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Child
Prostitution The Commercial Sexual
Exploitation of Children Resources
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Background
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CAUTION: There
is always a risk in posting links to external websites. Some of the following links may possibly
lead to websites that present information that is unsubstantiated, misleading
or even false. Their authenticity has
not been verified and their content has not been validated. AIDS coverage in the media pays
little or no attention to the prostituted women, girls, and children who
suffer greatly from this disease’s impact. Frontline’s two-part series, The
Age of AIDS (May 2006), is a good example. The show’s point of view is
relentlessly male, even though one of the co-producers and writers is a
woman, Renata Simone. The show praises “the condom king” of Thailand for
slowing the spread of AIDS, but fails to note that the policy of putting 100
condoms by every brothel bed continues to enslave women, girls, and children
in that country’s multi-billion-dollar sex industry. Child Sex Tourism [CST] entails
tourists, mostly men, engaged in sex trafficking by purposely traveling to
known sex destinations, seeking anonymity in pornography or prostitution, or
engaging in pederasty with young children and homosexuality with young and
older adults. Poverty
Enables Child Sex Exploitation In countries such as Thailand,
child sexual exploitation builds on a long-standing and vast prostitution
industry, and thrives where law enforcement is weak or corrupt. That sex with
young teens is not a strong taboo in some Asian cultures makes fighting the
problem even more difficult. The global sex market is a huge
part of trafficking, and "younger children are more in demand,"
said Smolenski. "Teen girls are sold products," and even in the
U.S. it's not unusual to see girls as young as 11 or 12 being trafficked for
sex, she said. Smolenski and others
highlighted how child sex trafficking and sex tourism - people traveling
abroad to garner sex - come together around the world. "Some people do go on vacation ... to
exploit the local population," she said, pointing to well-known hot
spots like Thailand and Costa Rica. And traffickers often import women and
children specifically for tourists, Smolenski said. "It's basically like bringing your
product to market," she said. And in the eyes of much of the world,
these kids "are seen as criminals who need to be locked up." Notes
For An Address at the World Congress Against CSEC, Stockholm, Sweden What makes this practice so evil?
It is the calculated victimization of the most vulnerable, the assault on the
innocence and dignity of those least able to protect themselves. The act of
forcing a child into prostitution is no less heinous than that of the sniper
in war who fixes the sights of his rifle on a child playing in the street and
coldly squeezes the trigger. Child Prostitution
Seen As Threat to Eastern Europe Victims were being recruited among
an estimated 100,000 homeless children in eastern Europe, according to the
survey by the ECPAT organization.
Child prostitution was rife in bars, hotels and around train stations.
Experts blamed local gangsters, poverty, and lax attitudes developing as a reaction
after the fall of puritanical communist regimes. Campaign Against
Exploitation of Children - Executive Summary & Recommendations In April 2000 the International
Centre for Missing and Exploited asked me to research and prepare an
investigative report on the sexual exploitation of children emanating from
the Balkan Crises. I traveled to nine countries, 20 villages and cities, and
made 26 stops within a nine-week period of time in Eastern and Western
Europe. Over 500 interviews were conducted. Child
Prostitution And Child Sex Rings Sex rings and child prostitution
involves power structures which actively recruit vulnerable children and
youth. Children used in sex rings are
often subjected to terribly cruel and sadistic physical abuse in addition to
sexual abuse. There is profound trauma associated with being used in child
prostitution and child sex rings. The
impact of the abuse can be life-long, often resulting in emotional and
physical problems as well as behavioral problems such: as prostitution,
street youth, crime and homelessness.
Survivors often lose a sense of personal power and have difficulty
making good, choices as adults. The
Unrelenting Scourge Of Child Prostitution Commercial sexual exploitation of
children is increasing worldwide. There are several reasons. These include
increased trade across borders, poverty, unemployment, low status of girls,
lack of education (including sex education) of children and their parents,
inadequate legislation, lack of or poor law enforcement and the eroticization
of children by the media, a phenomenon increasingly seen in industrialized
countries. Domestic Sex
Trafficking of Minors Among children and teens living on
the streets in the United States, involvement in commercial sex activity is a
problem of epidemic proportion. Approximately 55% of street girls engage in
formal prostitution. The average age
at which girls first become victims of prostitution is 12-14. It is not only
the girls on the streets that are affected -- for boys and transgender youth,
the average age of entry into prostitution is 11-13. CHILDREN
IN THE SEX INDUSTRY - Although many children are forced to enter the
sex industry, others are driven to it out of economic necessity, attracted by
the high incomes they can earn. In Viet Nam, for example, children working as
prostitutes in central Hanoi can earn £630 (US$1,000) per month, when the
average monthly wage is £15 (US$25). The children are at an age of
between 10 to 18 but, in some cases they have had an age of 6. The children
mostly come from poor, rural families or are homeless children living on the
street in some city. Children are often kidnapped or sold by someone they
know to a procurer who sends the child to a third party. Children may also
search for work in a city and with false expectations they end up forced to
work in the prostitution trade. Children may also have being led to sexual
exploitation in the belief that the working conditions were good. Child
Prostitution: The Horrors Of Selling Sex HOW DOES
IT HAPPEN? - Children
end up as prostitutes as the result of a complex process involving
manipulation, violence, sexual abuse, drugs, alcohol and poverty. About Child Prostitution:
Facts (Cambodia) ·
