Human Trafficking in [Pakistan] [other countries]Street Children in [Pakistan] [other countries]Child Prostitution in [Pakistan |
Child Prostitution The Commercial Sexual Exploitation of
Children In the
first ten years of the 21st Century -
2000 to 2009
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CAUTION: The following links and accompanying text have been culled
from the web to illuminate the situation in ***
FEATURED ARTICLE *** 95pc
teenage prostitutes were victims of abuse: Survey Ninety-five per cent of the
teenage prostitutes in Islamabad, Rawalpindi and
Lahore were sexually abused by their close relatives, friends and teachers
before they adopted the profession of granting sexual favours
for payment, a new study has found. HIV/AIDS
increasing in country www.defence.pk/forums/members-club/16954-health-news.html
Most of the 15,000-20,000
estimated child sex workers present in Though the trend of selling organs
(kidney.) for cash does not seem to have caught hold in Lahore or was not
reported, quite a few children were aware of the fact that they could sell
their blood for money if the need arose. The limited blood screening
facilities make such practice extremely unsafe and can spread HIV/AIDS on a
rapid scale. Though not a single child admitted to resorting to this
practice, they had come to know about this through adult drug addicts. ***
ARCHIVES *** www.ecpat.net/A4A_2005/PDF/South_Asia/Global_Monitoring_Report-PAKISTAN.pdf A report published in 2001 by the
National Commission for Child Welfare and Development (NCCWD) revealed the
existence of child prostitution in Pakistan, the first official admission of
this violation of children’s rights in the country. According to the report,
both girls and boys are victims of prostitution. For example, in some parts
of the North-West Frontier Province (NWFP), which borders Afghanistan, older,
wealthy men “keep” young boys for sexual gratification, while girls from the
poorest areas of the country are being taken by organised
rings to clandestine brothels in large cities. Most of the girls prostituted
in Punjab Province come from the NWFP or from Afghan refugee camps there, and
seem to be forced into prostitution when they are in their early teens. Research undertaken in 2005 by the
Working Group against Child Sexual Abuse and Exploitation and Save the
Children Sweden indicated that nomad children, children inthe
transport industry, children working in deep-sea fishing, children trafficked
for camel jockeying, girls trafficked for marriage, “massage boys” and boys
with alternate sexual identities are all to be found among the victims of
commercial sexual exploitation of children (CSEC) in Pakistan. The research
also indicated that the sexual exploitation of children occurs in many
contexts, including in the red light district of Lahore, at some religious
shrines and in schools. U.S.
Dept of Labor Bureau of International Labor Affairs INCIDENCE
AND NATURE OF CHILD LABOR - Further, the exploitation of children in the sex and drug trades
continues to be a problem. Bur of Democracy, Human
Rights & Labor - Country
Reports on Human Rights Practices - 2005 CHILDREN - Child abuse was widespread.
