At the expense of children : A study of how orphanage tourism drives child trafficking and how it affects the children.

Abstract: This study raises the issue of the trafficking of children in favor of voluntourism and orphanage tourism. The phenomenon of tourists who engage in volunteer work during a holiday has increased into a considerable form of tourism and turned in to a profitable business.  This thesis is questioning what factors triggers children to be trafficked and sexual exploited within the phenomenon of orphanage tourism and voluntourism. To conclusion of this thesis will question how the phenomenon affects the children.  This study is an abductive, qualitative desk-study with a thematic text analysis. The analysis is based on Braun and Clarke’s (2006) six step model where themes are constructed from the findings. The elements that the children within this phenomenon are affected by were categorized into these themes. The themes were afterwards analyzed individually in order to create a holistic picture of how they impact children.  The empirical data are all from secondary and tertiary sources out of both academia and media. The findings have been analyzed with the theoretical framework of Johan Galtung and his definition of presence of violence. Galtung’s concept of structural violence has been applied to analyze what drives children to be trafficked- and sexually exploited in connection to orphanage tourism, as well as how this effected the children.  The thesis suggests that the main factor, which fuels children to be trafficked in this context, is the demand for accessible children. Orphanage tourism has become a profitable business and a loophole for the corrupt to gain money on socially vulnerable families. This by presenting them to tourist who pay money in good faith and dedicate time from their vacation in belief that they are doing good.  The thesis addresses how structural violence is present and how it contributes to the phenomenon of orphanage tourism to keep operating by trafficking children in favor of it. It is also shown that psychological stress within various dimensions, which the children are exposed to, lower their actual realization from the potential. The exploitation they live under leaves the children in a disempowered position, without control of their social condition, which is argued to make a significant difference between their potential life expectancy and actual life expectancy.