Human Trafficking in [Zimbabwe] [other countries]Street Children in [Zimbabwe] [other countries]Child Prostitution in [Zimbabwe |
Child Prostitution The Commercial Sexual Exploitation of
Children The |
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Dept of Labor Bureau of International Labor Affairs INCIDENCE
AND NATURE OF CHILD LABOR - Over the past few years, the number of children living on the
streets has continued to rise and there are reports of children involved in
commercial sexual exploitation. CHILD
LABOR LAWS AND ENFORCEMENT - The Penal Code prohibits children from visiting or residing in a
brothel, and prohibits anyone from causing the seduction, abduction, or
prostitution or children. Under the Sexual Offenses Act of 2001, a person
convicted of prostituting a child under the age of 12 years is subject to a
fine of up to ZWD 35,000 (USD 6.00) or imprisonment of up to 7 years. Bur of Democracy,
Human Rights & Labor - Country
Reports on Human Rights Practices - 2005 CHILDREN - There were an estimated 1.3
million HIV/AIDS orphans by year's end, and the number was increasing. The
number of AIDs orphans (including children who lost one as well as both
parents) was about 10 percent of the country's population. Many grandparents
were left to care for the young, and, in some cases, children or adolescents
headed families and were forced to work to survive. AIDS orphans and foster
children were at high risk for child abuse. Some children were forced to turn
to prostitution as a means of income. According to local custom, other family
members inherit before children, leaving many children destitute. Many such
children were unable to obtain birth certificates, which then prevented them
from obtaining social services. TRAFFICKING
IN PERSONS - There
were reports of child prostitution, trafficking in children, and child labor.
NGOs reported an increase in child prostitution since Operation Restore
Order. As with adults, reports suggested that those children in desperate
economic circumstances, especially those in families headed by children, were
most at risk. One local NGO reported that traffickers took girls from rural
areas to city brothels in cities under the false pretenses of job or marriage
promises. The NGO reported that rural girls were sometimes trafficked to
farms as agricultural labor or to urban areas as domestic labor, where they
were sometimes sexually abused. A
15-Year-Old's Story of Prostitution Tambudzai, age 15, grew up on a farm in Mazowe, northeast of Harare. Her mother died in a bus
accident when she was barely six. Her father was a farm laborer, and after
the farm was sold to new owners they were forced to leave. Her father died a
few months later after succumbing to a bout of malaria. Following his death, poverty was
unavoidable. Tambudzai was expelled from school for
non-payment of fees, and none of her father's relatives offered to help. Her
dream of becoming a nurse had been shattered. Left to fend for herself, she
was lured into the venality of city life and found herself in Harare. There she met other girls of her age who
were already into prostitution, and she gave in to irresistible temptation. AIDS,
Pregnancy and Poverty Trap Ever More African Girls But for the last 25 years, the
trends had been positive. African girls, like girls elsewhere, were marrying
later, and a growing percentage were in school. The AIDS epidemic now threatens to take
away those hard-won gains. Orphaned and impoverished by the deaths of
parents, girls here are being propelled into sex at shockingly early ages to
support themselves, their siblings and, all too often, their own children. In ECPAT:
Fifth Report on implementation of the Agenda for Action [DOC] [B]
COUNTRY UPDATES – CHILDREN: Those The Anti-AIDS Campaigners Forget Generally, the boys do odd jobs
such as guarding parked cars, while the girls beg. But destitution transforms many children of
both sexes into easy prey for people who sexually exploit them in exchange
for a little money, warm clothes, a pair of old shoes or simply a hot meal.
The children's immaturity and powerlessness make them less likely than, for
example, commercial sex workers, to insist on condoms. This increases their
chances of being infected with sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) and HIV. [4.1] FACTORS PREDISPOSING CHILDREN TO
COMMERCIAL SEXUAL EXPLOITATION – INTRODUCTION - [7]
Demand for Sexual Services: The phenomenon of sugar daddies and sugar mummies
is common in the region in countries such as Kenya, Swaziland, Lesotho, South
Africa, and Mozambique and is steadily rising in Zimbabwe. Children are
wooed by gifts, presents, money and other material rewards in return to sex.
Sex tourism is growing due to an influx of tourists in the region. Pimps,
madams, middlemen and parents or others facilitate child prostitution in many
societies within the region. Child prostitution occurs in brothels,
massage parlors, streets, bars and discotheques. Lower prices charged by
young girls sometimes fuel the demand for child prostitutes. The girl prostitutes
are easily controlled by bar owners and ‘madams’ and hence owners of brothels
seek out young girls since they can easily be exploited. All material used herein
reproduced under the fair use exception of 17 USC §
107 for noncommercial, nonprofit, and educational use |
Human Trafficking in [Zimbabwe] [other countries]Street Children in [Zimbabwe] [other countries]Child Prostitution in [Zimbabwe