According to child rights NGOs, abuse was most common within families. In
rural areas, poor parents sold children as bonded laborers and at times sold
daughters to be raped by landlords. Concluding
Observations of the Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC) - 2003 [74] In view of the fact that
child sexual abuse and sexual exploitation of children are reported to be
serious problems in the State party, the Committee is concerned that the
State party has not addressed them effectively. The Committee is particularly concerned at:
(a) The absence of legislation clearly prohibiting child sexual abuse and
sexual exploitation and the lack of a clear definition of the term in the
State party, as well as the lack of legislation that clearly defines sexual
consent; (b) The absence of measures to prosecute the perpetrators; (c) The
absence of statistics and data on the issue of child sexual abuse; (d)
Traditional attitudes regarding the subject (e.g. concepts like “family
honor”), which imply that a majority of abuse cases go unreported; (e)
Reports that child sexual abuse is prevalent, and increasing, in prisons. The
‘Working Girls Of Quetta’ – Children worldblog.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2009/03/24/1858150.aspx
The 11-year-old girl blushed as she
walked into the car dealer’s showroom on Quetta’s Adalat Road in southwest Pakistan. Her 17-year-old
cousin, eyes fixed to the ground, followed her. When the younger girl asked
the owner for five rupees (6 cents), he pointed to the back room and told both
girls to follow him. POVERTY
INCREASES PROBLEM - Fathers often send their young daughters out on the
streets to earn money for the family. The girls begin by begging – some as
young as 3-years old – and as they grow older, they become part of the flourishing
sex trade in this deeply conservative city in southwest Pakistan. "The fathers of these girls are
usually drug addicts or alcoholics and the family is impoverished," said
Fauzia Baloch, a
coordinator for the Aurat Foundation, an NGO that
works for women’s rights in rural Pakistan. Male
prostitution, a hidden shame: See no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2009%5C01%5C13%5Cstory_13-1-2009_pg12_9
The Society for the Protection of
the Rights of the Child (SPARC) Regional Promotion Manager Salam Dharejo, told Daily Times
that although there are many organisations working in
the city for the protection of children and women’s rights, no one has ever
dared to address the issue of male prostitution because of the strong social
taboo attached to it. While most the city remains shut
to the idea of male prostitution, many young men have become its victims. One
such boy is Riaz Khan, 19. He is often seen
standing at the footpath between the boundary of Jahangir
Park and Dr Daudpota road, looking for customers.
On a usual day in the business, the roads are jammed and the nearby shops are
packed with clients. On Khan’s left, a barber works, unaware of his
surroundings and on his right many other teenage boys are lined up, waiting
for customers. “I started this
business when I was 11,” says the clean-shaved boy, wearing black clothes
with embroidery on the front. He has a womanish touch to his voice. His hands
are running through his hair. After completing his sentence, he winks. Riaz is one the
hundreds of teenagers who provide sexual satisfaction to homosexuals.
Nowadays, Jahangir Park is where all the action
goes down and it can also be referred to as the central point of their
business. Most of the teenaged male prostitutes start their business in the
afternoon and the dealing reaches its peak in the evening. HIV/AIDS
increasing in country www.defence.pk/forums/members-club/16954-health-news.html
Most of the 15,000-20,000
estimated child sex workers present in Though the trend of selling organs
(kidney.) for cash does not seem to have caught hold in Lahore or was not
reported, quite a few children were aware of the fact that they could sell
their blood for money if the need arose. The limited blood screening
facilities make such practice extremely unsafe and can spread HIV/AIDS on a
rapid scale. Though not a single child admitted to resorting to this
practice, they had come to know about this through adult drug addicts. Incidents
of child abuse rarely reported www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2008\11\04\story_4-11-2008_pg12_11
“We have conducted a study on
violence against street children and the data we have collected is quite
shocking, and what is most appalling is that children studying at religious
seminaries also fall victim to sexual violence,” claimed Habib.
He added that it is common practice amongst parents, especially from the
lower strata of the society, prefer to send their children to Madressahs as compared to formal schooling systems. According to the study, 21 percent
of Madressah students have been sexually abused by
their teachers. Fifty-two percent of students were sexually harassed, 28
percent had complained of unpleasant touching and 20 percent complained of
forced sex, said Habib. Almost ninety percent of sexually
