Prohibited Sexual Behavior and Sexual Violence

Adult Sexual Contact with Children: Child Prostitution 2

The problem of child prostitution is connected with another problem – that of child trafficking, i.e. the illicit trading of children, moving them from one place to another for the purpose of exploitation. The parents and the children themselves are usually unaware of what is in store for them when they allow certain “agents” to take them to far-away places. They hope to find regular employment, but soon discover that they are in the hands of unscrupulous criminals. Most of this exploitation is of an economic kind – the children are simply used as cheap labor or as underpaid or unpaid domestics. However, there is also national and international trafficking for sexual purposes – the children are forced into prostitution in order to make money for their “employers”. UNICEF has estimated that, world-wide, every year ca. 1 million minors fall victim to these practices.
In recent decades, the problem has become aggravated by the growing tourism industry which includes a certain amount of “sex tourism”. It is difficult to determine how many children are exploited in this “business”. Estimates vary with the varying definitions of “child”. While international organizations usually mean “any individual below the age of 18”, many national criminal codes use much narrower definitions. Moreover, as pointed out earlier, they also define different “ages of consent”, and this can muddle the issue. Finally, it is not always clear what exactly is meant by the term “minor”. However, there is no question that in many cases very young adolescents and even girls and boys before puberty are involved.

Child prostitution in some countries
(in thousands)
According to UNICEF estimates, a great number of children around the world are sexually exploited. The graph shows the number of child prostitutes in six countries. The estimate for Brazil lies somewhere between 500 000 and 2 million. Shown here is the mean.
Source: UNICEF