Prostitution of children - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Prostitution of children or child prostitution is the commercial sexual exploitation of children

Commercial sexual exploitation of children

Commercial sexual exploitation of children constitutes a form of coercion and violence against children and amounts to forced labour and a contemporary form of slavery....

in which a child performs the services of prostitution

Prostitution

Prostitution is the act or practice of providing sexual services to another person in return for payment. The person who receives payment for sexual services is called a prostitute and the person who receives such services is known by a multitude of terms, including a "john". Prostitution is one of...

, for financial benefit. The term normally refers to prostitution by a minor

Minor (law)

In law, a minor is a person under a certain age — the age of majority — which legally demarcates childhood from adulthood; the age depends upon jurisdiction and application, but is typically 18...

, or person under the local age of majority. In many countries there are specific laws against child prostitution which may include people who are older than the local Age of consent

Age of consent

While the phrase age of consent typically does not appear in legal statutes, when used in relation to sexual activity, the age of consent is the minimum age at which a person is considered to be legally competent to consent to sexual acts. The European Union calls it the legal age for sexual...

.

The form of child prostitution in which people travel to foreign countries for the purposes of avoiding laws in their country of residence is known as child sex tourism

Child sex tourism

Child sex tourism is tourism for the purpose of engaging in the prostitution of children, that is commercially-facilitated child sexual abuse...

.

A customer may negotiate an exchange directly with a child prostitute in order to receive sexual gratification, or through an intermediary (pimp

Pimp

A pimp is an agent for prostitutes who collects part of their earnings. The pimp may receive this money in return for advertising services, physical protection, or for providing a location where she may engage clients...

) who controls or oversees the prostitute’s activities for profit. The provision of children for sexual purposes may also be an object of exchange between adults. Many children are prostituted over the Internet with the use of webcam

Webcam

A webcam is a video camera that feeds its images in real time to a computer or computer network, often via USB, ethernet, or Wi-Fi.Their most popular use is the establishment of video links, permitting computers to act as videophones or videoconference stations. This common use as a video camera...

s to facilitate this abuse, and child pornography

Child pornography

Child pornography refers to images or films and, in some cases, writings depicting sexually explicit activities involving a child...

may be linked to the prostitution.

Definitions

The Optional Protocol on the Sale of Children, Child Prostitution and Child Pornography to the Convention on the Rights of the Child

Convention on the Rights of the Child

The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child is a human rights treaty setting out the civil, political, economic, social, health and cultural rights of children...

states that child prostitution is the practice whereby a child sells his or her body for sexual activities in return for remuneration or any other form of consideration. The remuneration or other consideration could be provided to the prostitute or to another person. The 131 countries who are parties to the Optional Protocol (at May 2009) undertake to prohibit child prostitution.

The Worst Forms of Child Labour Convention, 1999

Worst Forms of Child Labour Convention, 1999

The Convention concerning the Prohibition and Immediate Action for the Elimination of the Worst Forms of Child Labour, known in short as the Worst Forms of Child Labour Convention, was adopted by the International Labour Organization in 1999 as ILO Convention No 182. It is one of 8 ILO fundamental...

(Convention No 182) of the International Labour Organization

International Labour Organization

The International Labour Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations that deals with labour issues pertaining to international labour standards. Its headquarters are in Geneva, Switzerland. Its secretariat — the people who are employed by it throughout the world — is known as the...

(ILO) provides that the "use, procuring or offering of a child for prostitution" is one of the "worst forms of child labor

Child labor

Child labour refers to the employment of children at regular and sustained labour. This practice is considered exploitative by many international organizations and is illegal in many countries...

." This convention

Treaty

A treaty is an express agreement under international law entered into by actors in international law, namely sovereign states and international organizations. A treaty may also be known as an agreement, protocol, covenant, convention or exchange of letters, among other terms...

, adopted in 1999, provides that countries that had ratified it must eliminate the practice

Practice

Practice may refer to:* Practice , a method of learning by repetition* Practice , a theoretical term for human action in society* Spiritual practice...

urgently. It enjoys the fastest pace of ratifications in the ILO's history since 1919.

Terminology

Child prostitution is sometimes used to describe the wider concept of commercial sexual exploitation of children

Commercial sexual exploitation of children

Commercial sexual exploitation of children constitutes a form of coercion and violence against children and amounts to forced labour and a contemporary form of slavery....

(CSEC). However, child prostitution excludes other identifiable manifestations of CSEC, such as commercial sexual exploitation through child marriage

Child marriage

Child marriage and child betrothal customs occur in various times and places, whereby children are given in matrimony - before marriageable age as defined by the commentator and often before puberty. Today such customs are fairly widespread in parts of Africa, Asia, Oceania and South America: in...

, domestic child labor, and the trafficking of children

Trafficking of children

Trafficking of children is a form of human trafficking. It is defined as the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harboring, or receiving of children for the purpose of exploitation....

for sexual purposes.