violent acts against children occur on the streets, seven percent of the
children denied any sexual abuse on the streets and three percent of these
children had no idea about any such happenings. Thirty-three percent of the
children who were sexually abused on the streets revealed that they were
abused by people in police departments, while 22 percent of them held workers
of political, social and religious parties responsible, claimed Habib. This is not the end of the
shocking list, as shopkeepers, strangers, gang leaders, private security
guards and drivers were also held responsible for sexual violence. Twenty
percent of the children reported that 20 percent of strangers, 12 percent of
shopkeepers, 11 percent of gang leaders, 14 percent of private security guards
and 22 percent drivers were among the perpetuators of sexual violence against
them. - sccp Child abuse mushrooming as shops offering ‘services’
spring up www.thenews.com.pk/print1.asp?id=144233 Tauqeer went to school for a while but
soon developed a habit of running away from home. In the beginning, he
started selling tissue papers at Sea View and earned Rs100 to Rs120
daily. However, two years ago, one of
his friends, Naveed (not his real name) asked him
to visit Jahangir Park, near the Pedestrian Bridge,
(which does not exist now), “to earn more money.” According to Tauqeer,
the world of the Pedestrian Bridge “was altogether a different world.” This
was the meeting point for male child prostitutes and their clients. According to Tauqeer,
more than 300 children are engaged in this area alone. “There are two
categories of children involved. A majority are street children who earn
their livelihood through this mean. Then there are kids who belong to poor
families and visit the bridge to earn some extra money,” he says. - sccp SPARC
issues child abuse statistics www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2008%5C08%5C28%5Cstory_28-8-2008_pg7_39
PROSTITUTION - The report, ”State of
Pakistan’s Children”, presented the situation of children and their rights in
2007. It focused on health, education, child labour
and violence against children in light of the government’s policy. The report
identified the poor state of education in Pakistan. It also revealed the
phenomenon of male child prostitution, and claimed that it was widespread,
especially in big cities and near bus and train stations. “Although the
National Plan of Action to Combat Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children
had been approved in 2006, co-ordinated policies
and programmes to deal with the hazard have yet to
be implemented,” it said. Caring for children www.thenews.com.pk/daily_detail.asp?id=93308 This article has been archived by
World Street Children News and may possibly still be accessible [here] The rise in incidents of street
crime in Pakistan: poverty forces trafficking of children on the
rise www.indianmuslims.info/news/2008/jan/21/pakistan_poverty_forces_trafficking_children_rise.html At one time this article had been
archived and may possibly still be accessible [here]
While boys in impoverished parts
of rural Pakistan, particularly towns in the southern Punjab, are more likely
to be trafficked overseas, girls are trafficked more often within the
country, and sometimes sold into what amounts to little more than sexual
slavery, says the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP). HRCP has reported that in most
cases, they are given away for amounts of money ranging from US$1,300 to
$5,000 by impoverished parents, sometimes in "marriage"; and
sometimes to agents who promise lucrative jobs as domestic servants in large
cities. Many of these girls, according to
child rights groups, end up as sex workers. Some are no older than 10 at the
time of the "sale". "Hundreds of girls are
trafficked within the country each year. There are markets in the North West
Frontier Province where these victims are sold like cattle," I.A. Rehman, director of the Human Rights Commission of
Pakistan, said. - htcp 9,000 sexually-abused street-children in City www.thepost.com.pk/Arc_CityNews.aspx?dtlid=129066&catid=3&date=11/17/2007&fcatid=14 UNICEF Programme
Officer Shamshad Qureshi
announced the results of a UNICEF survey that there are 10, 000 street
children in Lahore, out of which 9,000 children have been sexually abused. He
said UNICET could reach only 3,000 sexually abused children and rehabilitate
them by giving them vocational training, psychological aid and financial
support to their parents. - sccp Horrific fate awaits children spurned by society www.thenews.com.pk/print1.asp?id=43990 At one time this article had been
archived and may possibly still be accessible [here]
Out of the approximately
12,000-14,000 street children in Karachi, 50 percent fall victim to
commercial sex exploitation, a majority of them being male children between
7-11 years of age. According to data recently revealed by NGO Azad Foundation, the number of street children in the
city rose from 10,000 - 12,000 in 2004 to 12,000 - 14,000 in 2006. She said that street children are
at a high risk of sexual abuse, targeted primarily because they are
