C S E C The Commercial Sexual
Exploitation of Children In the early years of the 21st Century, 2000 to
2025 gvnet.com/childprostitution/Congo.htm
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CAUTION: The following links and
accompanying text have been culled from the web to illuminate the situation
in HOW TO USE THIS WEBPAGE Students If you are looking
for material to use in a term-paper, you are advised to scan the postings on
this page and others to see which aspects of child prostitution are of
particular interest to you. You might
be interested in exploring how children got started, how they survive, and
how some succeed in leaving. Perhaps
your paper could focus on runaways and the abuse that led to their
leaving. Other factors of interest
might be poverty, rejection, drug dependence, coercion, violence, addiction,
hunger, neglect, etc. On the other hand,
you might choose to write about the manipulative and dangerous adults who
control this activity. There is a lot
to the subject of Child Prostitution.
Scan other countries as well as this one. Draw comparisons between activity in
adjacent countries and/or regions.
Meanwhile, check out some of the Term-Paper resources
that are available on-line. Teachers Check out some of
the Resources
for Teachers attached to this website. ***
FEATURED ARTICLE *** Five Years After ECPAT: Fifth Report
on implementation of the Agenda for Action ECPAT International,
November 2001 www.no-trafficking.org/content/web/05reading_rooms/five_years_after_stockholm.pdf [accessed 13
September 2011] [B] COUNTRY UPDATES – DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO (DRC)– In the DRC, there are a number of well known CSEC phenomena. “Shegues” is a phenomenon describing young children between the age of 13 and 16 who have left home and live and survive solely from prostitution in the street. “Kamuke” or “Petit Poussins” refers to young boys aged between 10 to 17 who are offered money and luxury goods by older businesswomen in exchange for sex. “Filles Londoniennes” are girls aged between 12 and 15 who offer sexual services in exchange for money in urban areas of the country. In the DRC, the practice also exists whereby a visiting local dignitary is given a young girl by his hosts to satisfy his sexual pleasures. This practice is referred to as “Filles Encadreurs.” However, reports indicate that as a result of local campaigns, this practice is no longer widespread. ***
ARCHIVES *** Human
Rights Reports » 2019 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices U.S. Dept of State Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and
Labor, March 10, 2020 [accessed 25 August
2020] SEXUAL
EXPLOITATION OF CHILDREN - The minimum age of consensual sex is 18 for both men
and women, and the law prohibits prostitution by anyone younger than age 18.
The penal code prohibits child pornography, with imprisonment of 10 to 20
years for those convicted. The law criminalizes child sex trafficking, with
conviction carrying penalties ranging from 10 to 20 years’ imprisonment and a
fine of 800,000 to 1,000,000 Congolese francs ($500 to $625). From January
through June, UNICEF assisted 3,318 children (3,193 girls and 125 boys) who
were victims of sexual exploitation. Most of these children were provided
with a holistic response including psychosocial care, medical care,
socioeconomic reintegration, and legal assistance. There were also
reports child soldiers, particularly girls, faced sexual exploitation (see
section 1.g.). 2018 Findings on
the Worst Forms of Child Labor Office of Child
Labor, Forced Labor, and Human Trafficking, Bureau of International Labor
Affairs, US Dept of Labor, 2019 www.dol.gov/sites/dolgov/files/ILAB/child_labor_reports/tda2018/ChildLaborReportBook.pdf [accessed 22 August
2020] Note:: Also check out this country’s report in the more recent edition DOL
Worst Forms of Child Labor [page 377] Although there is
strong evidence of children engaged in armed conflict, commercial sexual
exploitation, and forced labor in mining, there is a lack of information on
the overall nature of child labor because a comprehensive, stand-alone, child
labor survey has never been conducted in the DRC. (12) Concluding
Observations of the Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC) [DOC] UN Convention on the
Rights of the Child, 29 September 2006 www.unhchr.ch/tbs/doc.nsf/898586b1dc7b4043c1256a450044f331/2a3dc64e60de1887c125722700438d40/$FILE/G0644909.doc [accessed 27
February 2011] [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. Concluding
Observations of the Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC) UN Convention on the
Rights of the Child, 8 June 2001 www1.umn.edu/humanrts/crc/congo2001.html [accessed 30 January
2011] [68] The Committee
is deeply concerned by information, including for example in the State
party's report, of the trading, trafficking, kidnapping and use for
pornography of young girls and boys within the State party, or from the State
party to another country, and that domestic legislation does not sufficiently
protect children from trafficking. Children in Dan Harris, Special
for www.usatoday.com/news/world/2009-05-20-childwitch_N.htm [accessed 2 May
2011] THROWN INTO STREETS - Mushiete works with street children who have been accused
of witchcraft. He says homeless children are frequently raped and beaten,
even by police. Drug use is rampant. Girls often resort to prostitution,
leaving their own babies to sleep on the side of the road at night while they
sell themselves. –
sccp Children of Dan Balluff, Jul 15, 2008 www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ew4rd1YyD7A [accessed 2 May
2011] Dan Balluff reports that over five million people have died
during the past decade as a result of the war in the Democratic Republic of
Congo (DRC). Few people are aware of the unimaginable scale of human
suffering, death, and destruction that has occurred in this vast country deep
in the heart of Africa. In the aftermath of this brutal war, children have
endured the brunt of the suffering. This 67 minute film documents the plight
of thousands of street children living in Kinshasa and confirms the
wide-spread accusations of child witchcraft, torture and child prostitution.
