lag Behind Reality 

In Australia, the 2013 case of R v KAK, involving the sexual exploitation of a 12-year-old girl trafficked by her own mother, remains the country’s only conviction for child trafficking. More than a decade later, legislation continues to fall short, failing to clearly define or prosecute child trafficking cases. 

New Zealand, too, shows troubling signs of institutional inertia. Despite evidence in cases like that of ‘Grace’—a severely abused 13-year-old—no trafficking charges were brought. Experts warn that laws on the books rarely translate into protection on the ground. 

South America: Trafficking in the Crosswinds of Inequality and Migration 

Human trafficking continues to pose a growing threat across South America, where systemic inequality, organised crime, mass migration, and limited institutional oversight converge to create a high-risk environment for exploitation. 

Countries such as Venezuela, Peru, Colombia, Brazil, and others function as source, transit, and destination points—underscoring the urgent need for coordinated regional strategies. According to the UNODC, 13% of all trafficking victims detected in Central and Western Europe originate from South America. In MERCOSUR border zones, more than 3,500 victims have been identified in the last five years—60% women, 30% minors, with nearly half subjected to sexual exploitation and 38% forced into brutal labour. 

Children and adolescents in particular face harrowing levels of vulnerability. In rural Andean communities, remote Amazonian territories, and dense border regions, minors are trafficked for sexual exploitation, domestic servitude, forced labour, and even organ harvesting. 

Reports from Peru, Colombia, Venezuela, and Guyana confirm the use of children in illegal mining operations and cross-border smuggling routes. 

Migrant children, especially Venezuelans in transit, are heavily targeted due to their undocumented status and social isolation. Victims as young as 11 years old have been identified. 

Adolescent girls are increasingly trafficked in urban centres like Bogotá, Santiago, and Lima. 

While promising initiatives like the Ecuador–Peru Binational Immediate Response Team offer hope, the broader institutional response remains fragmented and insufficient. High-risk zones—such as Madre de Dios (Peru), Norte de Santander (Colombia), Tarapacá (Chile), and the Triple Frontier—demand urgent, coordinated, and child-centred interventions. 

Broken Chalk’s Global Call to Action 

We cannot combat what we refuse to acknowledge. Broken Chalk urges:  

• National child alert systems to be implemented and standardised across regions. 

• Legal harmonisation to close jurisdictional gaps that let traffickers operate with impunity. 

• Cross-border collaboration for victim recovery, support, and long-term reintegration. 

• Significant investment in child protection systems, especially in post-conflict and high-migration zones. 

• Accountability for institutions whose negligence or corruption enables exploitation. 

• Silence Is Not Neutral—It Is Complicity 

 As Broken Chalk continues our investigations into child trafficking and disappearance worldwide, one truth stands out: trafficking doesn’t only happen in hidden corners of the world. It happens behind the closed doors of luxury homes, in chat rooms, on refugee routes, and in regions left to fend for themselves. 

The Epstein case may be legally closed—but it remains wide open in the court of public conscience. We will continue to ask hard questions and expose the truths that others try to bury. 

We owe every victim—named and unnamed, seen and unseen—nothing less. 

END