A report conducted by International Organization for Migration (IOM) and François-Xavier Bagnoud Center for Health and Human Rights at Harvard University (FXB) revealed that more than half of child trafficking victims are trafficked within their own countries. The report also found that in cases of international trafficking, children are mostly trafficked to neighbouring, wealthier countries.   Close to half of the child victims of trafficking were being trafficked for forced labour (mainly boys), in a wide range of industries, such as domestic work, begging and agriculture. Sexual exploitation, including through prostitution, pornography, and sexual servitude, is also prominent — affecting 20 percent of trafficked children, predominantly girls.    According to the report titled ‘From Evidence to Action: Twenty Years of IOM Child Trafficking Data to Inform Policy and Programming’, child victims trafficked for sexual exploitation were commonly trafficked internationally, while those trafficked for forced labour were more likely to be trafficked domestically. Involvement of family and friends in their recruitment, is a prominent trend with more than half of child victims experiencing this. Read: US condemns murder of labour leader Shahidul Islam, calls on authorities to hold perpetrators accountable Irina Todorova, Head of IOM’s Core Protection Unit said, “The report shows that child trafficking is a multifaceted and complex phenomenon that continues to spread and evolve within and across borders. No age range, no gender, and no nationality is immune to child trafficking; it is a truly global phenomenon.” For instance, boys were almost twice as likely to be trafficked as children than girls and had 39 percent less likelihood of being trafficked internationally than domestically, as compared to girls, it said. The report further stated that victims with little or no education were more than 20 times more likely to be trafficked than victims who had attended high school while children from low-income countries were five times more likely to be trafficked as a child (rather than as an adult) when compared to victims from high-income countries.   Read: Better flood management: China offers assistance for dredging rivers in Bangladesh

The executive board of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has approved a set of policy reforms to the concessional lending facilities to better support the recovery of low-income countries (LICs) from the COVID-19 pandemic. "These reforms are set to ensure that the Fund has the capacity to respond flexibly to LICs' needs over the medium term while continuing to provide concessional loans at zero interest rates," the IMF said Thursday in a statement. The centerpiece of the policy reforms that were approved by the IMF executive board last week is a 45 percent increase in the normal limits on access to concessional financing, coupled with the elimination of hard limits on access for the poorest countries, according to the IMF. Also read: IMF upgrades global growth forecast to 6 pct in 2021 "The decision to raise access limits is not a directive to lend more across all IMF programs," Sean Nolan, deputy director of the IMF's strategy policy and review department, told reporters. "It provides the flexibility to provide more zero interest financing for countries with strong economic programs to handle the pandemic and the path to full recovery," Nolan said. The IMF executive board also approved a two-stage funding strategy to cover the cost of pandemic-related concessional lending and support the sustainability of the Poverty Reduction and Growth Trust (PRGT), which is tailored to the diverse needs of low-income countries. In the first stage, the IMF will seek to secure about 4 billion U.S. dollars in subsidy resources needed to finance zero interest lending from the PRGT. Meanwhile, the IMF will seek to mobilize about 18 billion dollars in new PRGT loan resources from PRGT lenders. Also read: IMF revises up S. Korea's 2021 economic growth outlook amid pandemic The move came as the demand from low-income countries for IMF financial support is expected to remain high over the next few years. The IMF has provided financial support to 53 of 69 eligible low-income countries in 2020 and in the first half of 2021, with about 14 billion dollars disbursed as zero percent interest rate loans from the PRGT.