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Exhibit shines light on child exploitation

By Anna Gaynor

Before she came to Loyola, Jeanne Murray thought child trafficking was something that only happened in other countries. But that was before she applied for a research fellowship at the Center for the Human Rights of Children (CHRC) and found her perspective changed on everything.

“I thought I knew what was going on in the world, but it all surprised me,” Murray said about her time at the CHRC. “Everything I learned was just shocking and just to know that there are people who lack basic human rights. You don’t think human trafficking is as a big of a problem because we don’t really see much of it in our daily lives, but a lot of people don’t realize that it is problem worldwide and within our own country.”

Through November 2, the CHRC will host the photography exhibit Child Soldiers: Forced to Be Cruel, which features images of armed children and adolescents from around the globe. The center’s director, Katherine Kaufka Walts, hopes the exhibit will spark a larger conversation about the ways children are used and exploited—both abroad and at home.

The CHRC is the only academic center in the country more broadly dedicated to the rights of children. It not only works with faculty, staff, and students from across Loyola, but also public agencies, service providers, non-governmental organizations, community organizations, and policy makers.

“How major systemic issues and problems are solved is not through the lens of one discipline or profession,” Walts said. “It’s about getting the perspective and the input from experts and stakeholders from a variety of fields.”

Child trafficking and exploitation

Under the CHRC’s new strategic plan, addressing child exploitation is one of the CHRC’s three main focus issues.  The center works on research, outreach, and education with other organizations to help child victims and to create change in policies and systems.

It’s a topic Murray, who graduated last May with a JD and Masters in Public Policy, is all too familiar with. As a fellow at the center, she compiled research on a number of issues, including child trafficking.

“I just moved back to Buffalo, New York, which is my hometown, and I hope to do immigration and human trafficking work here,” Murray said. “Buffalo is surprisingly a huge hub of trafficking. I had no idea. I’ve lived here my whole life except for college and law school.”

Murray said her time at the CHRC and with Walts had a big influence on her career plans and goals. Walts teaches a course called Human Trafficking in the United States, which gives law students and graduate-level social work students theoretical and practical training in working with each other, as well as with victims.

“It was probably one of the best experiences I’ve ever had,” Murray said. “I worked at the center while I was taking Katherine’s class, and I learned even more. It just is such a rewarding experience to feel like you’re really working toward something that can make a difference in children’s lives and just in lives in general.”

At the end of the semester, students have the chance to identify a gap in public policy or an overlooked issue—and propose a remedy for it. They can write a media plan, a policy brief, a training plan, or even a new law.

Cristina Rizen, a Loyola School of Law graduate who now helps with international child-abduction cases, wrote a paper for Walt’s class comparing the legal definitions of adolescent gang members in the US to child soldiers. The paper, which was published in a law journal, looked at the different ways children are coerced into violence.

“A lot of the children do not see themselves as victims,” Rizen said. “They see themselves actively participating in these conflicts. They see themselves as soldiers. Domestic juvenile gang members don’t see themselves usually as labor trafficking victims. They see themselves as members of a gang.”

Rizen will be joining experts from the U.S. Department of State and other policy leaders at the Thursday opening of the child soldier exhibit. They will explore how and why children are exploited as labor and gang members across the world.

“Just because a child is coerced into joining an army doesn’t mean that they’re coerced by violence or trauma,” Rizen said. “I think gang recruitment in this country is a lot more laid back and social. People are joining gangs within their communities because their friends or their relatives are.”

Helping them navigate the system

The CHRC’s second focus issue is helping vulnerable youth, including migrants, refugees, and orphan and vulnerable children. These unaccompanied children migrating alone to the US are often fleeing violence, abuse, conflict, neglect, and poverty.

Walts worked as a human rights attorney before coming to Loyola in 2009. As a lawyer, she found herself dealing with the aftermath of the rights violations the center attempts to address today.

A large part of this is its work with migrant children crossing the border. The center has advocated to make sure they receive the same rights as other adolescents. For example, under current US law, unaccompanied, undocumented children do not have right to council. They often land in court by themselves, a situation Walts said would be difficult for an adult with a PhD—let alone a child who doesn’t speak the language.

“This is just another example of where we’re not treating children as children,” Walts said.

Tapping experts from different research fields and specializations empowers the CHRC to take a more holistic approach to these policy issues. The center, which has written and spoken to members of the White House, Congress, and US Immigration Customs Enforcement about these issues, can make a stronger argument beyond just discussing a child’s legal rights.

The center receives input not only from lawyers but also from experts in child trafficking, childhood development, social work, psychology, and child welfare. Topics covered in the past include finding the best ways to screen children as they enter the US; identifying them as potential victims of a crime or abuse; referring them to family sponsors or guardians; or housing them.

“We are treating unaccompanied child migrants and refugees outside the policy and practice norms that have been established in social science research and our own laws that address any other vulnerable child within our system,” Walts said. “I think that is a much more powerful argument than just a lawyer saying this violates legal principles.”

Taking on environmental toxins

The CHRC’s third priority issue is a bit different from the other two: It’s a child’s right to a healthy environment, free from toxins.

Children are disproportionately affected by the consequences of environmental toxins such as lead, radon, mold, and pesticides due to their developing bodies. While many other advocacy groups hone in on a specific chemical or region, the center’s focus is on developing a human rights framework to address a child’s right to a healthy space.

“Advocating for the rights of children can often be perceived as broad and abstract,” Walts said.  “It’s less tangible than direct services or discreet research projects.”

In addition to providing basic services for children, Walts said it is important for the center to advocate for the fundamental premise of children as rights holders.

“They are not passive objects. They deserve additional protections and advocacy on their behalf because of their age, their development, and to ensure we give them every opportunity to be healthy, empowered, incredible adults.”