Exploring the risks of human trafficking and exploitation of children in the gaming industry | sportanddev.org – sportanddev.org

This research has culminated in their first report, “Esports: Exploring the Risks of Human Trafficking and Exploitation of Children in the Gaming Industry”.

It contains a thorough review of the pertinent discussions around the trafficking and exploitation of children online, the vulnerabilities and susceptibilities that children and the field of sports face, and a review of the relevant international legislation around child trafficking and exploitation.

Additionally, this report contains the preliminary framework to address child trafficking and exploitation in esports; informed by the 4 Ps (prevention, protection, prosecution & partnership), and the preliminary Risk Audit; a tool for relevant stakeholders to use in assessing their organizations' strengths and weaknesses in protecting children from exploitation. 

“With this inception report, the Applied Research Project team has made great strides in identifying the lack of information on the possible risks of child trafficking in Esports. Plus, the team was able to identify several instances where Esports can pose specific risks to children. Their preliminary risk audit turns these concerns into a practical assessment, thus having the potential of becoming an important document to create coordinated and concerted action among relevant stakeholders to tackle such pressing issues.” – Juliana, Geneva Graduate Institute

Some of the highlights of the report include the fundamentally different nature of exploitation in esports compared to traditional sports, the vulnerabilities and susceptibilities children and esports face, and the lack of previous research on this topic. 

Usually in traditional sports, the exploitation and trafficking of young athletes involves their physical movement/recruitment. Hence, international legislation (such as the Palermo Protocols) have included this aspect of physical movement/recruitment as a part of their legal definition of trafficking. However, in esports, it is likely that a child does not have to be moved physically, or recruited, in order to be exploited.

“There seems to be a paradoxical reality of children both in countries with high internet access and low internet access facing particular risk in gaming.” – Benjamin Sinan Welch, Geneva Graduate Institute

In terms of vulnerabilities and susceptibilities, the research has found the public space video games provide, with common goals, achievements, and engaging visual stimulus, to be reasons video games are a preferred environment for traffickers and offenders to commit crimes. Additionally, “what appears to be the typical markers of increased vulnerability for those in the virtual world are their age, gender and geographical location.” Interestingly, socioeconomic status does not seem to be a significant indicator of risk as it is in traditional sports. 

Ultimately, what has been reaffirmed through this report is that there are a plethora of potential risks children face in being exploited and trafficked in video games and esports. However, these potential risks have not been researched, observed, nor reported enough. One of the fundamental concerns is that, given the evident existence of potential risks, this dearth of information on the topic could be due to a lack of awareness, rather than a lack of occurrence. 

“The gaming sector has grown to become a major economic force, but this rapid growth in value makes it more attractive to unscrupulous individuals who threaten the safety of young  people online. Indeed, there are known risks that are inherent to the participation of young people in online activities, and we aim to assess these potential risks of exploitation and trafficking, and in doing so develop a governance and safeguarding  framework in which e-sport organisations can protect the welfare of young e-athletes.” – Lerina Bright, Executive Director, Mission 89

These are important starting points to begin exploring this field that are contained and detailed in the report itself.

The work Mission 89 and the research team at the Geneva Graduate Institute are conducting is ongoing, now moving heavily into the interview phase. It would be greatly appreciated for anyone who feels they may contribute to contact [email protected].