Human Trafficking in [ROC] [other countries]
Street Children in [ROC] [other countries]
Child Prostitution in [ROC] [other countries]
 

Child Prostitution

The Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children

In the first ten years of the 21^st Century - 2000 to 2009

Republic of the Congo (ROC) The economy is a mixture of subsistence agriculture, an industrial sector based largely on oil, and support services, and a government characterized by budget problems and overstaffing. Oil has supplanted forestry as the mainstay of the economy, providing a major share of government revenues and exports. The current administration presides over an uneasy internal peace and faces difficult economic challenges of stimulating recovery and reducing poverty. [The World Factbook, U.S.C.I.A. 2009]

CAUTION:  The following links and accompanying text have been culled from the web to illuminate the situation in the Republic of the Congo (ROC). Some of these links may lead to websites that present allegations that are unsubstantiated, misleading or even false. No attempt has been made to validate their authenticity or to verify their content.

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Child prostitution on the rise in Congo

www.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&click_id=136&art_id=nw20081001173710269C792315

Child prostitution has reached alarmingly high levels in Congo, a local NGO reported on Wednesday after conducting a state-sponsored, UN funded investigation. "Prostitution increasingly affects underage girls who sometimes do not use protection. They have no money," said Elie Sosthene Nganga, the head of Attac 3 - an NGO set up to fight drugs, prostitution and HIV or Aids. "Prostitution has increased during the different cycles of (civil) war, which have divided families and provoked a change in children's behaviour to engage in sexual promiscuity to survive," she added.

A 2003 World Bank-backed study found that 120 000 people suffered from HIV or Aids in Congo, a seroprevalence rate of 4,2 percent.

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U.S. Dept of Labor Bureau of International Labor Affairs [PDF]

INCIDENCE AND NATURE OF CHILD LABOR - Children work with their families on farms or in informal business activities.1122 In Brazzaville and other urban centers, there are significant numbers of street children, primarily from the neighboring Democratic Republic of the Congo, who engage in street vending and begging. There were isolated cases of children involved in commercial sexual exploitation.1123 There are unconfirmed accounts of trafficking into the Republic of Congo of “minor relatives” of immigrants from West Africa.1124 Children from West Africa reportedly work as domestic servants, fishermen, shop workers, and street sellers.

Bur of Democracy, Human Rights & Labor - Country Reports on Human Rights Practices - 2006

CHILDREN - There were isolated cases of child prostitution among street children. The prevalence of the problem remained unclear. According to reports from international and local NGOs and other observers, these cases were not linked to trafficking but were efforts by some street children to survive. International organizations assisted with programs to feed and shelter street children.

Concluding Observations of the Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC) - 2006 [DOC]

[81] While welcoming the study on the sexual exploitation of children which is being conducted with UNICEF’s support, the Committee expresses concern at sexual harassment in schools. It is also concerned at the fact that sexual exploitation of children is a widespread practice. The Committee is also concerned at the fact that the Portella Law prohibiting the presence of children in bars and night clubs is not enforced.

[83] While noting that the State party has ratified the Convention for the Suppression of the Traffic in Persons and of the Exploitation of the Prostitution of Others on 25 August 1977, the Committee is concerned at the absence of legislation prohibiting trafficking in persons, particularly children.

Concluding Observations of the Committee on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights

21. The Committee expresses its grave concern regarding the decline of the standard of health in the Republic of the Congo. The AIDS epidemic is now taking its toll on the country, while the ongoing financial crisis has resulted in a serious shortage of funds for public health services, and for improving the water and sanitation infrastructure in urban areas. The war has caused serious damage to health facilities in Brazzaville. According to a joint study of the WHO and UNAIDS, some 100,000 Congolese, including over 5,000 children, were affected with the HIV virus at the beginning of 1997. More than 80,000 people are thought to have died from AIDS, with 11,000 deaths reported in 1997 alone. Some 45,000 children are said to have lost either their mother or both parents as a result of the epidemic.

Child prostitution on the rise in Congo

www.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&click_id=136&art_id=nw20081001173710269C792315

Child prostitution has reached alarmingly high levels in Congo, a local NGO reported on Wednesday after conducting a state-sponsored, UN funded investigation. "Prostitution increasingly affects underage girls who sometimes do not use protection. They have no money," said Elie Sosthene Nganga, the head of Attac 3 - an NGO set up to fight drugs, prostitution and HIV or Aids. "Prostitution has increased during the different cycles of (civil) war, which have divided families and provoked a change in children's behaviour to engage in sexual promiscuity to survive," she added.

A 2003 World Bank-backed study found that 120 000 people suffered from HIV or Aids in Congo, a seroprevalence rate of 4,2 percent.

The Protection Project - Republic of the Congo (ROC) [DOC]

FACTORS THAT CONTRIBUTE TO THE TRAFFICKING INFRASTRUCTURE - By 2010, an estimated 20 million children under the age of 15 in Sub-Saharan Africa will have lost one or both parents from HIV/AIDS. Those children are left extremely vulnerable to trafficking for forced labor, forced prostitution, or forced combat.

The economic collapse of the 1990s, coupled with the rise in households headed by females, may have contributed to an increase in informal prostitution.

ECPAT: Fifth Report on implementation of the Agenda for Action [DOC]

www.ecpat.net/eng/Ecpat_inter/publication/other/english/Doc_page/ecpat_5th_a4a_2001_full.doc

At one time this article had been archived and may possibly still be accessible [here]

[page 59] – REPUBLIC OF CONGO – The Republic of Congo has not yet developed a plan on CSEC. Due to instability in the country, children’s issues have not been seen as a priority. However, the NGO Centre Congolais pour la Promotion et la Défense des Droits de L’Enfant (CPDE) reports that one of its activities has been to lobby stakeholders, especially Parliament, to start work on the development of a national plan against CSEC.

Although CSEC is reported to be a very visible and increasing problem in Brazzaville and Pointe-Noire, it seems that nothing is being done to tackle it. According to CPDE, there is no cooperation on CSEC issues, no adequate child protection measures, and a lack of rehabilitation and reintegration services for victims. The NGO is reported to be the only one working on CSEC in the country

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Human Trafficking in [ROC] [other countries]
Street Children in [ROC] [other countries]
Child Prostitution in [ROC] [other countries]