Brasília - The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime and the International Labor Organization are going to join the fight against human trafficking in Brazil. Special attention will be given to the problem of young children who are exploited for sex. The announcement that the UNODC and the ILO have signed a collaboration protocol was made at a seminar on the issue here in Brasilia.

The ILO has branded the sexual exploitation of young children "one of the worse forms of child labor that exists."

Participants at the seminar intend to present a final document proposing integrated action by government lawyers and the police in combating the problem of impunity. "The sex industry is highly profitable. It runs on strong demand. It is a case of people exploiting other people and the only way to halt it is by getting the government to crack down on them all - the enticers, the traffickers, the transporters, the buyers," says Claudia Dias, of the ILO Child Labor Elimination program.

Agência Brasil
Reporter: Juliana Andrade
Translator: Allen Bennett
11/30/2004