CHILD LABOR AS A FORM OF EXPLOITATION OF CHILD VICTIMS OF HUMAN TRAFFICKING

Abstract

Child labor is the work of a person under the age of 18. However, modern labor legislation also allows to work persons below the specified age, and above 15 years of age, on the condition that such a person voluntarily agrees to work, that the type of work and tasks he performs does not affect his psycho-physical development, as well as the process of his compulsory and regular education, and with the consent and under the supervision of his parents or guardians.

Nevertheless, persons under 18 and often under 15 years of age, are forced to work without fullfilling the above conditions, and are often employed as victims of criminal acts, and human trafficking is one of them. Human trafficking is a criminal offense that specifically threatens the legal order of a country and its vital social values. However, all forms of human trafficking do not carry with them the same degree of social danger, and therefore do not represent the same risk, threat or danger to the security and stability of the state, society or individual. It is precisely child labor that is part of a chain or occurs as a result of human trafficking that poses a particular danger to the state and its legal order, primarily due to the harmful consequences that in the long term impair public health and national security.