Every day, children across the world are subjected to harmful forms of exploitation in prostitution. It is not restricted to a particular region of the world and equally affects boys and girls. The exploitation of children in prostitution is a violation of a child’s rights and dignity. It manifests itself in several different forms which include child trafficking, child sex tourism, online exploitation, and child marriage.
Defining the exploitation of children in prostitution
The exploitation of children in prostitution has, for many years, been incorrectly labelled as ‘child prostitution’. This term has not been recommended since 2019 when the Committee on the Rights of the Child advocated for its elimination from global legislation and policy in the Guidelines Regarding the Implementation of the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography (OPSC Guidelines) (ECPAT, 2020).
This outdated term misleadingly implies children are able to consent to, and participate in, prostitution. This has two major implications. First, policies and laws fail to recognise that children are victims of exploitation by their de facto involvement in any form of prostitution. Second, incorrectly labelling children as consenting adults allows them to be prosecuted for criminal activity, despite the fact that their involvement in prostitution is illegal in and of itself (ECPAT, 2020).
Commercial sexual exploitation is defined as “exploitation by an adult with respect to a child or an adolescent – female or male – under eighteen years old; accompanied by a payment in money or in kind to the child or adolescent (male or female) or to one or more third parties” (International Labour Organization, n.d).
Commercial exploitation of children includes (International Labour Organization, n.d):
- Child sex tourism;
- Trafficking of children for the sex trade;
- Using children in public or private sex shows;
- The production, promotion and distribution of child pornography;
- The use of children in sexual activities that are remunerated in cash or kind, taking place in brothels, bars, hotels, massage parlours, restaurants, clubs, on the streets or indoors.
Types of child sexual exploitation
Sale and trafficking of children for sexual purposes
Under Article 2 and 3 of the Optional Protocol on the sale of children, child prostitution, and child pornography, the sale of children is defined as “any act or transaction whereby a child is transferred by any person or group of persons to another for remuneration or any other consideration;” Article 3 requests to criminalise (i) offering, delivering or accepting, by whatever means, a child for the purpose of: (a) sexual exploitation of the child; (b) transfer of organs of the child for profit; (c) engagement of the child in forced labour” (Interagency Working Group on Sexual Exploitation of Children, 2016).
Under Article 3(a) of the Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons Especially Women and Children, supplementing the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime, child trafficking is defined as “the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harbouring or receipt of persons, by means of the threat or use of force or other forms of coercion, of abduction, of fraud, of deception, of the abuse of power or of a position of vulnerability or of the giving or receiving or payments or benefits to achieve the consent of a person having control over another person, for the purpose of exploitation” (UN General Assembly, 2000).
The ‘sale and trafficking of children for sexual purposes’ is a broad term that encompasses many different forms of exploitation of children in prostitution such as, the sexual exploitation of children in the travel and tourism industry, early and forced child marriage and the production of child sexual abuse material. Within this broader definition, and unlike sexual exploitation of children, the sale and trafficking of children targets the processes and mechanisms by which children enter exploitative situations including enablers and beneficiaries (ECPAT, 2020).
The sale and trafficking of children can happen for multiple reasons: children being trafficked for forced marriage, forced into labour, forced to beg or into organized crime. The children that are most vulnerable to sale and trafficking include: children living in poverty, children living in armed conflict zones, unaccompanied minors, children on the move, children from minority backgrounds, and children in residential care (ECPAT, 2020).
As the world becomes increasingly more connected through digital technologies, criminal gangs have greater access to platforms that can be used to exploit children. For example, social media has become particularly popular for criminal gangs to use as a recruitment tool, to publicly access information on children, for grooming, and to facilitate untraceable financial transactions. Criminal gangs and actors often perpetrate this illegality under the guise of fake profiles (ECPAT, 2020).
Online child sexual exploitation and child sexual abuse material
Much like the overall definition of child sexual exploitation, the term “child pornography” has been replaced by child sexual abuse material. This is because the term child pornography implies and insinuates that children carry out these sexual acts consensually. Generally, the approach of law enforcement has been that “child pornography involves children who cannot (legally) consent to the sexual acts they are being subjected to, and who may be victims of a crime” (Interagency Working Group on Sexual Exploitation of Children, 2016).
Under the EU Directive 2011/93, child sexual abuse material includes: “any material that visually depicts a child or that visually depicts any person appearing to be a child engaged in real or simulated sexually explicit conduct, or of their sexual organs, where such images are produced or used for primarily sexual purposes and exploited with or without the child’s knowledge” (Interagency Working Group on Sexual Exploitation of Children, 2016).
Survival sex or transactional sex
‘Transactional sex’ defines instances in which sexual acts are conducted in exchange for money, gifts or benefits during a commodified relationship. Drivers of this activity include: desperation and survival for necessities such as food water and clothing; elevated social status, also known as the “sugar daddy” or “sugar mommy” phenomenon; access to education or “sex for grades; and materialistic expressions of love (Interagency Working Group on Sexual Exploitation for Children, 2016). While the latter drivers exist, transactional sex most commonly refers to instances of desperation where sexual services are used as payment for necessities and basic needs such as shelter, clothing or food (ECPAT, 2020).