Is there much child prostitution in Cambodia? ·
Why is there child prostitution in Cambodia? ·
Who are the offenders? · Who are the victims? · Who are the pimps? · Where does it happen? · What are the consequences? ·
What is being done? About Child
Prostitution: Myths (Cambodia) ·
Child prostitution is commonly tolerated in Cambodia ·
Asian children do not mind sexual intercourse for money ·
Sex workers look younger than their actual age ·
My money helps this child and his family ·
It is an Asian tradition that I need to explore ·
Children want to explore their sexuality ·
She/he is not a prostitute, she/he is my girlfriend/boyfriend The Dutroux Multiple
Kidnapping, Abuse and Murder Case One of the most shocking stories
of the 1990's surfaced in Charleroi, Belgium. In 1996-AUG, Marc Dutroux
confessed to abducting young girls. Newspaper reports allege that he ran a
business in which girls were kidnapped, that the girls were confined in cells
in the basement of one of his houses, that he sold each for tens of thousands
of dollars, and that he transported them out of the country for a life of
child prostitution. Promotion
and Protection of the Rights of Children 97. Every photograph or videotape
of child pornography is evidence of that child's abuse. The distribution of
that depiction repeats the victimization over and over again, long after the
original material was created. A case in point is the death by suicide of a
12-year-old boy in Upper Austria, who killed himself after discovering, in
addition to the trauma of being sexually abused by an older man, that
photographs of those abusive acts had been posted on the Internet. 5.1
Middle East - State of CSEC/ Attitudes toward CSEC [PDF] In the
wealthy oil producing states, (e.g. Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Oman etc),
foreigners are often the unfortunate victims of commercial sexual
exploitation. The financial ability to
contribute to CSEC, the lack of legal protection measures for foreign
children, and the low status of foreigners in society, contributes to
CSEC. Additionally, the high numbers
of male foreign workers in these countries create a large demand for
prostitution. Child Prostitution
On The Rise In Brazil The
prostitution of girls in Brazil is the direct consequence of years of
economic recession, and the low status afforded to women in the country. Because women have a limited access to
occupations and resources, they are the ones hardest hit during economic
crises. With the growth of the tourism
industry, selling their bodies has become a way for poor girls to have access
to the dollars of tourists. A more
significant factor in understanding the process by which young girls become
the victims of sexual exploitation is their estrangement from home and
family. The vast majority of girls and young women in this situation have at
some time been reported as 'missing from home' and separation from family
life and friends is a key element of the sexually exploitative relationship.
Physical and emotional isolation helps create and sustain the total
dependency of the young girl on her 'boyfriend' who controls where she goes,
who she sees, even what she wears. Children
Who Are Sexually Exploited Children
who are sexually exploited are exposed to abuse and assault, which robs them
of their childhood, self-esteem and opportunities for good health, education
and training. It is important that the children involved are regarded
as victims of abuse and at risk of significant harm. Scott Murray, Putting An End To
Child Prostitution On the
supply side, one of the difficulties that girls face within the family can be
a lack of support for their own needs above those of the family. Our Thai
colleagues worry that traditional attitudes to children, especially girl
children, as subordinate to the needs of the family, make it easier to
sacrifice a child to the sex industry. Combating
Child Prostitution in Colombia With an unemployment rate close to
20 percent, it is virtually impossible for many displaced to find legitimate
jobs. The majority of them work in the informal sector peddling cheap goods
or shining shoes on the streets while some have turned to crime in order to
survive. Many parents send their
children out into the streets to help support the family by stealing, selling
chewing gum and cigarettes, or worse, selling themselves. Ironically child prostitution is a
special category of rigorous case of child labor and it raises more troubling
ethical problems than child labor in general. THINK OF ALL THE THINGS THAT YOU
NEED IDENTIFICATION TO
do - An estimated one million children (mainly girls, but also many boys) enter
the multi-billion dollar commercial sex trade every year. Countries that
ratify the Optional Protocol on the sale of children, child prostitution and
child pornography agree to include in their criminal code the sale of
children, illegal adoption, child prostitution and pornography. These types
of rights violations happen across national borders as children are moved
from one country to another. Because of this, the Optional Protocol asks that
governments agree to cooperate to stop the transfer of children, and for
public awareness, information and education campaigns to protect children
from these serious violations of their rights. Child
Prostitution in Nepal/India Every year, thousands of Nepalese
girls, some as young as 11 are sent to or procured for brothels in the big
Indian cities, like Bombay or Calcutta.
They are often the daughters of poor farming families, where everyone
must help with the family income. The
Modern Scourge of Sex Slavery The Children, the Desperate, the
Helpless, the Homeless Fall Victim to the Heartless. Child
Prostitution a Global Problem Boys as well as girls are being
prostituted and, according to the report, some of the children are as young
as ten years old. "Most of these children are exploited by local men, although
some are also exploited by pedophiles and foreign tourists" Forced
Labor: The Prostitution of Children (Symposium Proceedings) (PDF) Many of
the girls who end up as child prostitutes in Latin American countries have
chosen a sexually exploitative life on the streets, rather than suffer
continued family violence and male incest in their own homes. 10 Reasons for
Not Legalizing Prostitution SUMMARY - As countries are considering
legalizing and decriminalizing the sex industry, we urge you to consider the
ways in which legitimating prostitution as work does not empower the women in
prostitution but does everything to strengthen the sex industry. |