The Issue
Forms of Child Sexual Exploitation
The child sex trade is a global issue that affects two million children around the world each year. The multi-billion dollar child sex trafficking industry exploits the poorest of the poor by forcing hundreds of thousands of children to sell themselves in order to survive. The child sex trade encompasses many forms of exploitation including: child prostitution, child sex trafficking, child pornography, and child sex tourism.
A victim of the child sex trade may be forced into prostitution, sex trafficked, or exploited via child pornography. Child sex trafficking is defined as the transportation of a child from his/her homeland to another place for the purpose of forced sexual labor. Child pornography is the sale or distribution of any sexually explicit representations of children. Other forms of CSEC include underage marriage, the sale or transfer or child sex organs, and child sex tourism. Child sex tourism occurs when tourists visit cities with the explicit purpose of sexually exploiting children. Travel agencies regularly organize sex tours for clients.
Child Rights
Because children are especially vulnerable, law enforcement must focus on protecting their rights. People have come together from all around the world to create "The Convention of the Rights of the Child" (CRC) which outlines the basic rights of children. The CRC consists of 54 articles as well as two Optional Protocols. Some rights that are laid out in the Convention include those that improve healthcare, education, legal services, etc. The Optional Protocols address some of the worst forms of exploitation that children are subject to such as child pornography and child prostitution.
For more information on child rights and on the CRC go to http://www.unicef.org/crc/
Statistics
- There are over 2 million children around the world that are sexually exploited every year. This number is approximate due to the hidden nature of CSEC.
- About 1/3 of the 250,000 child soldiers around the world today are girls. Adult soldiers often use girl child soldiers as sex slaves.
- Lowest estimates suggest that over 325,000 youth in the United States are prostituted.
- About 25% of sex tourists outside the United States are American.
- In some countries such as Guatemala, children account for up to 80% of the prostitution population.
- Over 60 million women aged 20-24 were married/in union before the age of 18.
- In the United States, one in five children who regularly use the Internet are approached by strangers for sex.
- Asia is the worst effected area of child prostitution. One million children are sexually exploited on this continent alone.
- One study found that 60-70% of child prostitutes in Thailand are HIV positive.
- The sexual exploitation of children is illegal in most countries around the world.
- The vast majority of trafficked children, of which there are about 1.2 million per year, are girls. In West and Central Africa, nearly 90% of trafficked domestic workers, who are at high risk for sexual abuse, are girls.
- The youngest reported case of sexual exploitation is of a 5-month-old baby.
- The average age of entry into prostitution in the United States is 13 years old.
Sources
www.ecpat.net
www.unicef.com
www.freethechildren.com
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