Cultural perspectives on child trafficking, human rights & social justice: A model for psychologists

Abstract

Every region in the world is affected by some form of human trafficking. This article discusses the complex factors involved in child trafficking from a cultural perspective. The role of the psychologist in addressing human rights and social issues such as child trafficking is also discussed. The article also provides recommendations on how psychologists can be proactive advocates on human rights issues and the Multi-Level Model of Psychotherapy, Social Justice and Human Rights (MLM) in working with human trafficking issues on individual, community, societal and global levels.

Keywords:

• child trafficking
• human trafficking
• human rights
• social justice
• forced migration
• Asian culture
• Multi-Level Model of Psychotherapy
• Social Justice and Human Rights
• advocacy

Acknowledgements

This article is based on a presentation on United Nations Psychology Day in New York on 19 November 2008. The presentation was part of a panel that was titled: Psychological Perspectives on the Abuse of Power.

Declaration of interest: The author reports no conflicts of interest. The author alone is responsible for the content and writing of the paper.