Sexual exploitation in the travel and tourism industry
Under Article 10(3) of the Optional Protocol on the sale of children, child prostitution, and child pornography, it highlights that “state parties shall promote the strengthening of international cooperation in order to address the root causes, such as poverty and underdevelopment, contributing to the vulnerability of children to the sale of children, child prostitution, child pornography and child sex tourism” (Interagency Working Group on Sexual Exploitation of Children, 2016).
Sexual exploitation of children within the travel and tourism industry, also commonly referred to as “child sex tourism” is often committed by domestic or foreign tourists, mostly white, middle-aged men, who travel to engage in commercial sex acts with children, predominantly in global south countries. These tourists often take advantage of the lack of legal restrictions, poor law enforcement and monitoring mechanisms, communities living in poverty and vulnerable children and their families (Interagency Working Group on Sexual Exploitation of Children, 2016).
Offenders of child sex tourism can range from military personnel to teachers, business travellers, volunteers and expatriates, amongst others. It is not uncommon for offenders to be a part of networks that actively facilitate child sex tourism. These facilitators can include, taxi drivers, hotel staff, traffickers, criminal gangs, traffickers, modelling agents, street vendors or tourist guides (ECPAT, 2020).
Child, early and forced marriage
In line with the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, Optional Protocol on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography, and Goal 5.3 of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the UN Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children highlighted that marriage before the age of eighteen is a violation of the rights of the child and is considered as the sale of children for the purposes of sexual exploitation (UN General Assembly, 2022).
Child marriage refers to any union, whether formal or informal, where at least one of the parties to the marriage is a minor below the age of eighteen. Early marriage refers to unions that are customary or legal, where at least one of the parties is below the age of eighteen. Forced marriage refers to a legal or customary union that takes place without the full consent of either one or both parties to the marriage.
Under international law, all child and early marriages of a child below the age of eighteen are considered to be forced marriages. This is because, under international law, children below the age of eighteen cannot give free, full and informed consent (ECPAT, 2020).
Child, early and forced marriage carries inherent links to sexual exploitation. The Committee on the Rights of the Child, in its General Comment No. 13, defined the sale of children for forced marriage as a ‘manifestation of child sexual abuse and exploitation’. Child marriage is typically accompanied by an exchange of money, gifts or property to satisfy ‘dowry’ or bride-price customs (ECPAT, 2020).
The nature of these transactions and their close links to long-standing cultural practices obscure the principle of exploitation. Within this uncertainty, child brides are often treated as subservient to male spouses who assume dominance over their partner by virtue of their marital transaction (ECPAT, 2020).
Children who find themselves in forced early marriages are frequently removed from their homes and known communities, rendering them vulnerable to new environments and power dynamics (ECPAT, 2020). These children are especially in danger of abuse where their own norms differ from their new communities, triggering disparities that can lead to different forms of abuse, including sexual exploitation (ECPAT, 2020).
Not all child marriages occur without acts or interventions from the child themselves. Much like the drivers of sexual exploitation, children in extreme circumstances such as poverty, familial challenges and contextual crises might seek out marital opportunities and fall victim to exploitation (ECPAT, 2020). In relation to conflict, child marriage has been identified as a ‘coping mechanism’ for victims of war and conflict, environmental disasters and food crises (UN General Assembly, 2022).
Root causes of child sexual exploitation
Despite laws and regulations protecting children from the form of abuse, persistent drivers and enablers ensure the crime persists. Globally, there are numerous reasons children are pushed into child sexual exploitation, rendering certain groups of children more vulnerable to exploitation. The main causes of child sexual exploitation correspond to the following situations involving children.
Poverty and socio-economic factors
Children living in impoverished communities facing financial pressures are particularly susceptible to an array of abuses including child labour, physical and emotional abuse, domestic violence and neglect (UN General Assembly, 2022). In extreme circumstances, children are sold or forced to become earners to support and improve their family’s financial position.
Where abused children are not directly forced into labour and exploitation, persistent maltreatment can decrease their resilience to future abuse, leaving them without reliable coping mechanisms and open to high-risk relationships (UN General Assembly, 2022). During exploitative relationships, children in poverty can develop a reliance on abusers for basic needs. Children may also deliberately engage in the commercial sex sector, chasing better lives and leading them into the hands of abusers (UN General Assembly, 2022). Family environment
Under Article 9 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UN CRC), every child has the right to a safe family environment and should not be separated from their parents and families against their will, unless it is in the best interests of the child. Being deprived of a family environment or a stable family life leaves children at an increased risk of child sexual exploitation (UN General Assembly, 2022).