It was the limitations of the term child prostitution that led to the development in the mid-1990s of the term commercial sexual exploitation of children, or CVE,as a more encompassing description of specific forms of sexual trade involving children. Nevertheless, ‘child prostitution’ remains in common usage and is indeed the wording embedded in international instruments of law.

Some believe that the terms child prostitution and child prostitute carry problematic connotations. They claim this is because these terms, on their own, fail to make it clear that children are generally not expected to be able to make an informed choice to prostitute themselves. The act of prostituting a child is sometimes carried out by another party, as stated in the definition provided by the Special Rapporteur on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography

Special Rapporteur on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography

According to Rowen Roel Borgonia, the Special Rapporteur on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography works on behalf of the United Nations Human Rights Council to investigate the exploitation of children around the world and make recommendations to governments on how to end...

Causes and context

Children are often forced by social structures and individual agents into situations in which adults take advantage of their vulnerability and sexually exploit and abuse them. Structure and agency

Structure and agency

The question over the primacy of either structure or agency in human behavior is a central debate in the social sciences. In this context, "agency" refers to the capacity of individuals to act independently and to make their own free choices. "Structure", by contrast, refers to the recurrent...

commonly combine to force a child into commercial sex: for example, the prostitution of a child frequently follows from prior sexual abuse, often in the child's home.

Child prostitution usually takes place in particular environments, such as brothel

Brothel

Brothels are business establishments where patrons can engage in sexual activities with prostitutes. Brothels are known under a variety of names, including bordello, cathouse, knocking shop, whorehouse, strumpet house, sporting house, house of ill repute, house of prostitution, and bawdy house...

s, bars and clubs, or homes, or particular streets and areas (usually in socially run down places). Sometimes it is not organized, but often it is, either on a small scale through individual pimps or on a larger scale through extensive criminal networks. See organized crime

Organized crime

Organized crime or criminal organizations are transnational, national, or local groupings of highly centralized enterprises run by criminals for the purpose of engaging in illegal activity, most commonly for monetary profit. Some criminal organizations, such as terrorist organizations, are...

.

Children also engage in prostitution, however, when they exchange sex outside these environments and in return not only for basic needs such as shelter, food, clothing, or safety, but also for extra pocket money for desired consumer goods otherwise out of their reach. There is a subculture of "pocket money prostitution" in many consumer societies, including the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

, whereby girls and boys under 18 rent out their sexual services for cash or expensive gifts, or to save up for cars, motorcycles, even college tuition.

These people are prostituted in conditions that appear otherwise perfectly normal. Enjo kosai

Enjo kosai

means "compensated dating" and is a practice which originated in Japan where older men give money and/or luxury gifts to attractive women for their companionship and, possibly, for sexual favors. The female participants range from primarily school-aged girls to housewives. A common misconception is...

, the pay-dating or "sponsored dating" practice reported in Japan, is considered a prime example of this. However, this latter practice is by definition voluntary rather than via manipulation.

Living and working conditions for children that are prostitutes are frequently substandard. Such children are commonly poorly paid or unpaid, kept in unsanitary conditions, denied access to proper medical care, and constantly watched and kept subservient through threat of force. These threats may be physical or psychological in nature.

While some sex tourists

Sex tourism

Sex tourism is travel to engage in sexual activity with prostitutes.The World Tourism Organization, a specialized agency of the United Nations, defines sex tourism as "trips organized from within the tourism sector, or from outside this sector but using its structures and networks, with the primary...

may make use of child prostitutes, it has been argued that the majority of their 'clients' are instead the locals. Quoting from the back cover of a recent work:

Prohibition

While the legality of adult prostitution varies between different parts of the world, the prostitution of minors

Minor (law)

is illegal in most countries. Furthermore, many countries whose citizens most frequently engage in international child procurement, such as the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

, Australia and European countries, enforce worldwide jurisdiction on their nationals traveling abroad.

As previously mentioned, some literature refers to prostitutes aged at least 13 but less than 18 years of age as 'teenage prostitutes,' but the most common definition of a 'child' is a person who is under the age of 18. The latter definition is used by the ILO's Worst Forms of Child Labour Convention

Worst Forms of Child Labour Convention

, discussed above. Therefore prostitution of children usually assumed to refer to the prostitution of persons under 18.

The laws of some countries do, however, distinguish between teenage prostitutes and the prostitution of younger children. For example, the Thai government defines a teenage prostitute as being between 15 and 18 years old, while the Japanese government defines one as being between 13 and 18. "Teenage prostitution" is not the only concept distinguishing between less and more serious illegal acts. In the People's Republic of China

People's Republic of China

China , officially the People's Republic of China , is the most populous country in the world, with over 1.3 billion citizens. Located in East Asia, the country covers approximately 9.6 million square kilometres...

