According to the International Labour Organization (ILO), trafficking of children for labour exploitation, including sexual exploitation has emerged as an issue of major global concern. According to ILO Convention 182, the worst forms of child labour convention, all forms of slavery or practices similar to slavery, such as the sale and trafficking of children, debt bondage and serfdom and forced or compulsory labour should immediately be prohibited and eliminated. Other worst forms of child labour whose eradication by all countries should be considered a matter of urgency include, the use, procurement or offering of a child for prostitution, production of pornography or pornographic performances; the use, procurement or offering of a child for illicit activities, in particular for the production and trafficking of drugs; work which, by its nature or the circumstances in which it is carried out, is likely to harm the health, safety or morals of children.

In order to raise awareness and create effective policies and sustainable programs whose goals are to combat the trafficking of children, we need to have a better understanding of the causes and consequences and magnitude and characteristics of child trafficking, the process of transportation and recruitment of children and the working environment experienced by children in the worst forms of child labour. Because of the often hidden and illegal nature of the trafficking of children into the worst forms of child labour and because of the sensitive nature of the work many children perform—for example, prostitution, pornography and drug trafficking obtaining data and information on these children can prove to be extremely difficult.