vulnerable. Consequently, some children begin to offer sexual services to
these people and become involved in ‘survival sex’. “Saddar
is the hub of street children from all areas of Karachi,” says Aqsa Zainab of Azad Foundation, adding that child abusers are mostly
found near shrines where ‘langar’ is distributed or
near railway stations where they arrive from other cities. It is from here
the young boys are kidnapped and sold as commercial sex workers. - htsccp Families play a direct role in
promoting child prostitution as well. Particularly within families themselves
involved in sex work, the guilt factor is deployed to chide young girls into
the profession, as if their sexual activity were vital for the survival of
their female-headed households. Girls who enter the profession do often end
up supporting their own mothers, grandmothers and several siblings. It is no
wonder that young girls are considered an economic asset within a family of
sex workers. Personal decisions to enter prostitution, albeit emerging from a
larger process of socialisation, also cannot be
discounted. Families of young sex workers do not think their daughters
capable of doing anything else. They deprive them of education and exposure
to the larger world, so that these young girls hardly have any other options
in life. Social ostracisation of such families
further reinforces this generational perpetuation of prostitution. On the flip side is the demand for
under-age sex workers. Seemingly oblivious to a term like paedophilia,
clients can boisterously demand to have sex with a young girl, provided they
have the required money to pay for her services. Instead of feeling guilty,
these clients are reassured by myths of male virility being boosted due to
sex with younger girls. 95pc
teenage prostitutes were victims of abuse: Survey Ninety-five per cent of the
teenage prostitutes in Islamabad, Rawalpindi and
Lahore were sexually abused by their close relatives, friends and teachers
before they adopted the profession of granting sexual favours
for payment, a new study has found. Indo-Pak girls forced into prostitution In a startling case of organised women trafficking that has come to light, Pakistani
and Indian girls aged between 11 and 13 are being smuggled to the Middle East
countries for being forced into prostitution there. The girls, who are shown
as aged between 20 and 22 on their passports, are brought to these countries
on the pretext of getting them attracting jobs. - htcp 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] [B]
COUNTRY UPDATES – PAKISTAN – Another study was conducted this year in Pakistan. The NGO
Coalition on Child Rights NWFP Pakistan released its research on ‘Community
Perceptions about Male Child Sex Abuse in the North West Frontier Province of
Pakistan’. The research shows that there is a high prevalence of boys
involving in CSEC in northwest Child
Prostitution Flourishes In Peshawar Children continue to serve as
prostitutes in Political Executions, Child Prostitution, and Forced
Marriage at the Age of 9 www.ngochr.org/view/index.php?basic_entity=DOCUMENT&list_ids=521 At one time this article had been
archived and may possibly still be accessible [here]
Child prostitution has risen 635
percent in recent years. Dozens of Iranian girls are brought to Despite the verbal commitments of
all the governments of past and present no measures have been taken against
the child prostitution and nothing has been achieved in that direction.
Prostitution by children continues to flourish unhindered. Child Rights www.sparcpk.org/crs_child_rights.php At one time this article had been
archived and may possibly still be accessible [here]
SPARC AT
THE PRE-SESSIONAL WORKING GROUP OF THE 34TH SESSION - On October 31, 2001, Taking the Lid Off Child Prostitution archives.econ.utah.edu/archives/marxism/2000w48/msg00142.htm At one time this article had been
archived and may possibly still be accessible [here] There is hardly any day without a
customer. His usual clients are
travelers changing buses at Girls are usually forced into
prostitution when they are about 11 years old because their young age fetches
a good price to the traffickers. Adolescent and Youth Reproductive Health in Pakistan [PDF] Ch.3 ARH issues/Sexual abuse and
forced sex work/page 21 MALE CHILD PROSTITUTION - In Pakistan, male
prostitutes are believed to be cheaper for clients than female
prostitutes. The prime age for male
prostitutes is between 15 and 25. It
is likely that even less is known about their working environment and
specific problems because the social taboos against boys admitting to sex
with male clients are even greater than they are for girls. Changing Attitudes
Key to Ending Child Sex Trade Up to 200,000 women and children
are sold into servitude in All material used herein
reproduced under the fair use exception of 17 USC § 107 for noncommercial,
nonprofit, and educational use. PLEASE
RESPECT COPYRIGHTS OF COMPONENT ARTICLES.
Cite this webpage as: Patt, Prof. Martin,
"Child Prostitution - |
Human Trafficking in [Pakistan] [other countries]Street Children in [Pakistan] [other countries]Child Prostitution in [Pakistan