, all forms of prostitution are illegal, but having sexual contact with anyone under the age of 14, regardless of consent, will be charged with a more serious crime than raping an adult.

Asia

In Cambodia

Cambodia

Cambodia , officially known as the Kingdom of Cambodia, is a country located in the southern portion of the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia...

, it has been estimated that about a third of all prostitutes are under 18.

The exact number of child-prostitutes in Thailand

Thailand

Thailand , officially the Kingdom of Thailand , formerly known as Siam , is a country located at the centre of the Indochina peninsula and Southeast Asia. It is bordered to the north by Burma and Laos, to the east by Laos and Cambodia, to the south by the Gulf of Thailand and Malaysia, and to the...

is not known, but Thailand’s Health System Research Institute reports that children in prostitution make up 40% of prostitutes in Thailand.

In India

India

India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...

, the federal police say that around 1.2 million children are believed to be involved in prostitution. A CBI statement said that studies and surveys sponsored by the ministry of women and child development estimated that about 40% of all India's prostitutes are children.

An article in the Gulf Times revealed a major sex trade in mostly Nepalese boys who were lured to India and sold to brothels in Mumbai, Hyderabad, New Delhi, Lucknow and Gorakhpur. One victim was lured from Nepal at the age of 14, sold into slavery, locked up, beaten, starved and forcibly circumcised. He reported that he was held in a brothel with 40 to 50 other boys, many of whom were castrated. He escaped and made his way back to Nepal. Two Non Government Organisations, one that work with homosexuals in Nepal, and one that works to rescue and rehabilitate trafficked women and children were co-operating to help these boys.

In Indonesia

Indonesia

Indonesia , officially the Republic of Indonesia , is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania. Indonesia is an archipelago comprising approximately 13,000 islands. It has 33 provinces with over 238 million people, and is the world's fourth most populous country. Indonesia is a republic, with an...

, UNICEF estimates that 30% of the female prostitutes are below 18.

In Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka is a country off the southern coast of the Indian subcontinent. Known until 1972 as Ceylon , Sri Lanka is an island surrounded by the Indian Ocean, the Gulf of Mannar and the Palk Strait, and lies in the vicinity of India and the...

, there are nearly 40,000 child prostitutes, according to UNICEF and ILO.

In the Philippines

Philippines

The Philippines , officially known as the Republic of the Philippines , is a country in Southeast Asia in the western Pacific Ocean. To its north across the Luzon Strait lies Taiwan. West across the South China Sea sits Vietnam...

, there are 60,000 to 100,000 prostituted children, according to UNICEF and non-governmental organisations.

In Nepal

Nepal

Nepal , officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal, is a landlocked sovereign state located in South Asia. It is located in the Himalayas and bordered to the north by the People's Republic of China, and to the south, east, and west by the Republic of India...

, according to research conducted by the International Labour Organization (ILO) on
440 prostitutes from Kathmandu, approximately 30% of them were found to be children.

In Bangladesh

Bangladesh

Bangladesh , officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh is a sovereign state located in South Asia. It is bordered by India on all sides except for a small border with Burma to the far southeast and by the Bay of Bengal to the south...

, the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) estimated in 2004 that there were 10,000 underage girls used in commercial sexual exploitation in the country, but other estimates placed the figure as high as 29,000.

There are estimated to be at least 70,000 prostitutes in Vietnam

Vietnam

Vietnam – sometimes spelled Viet Nam , officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam – is the easternmost country on the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia. It is bordered by China to the north, Laos to the northwest, Cambodia to the southwest, and the South China Sea –...

, and 20,000 of these are children.

In Afghanistan

Afghanistan

Afghanistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located in the centre of Asia, forming South Asia, Central Asia and the Middle East. With a population of about 29 million, it has an area of , making it the 42nd most populous and 41st largest nation in the world...

, Bacha Bazi is a form of child prostitution employed by Afghan warlords where small boys are regularly bought and sold into sexual slavery.

South America

By 1999, it was reported that in Argentina

Argentina

Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...

child prostitution was increasing at an alarming rate and that the average age was decreasing. The CATW fact book says Argentina is one of the favored destinations of pedophile sex tourists from Europe and the United States. The Criminal Code criminalizes the prostitution of minors of eighteen years of age or younger, but it only sanctions those who “promote or facilitate” prostitution, and not the client who exploits the minor.

It is estimated that Peru

Peru

Peru , officially the Republic of Peru , is a country in western South America. It is bordered on the north by Ecuador and Colombia, on the east by Brazil, on the southeast by Bolivia, on the south by Chile, and on the west by the Pacific Ocean....

has about 500,000 child prostitutes.

