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

Child Prostitution

The Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children

Republic of Latvia [ Country-by-Country Reports ]

The Republic of Latvia [map] is located in, north central Europe. It is bordered by Estonia (N), by Lithuania (S), by the Baltic Sea with the Gulf of Riga (W), by Russia (E), and by Belarus (SE). Riga is the capital and largest city. Latvia has a child population of 560,000 out of a total of around 2.4 million inhabitants.

CAUTION:  The following links and accompanying text have been culled from the web to illuminate the situation in Latvia. 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.

U.S. Dept of Labor Bureau of International Labor Affairs

INCIDENCE AND NATURE OF CHILD LABOR - Statistics on the number of working children under the age of 15 in Latvia are unavailable. However, the commercial sexual exploitation of children is known to exist. Prostitution by both boys and girls remains a problem. It is estimated that up to 15 percent of prostitutes in Latvia are children between 8 and 18 years old. Victims from Latvia are trafficked to countries in Western Europe, including Germany, Switzerland, Denmark, Spain, Greece, Italy, and UK for the purposes of sexual exploitation.

Bur of Democracy, Human Rights & Labor - Country Reports on Human Rights Practices - 2005

CHILDREN - Child prostitution remained a problem. During the year the police reported that, due to the imposition of severe penalties for rape and sexual exploitation of minors, the reported incidence of child prostitution sharply declined. According to the police, previous estimates that 12 to 15 percent of prostitutes were between the ages of 8 and 18 were exaggerated and during the year noted that there were only a few reported cases. Nevertheless, legal protections for offenses committed against children were rarely enforced in the case of child prostitutes.

Concluding Observations of the Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC) - 2001

[47] The Committee notes with concern that prostitution is rapidly spreading among minors and that the only rehabilitation programs available are short term.

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

[B] COUNTRY UPDATES – LATVIA – Although the Latvian government approved the National Program for the Prevention of Sexual Abuse of Children 2000-2004, no information has been received concerning its implementation. Last year a case of child pornography and prostitution involving 200 children was uncovered, and it is estimate that 30 per cent of the prostituted children on the streets in Riga are girls.

Latvia Bans Child Models

Latvia has banned under-18s from working as models or taking part in beauty contests, in reaction to a child prostitution and pornography scandal that has rocked the country. The scandal, which allegedly involves members of the government, broke last year when directors of a local beauty contest and model agency, were arrested for procuring boys and selling pedophile videos.

Latvia

MINORS IN SEX WORK - Three surveys can be used for the description of situation with minors in sex business in Latvia. A survey (Kurova, Zarina 1997) showed that nearly every fourth prostitute is younger then 18 years old. The peak of adolescent prostitution was in time of big economical changes in Latvia in the early 90s and in the mid-90s. Adolescent prostitutes work mostly in parks, markets; on train station and they offer services for very small amount of money, often for doze of drug or even food (Vavere, Mozalevskis, 2000)

PPAT-Estonia - Project for the Prevention of Adolescent Trafficking in Estonia

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY - At the Women & Democracy Conference held June 2001 in Lithuania a number of youth serving organizations began a dialogue to discuss their shared concern about how to address the recent increase in youth trafficking in their countries.  The Project for the Prevention of Adolescent Trafficking in Latvia (PPAT-Latvia) emerged as a model program for preventing youth from becoming victims of human trafficking through education and awareness rising.

The Incidence of Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children in the Baltic Sea Region

Although statistical data on the issue of commercial sexual exploitation of children are lacking in every country in the Baltic Sea Region, it is learned that in Latvia the number of prostitutes is approximately 3,000, and that about 10-12% of the prostitutes are juveniles. Furthermore, 30% of these juvenile prostitutes are under the age of 16. They are the ones most in demand in the brothels. All prostitution in Latvia is said to be organized.

Reports to Treaty Bodies - Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC)¹

http://www.hri.ca/fortherecord2001/vol5/latviatb.htm

The Committee recommended that the government implement the National Program for the Prevention of Sexual Violence for 2000-2004, in particular its rehabilitation and reintegration aspects; undertake a study of commercial sexual exploitation and abuse of children in order to understand its scope and causes and to develop programs for monitoring the problem and to prevent and combat it.

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