The film also examines the efforts to reintegrate demobilized child soldiers,
displaced refugees, and orphaned children following the eruption of the
massive Nyiragongo volcano, near the city of Goma
in Eastern Congo. These heroic efforts are finally bringing some measure of
hope and stability to the lives of the Congolese people. UN troops in DR
Congo accused of sexual abuse Agence France-Presse AFP, m.mg.co.za/article/2008-05-14-un-troops-in-drc-accused-of-sexual-abuse [accessed 7 January
2015] The sources said
Indian MONUC peacekeepers in Masisi were accused of
paying for sex with young Congolese girls near the force's camp between
mid-2007 and early 2008. The United Nations
in 2005 stated a "zero tolerance" approach to its troops having sex
with the Congolese. MONUC logged 140 cases of alleged sexual abuse or
prostitution involving its personnel from December 2004 to August 2006. UN reports child
prostitution in Monsters and Critics
M&G News, Aug 17, 2006 www.monstersandcritics.com/news/africa/news/article_1191445.php/UN_reports_child_prostitution_in_Congo_peacekeeping_mission [accessed 4 May
2011] The UN has launched
an investigation into serious allegations that UN peacekeepers in the
Democratic Republic of Congo had engaged in financing child prostitution, a
spokesman said Thursday. The case was
first thought to have involved Congolese soldiers in the northeastern region
of South Kibu, but it was discovered that UN
peacekeepers were part of the ring of child prostitution, said Stephane Dujarric. ECPAT: UN Reforms
Aim To End Sexual Abuse By Peacekeepers UN Integrated
Regional Information Networks IRIN, www.irinnews.org/report/54326/global-un-reforms-aim-to-end-sexual-abuse-by-peacekeepers [accessed 12 March
2015] In recent years UN peace missions have been marked by allegations that some peacekeeping troops have sexually exploited the very people they were sent to protect. The alleged abuses, most notably in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), have ranged from the exchange of food, money, or goods for sex, to the sexual exploitation of minors. Suffer the Children
- The street children of CJ Maloney, March
1st, 2004 www.winne.com/news/2004/march/suffer_the_children.php [accessed 4 May
2011] [scroll down] There are female as
well as male children. The females have an advantage – if you could call it
that – in that they can sell their bodies. Child prostitution is common among
them. Age does not seem to be a barrier to entry, girls as young as five are
reported to be selling themselves for money. US
Senator Sam Brownback visits
Goma, Democratic Republic of the Congo Senator Sam
Brownback, SAM'S BLOG, Goma, December 2, 2005 At one time this
article had been archived and may possibly still be accessible [here] [accessed 4 May
2011] We listened to one
young girl's story as she held a baby on her hip. At the young age of 10
or 11 years old these girls are abducted into the militias and serve as wives
or sex-slaves to the commanders until they became pregnant and are then
turned to the streets. Others are given or sold by their own families
in the hopes that the village would be spared from violence. ***
EARLIER EDITIONS OF SOME OF THE ABOVE *** Human Rights
Reports » 2005 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices U.S. Dept of State Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and
Labor, March 8, 2006 2009-2017.state.gov/j/drl/rls/hrrpt/2005/61563.htm [accessed 7 February
2020] WOMEN - The law does not
prohibit prostitution except in cases involving children under the age of 14.
Prostitution, including child prostitution, was a problem mainly due to poor
economic conditions, and there were reports of women and girls pressured or
forced to engage in prostitution by their families. There was no statistical
information available on the extent of adult or child prostitution in the
country. Security forces encouraged prostitution and used prostitutes, and
there were unconfirmed reports that security forces harassed and raped
prostitutes. TRAFFICKING IN
PERSONS
- Internal trafficking for forced labor and forced sexual exploitation
occurred and child prostitution were reported. The majority of reported
trafficking occurred in the northeast and east. The Department of Labor’s 2004 Findings on
the Worst Forms of Child Labor www.dol.gov/ilab/media/reports/iclp/tda2004/congo-brazzaville.htm [accessed 30 January
2011] Note:: Also check out this country’s report in the more recent edition DOL
Worst Forms of Child Labor Children in the DRC
have been negatively affected by continuing armed conflict. The number of
orphans and street children is reported to be on the rise. In November 2003, the
UN Special Rapporteur to the DRC reported that there were large numbers of
child refugees and war orphans engaged in street work, including begging and
prostitution. All
material used herein reproduced under the fair use exception of 17 USC § 107
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ARTICLES. Cite this webpage as: Patt,
Prof. Martin, "Child Prostitution – Congo DRC",
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