Children on the move
Children on the move includes children who are displaced or affected due to conflict, climate change and environmental disasters, migrant children, asylum-seekers and undocumented children. These children are at a heightened risk of being exploited for child sexual exploitation due to unsafe migration pathways, environmental hazards and linguistic barriers, among other factors which leave them vulnerable to traffickers and criminal networks (UN General Assembly, 2022).
Street children
Similar to children who are deprived of a family environment, children living in street situations or homeless children are at an increased risk of being exploited by traffickers and criminal gangs in order to survive. These children often lack the protection of adult guardians. Furthermore, homeless and street children face significant barriers in accessing health care or criminal justice support (UN General Assembly, 2022).
Children with disabilities
Children with disabilities and learning difficulties face a higher risk of exploitation if they are not safeguarded or raised in an environment that caters to their specific needs (UN General Assembly, 2022). These children face higher levels of abuse in ‘circles of trust’ and are statistically more likely to be subjected to abuse than non-disabled children (UN General Assembly 2022).
Female children with disabilities are more commonly exploited than their male counterparts. Overarchingly, recent data demonstrates children with mental or intellectual disabilities are five times more likely to be victims of sexual abuse than non-disabled children (UN General Assembly, 2022).
Children in alternative care and institutional settings
In the absence of adequate safeguarding mechanisms, children living in alternative care, residential schools, correctional facilities, orphanages and foster care are at risk of child sexual exploitation. The institutionalization of children is harmful to their development and long-term well-being, which impacts their transition into adulthood, further leaving them vulnerable to exploitation (UN General Assembly, 2022). Minority and indigenous children
The issues that minority and indigenous children face that leave them vulnerable to child sexual exploitation include homelessness, language barrier and limited access to education (UN General Assembly, 2022). Children from minority backgrounds are often marginalised from mainstream societal welfare mechanisms and discriminated against due to their ethnicity.
Digital presence
The rapid emergence and evolution of the digital space have created novel criminal opportunities that place children at further risk of exploitation. 2020 data indicated the existence of over 65 million pieces of multimedia content comprising potential abuse and exploitation of children (UN General Assembly, 2022).
These documents exclude instances of cyberbullying, phishing, abuse and grooming, which are all growing forms of organised and disorganised criminal activity. Girls, in particular those with low self-esteem or mental health challenges, are especially vulnerable to abuse by men online (UN General Assembly, 2022).
Effects of child sexual exploitation
Child sexual exploitation can have a range of both mental and physical effects on a child that often continue into adulthood. These vary and include, but are not limited to:
- Sexually transmitted diseases
- Unwanted pregnancies
- Illegal abortions
- Early marriage
- Limited access to education
- Psychological disorders
- Substance abuse
- Juvenile justice system
- Exposure to physical violence
Eliminating and preventing the exploitation of children in prostitution
While specific policies and actions to address child abuse varies by country due to differing drivers and enablers, UNICEF has advocated a multidimensional approach to combatting child sexual exploitation, including (UNICEF, n.d):
- Establishing reliable, child-centric and safe reporting mechanisms. These should comprise numerous methods to report abuse, such as hotlines, complaint boxes and safeguarding focal persons.
- Making efforts to raise awareness of child sexual exploitation, particularly within high-risk areas and communities.
- Providing holistic and appropriate essential services to support survivors of child sexual exploitation. These support services should include physical, mental and practical (such as legal) mechanisms to ensure comprehensive assistance and provide opportunities for rehabilitation.
- Enhance accountability mechanisms and bolster criminal justice and law enforcement actions.
The United Nations also established 18 November as the World Day for the Prevention of and Healing from Child Sexual Exploitation, Abuse, and Violence.
Key international human rights instruments
There are various international legal instruments that recognize and respond to child prostitution. In particular:
- United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child
- United Nations Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography (OPSC)
- General Comment No. 14 (2013) on the right of the child to have his or her best interests taken as a primary consideration (Article 3, para 1)
- General Comment No. 13 (2011) on the rights of the child to freedom from all forms of violence (Article 19)
- General Comment No. 12 (2009) on the rights of the child to be heard
- General Comment No. 15 (2013) on the rights of the child to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of health (Article 24)
- Guidelines regarding the implementation of the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the Sale of Children, Child Prostitution and Child Pornography (2019)
- Council of Europe Convention on the Protection of Children against Sexual Exploitation and Sexual Abuse (Lanzarote Convention)
- African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child
- Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, especially women and children, supplementing the United Nations Convention Against Transnational Organized Crime (Palermo Protocol)
- ILO Convention No. 182 (concerning the prohibition and immediate action for the elimination of the worst forms of child labour) (1999)
- ILO Convention No. 138 (on minimum age for admission to employment) (1973) Recommendation No. 146
- Convention for the Suppression of the Traffic in Persons and the Exploitation of the Prostitution of Others
- South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation Convention on Prevention and Combating Trafficking in Women and Children for Prostitution
Written by Vanessa Cezarita Cordeiro
Internally proofread by Aditi Partha
Last updated on 30 April 2023
References:
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