In Colombia

Colombia

Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia , is a unitary constitutional republic comprising thirty-two departments. The country is located in northwestern South America, bordered to the east by Venezuela and Brazil; to the south by Ecuador and Peru; to the north by the Caribbean Sea; to the...

, it is estimated that there are 35,000 child prostitutes, with between 5,000 and 10,000 of them on the streets of Bogotá

Bogotá

Bogotá, Distrito Capital , from 1991 to 2000 called Santa Fé de Bogotá, is the capital, and largest city, of Colombia. It is also designated by the national constitution as the capital of the department of Cundinamarca, even though the city of Bogotá now comprises an independent Capital district...

.

In Chile

Chile

Chile ,officially the Republic of Chile , is a country in South America occupying a long, narrow coastal strip between the Andes mountains to the east and the Pacific Ocean to the west. It borders Peru to the north, Bolivia to the northeast, Argentina to the east, and the Drake Passage in the far...

the estimated number of children involved in some form of prostitution has decreased. In 1999 UNICEF informed that there were approximately 10,000 children between the ages of 6 and 18 involved in prostitution, but in 2003, a governmental agency estimated that there were approximately 3,700 minors.

In Ecuador

Ecuador

Ecuador , officially the Republic of Ecuador is a representative democratic republic in South America, bordered by Colombia on the north, Peru on the east and south, and by the Pacific Ocean to the west. It is one of only two countries in South America, along with Chile, that do not have a border...

, a 2002 International Labor Organization report estimated that 5,200 minors were engaged in prostitution.

In Bolivia

Bolivia

Bolivia officially known as Plurinational State of Bolivia , is a landlocked country in central South America. It is the poorest country in South America...

, the average age of entry into prostitution is 16.

Brazil

Brazil

Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...

is considered to have the worst child sex trafficking record after Thailand. According to the Protection Project report, various official sources agree that from 250,000 to 500,000 children live as child prostitutes, but other sources in Brazil put the number at up to 2,000,000 children.

North America

A study by Unicef Mexico

Mexico

The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...

and the DIF/National System for Integral Family Development estimated that more than 16,000 children in Mexico were involved in prostitution (in June 2000); a 2004 study by researcher Elena Azaola estimated that some 17,000 children under the age of 18 are victims of the sex trade in Mexico; the State System of Integral Family Development (DIF) reported that more than 20,000 minors were victims of child prostitution in Mexico in 2005, an increase since the year 2000.
Out of Mexico City’s 13,000 street children

Street children

A street child is a child who lives on the streets of a city, deprived of family care and protection. Most children on the streets are between the ages of about 5 and 17 years old.Street children live in junk boxes, parks or on the street itself...

, 95% have already had at least one sexual encounter with an adult (many of them through prostitution).

In El Salvador

El Salvador

El Salvador or simply Salvador is the smallest and the most densely populated country in Central America. The country's capital city and largest city is San Salvador; Santa Ana and San Miguel are also important cultural and commercial centers in the country and in all of Central America...

, an NGO study in 1998 indicated that at least 44% of the estimated 1,300 prostitutes in three major red light districts of San Salvador

San Salvador

The city of San Salvador the capital and largest city of El Salvador, which has been designated a Gamma World City. Its complete name is La Ciudad de Gran San Salvador...

were between the ages of 13 and 18.
Among all prostitutes of the country, between 10 and 25 percent of visible prostitutes are minors, and an estimated 40 percent of the hidden prostitutes who cater to upper-class clients are believed to be minors, according to a UNICEF study released in 2000.

In Nicaragua

Nicaragua

Nicaragua is the largest country in the Central American American isthmus, bordered by Honduras to the north and Costa Rica to the south. The country is situated between 11 and 14 degrees north of the Equator in the Northern Hemisphere, which places it entirely within the tropics. The Pacific Ocean...

, according to Casa Alianza, in the brothels of Managua

Managua

Managua is the capital city of Nicaragua as well as the department and municipality by the same name. It is the largest city in Nicaragua in terms of population and geographic size. Located on the southwestern shore of Lake Xolotlán or Lake Managua, the city was declared the national capital in...

there are between 1,200 and 1,500 prostituted girls and young women, and almost half of them are under the age of 18. Every night, hundreds of teenage girls line the Masaya Highway commercial corridor on the capital's south side. Street children

Street children

engage in prostitution, often to support a drug habit.

Europe

In Ukraine

Ukraine

Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It has an area of 603,628 km², making it the second largest contiguous country on the European continent, after Russia...

, research has shown that between 30 and 40 percent of prostitutes are between 11 and 18 years.

A 2006 report by World Vision

World Vision

World Vision, founded in the USA in 1950, is an evangelical relief and development organization whose stated goal is "to follow our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ in working with the poor and oppressed to promote human transformation, seek justice and bear witness to the good news of the Kingdom of...

Middle East/Eastern Europe funded by the Canadian government and supported by six United Nations agencies and the International Organization for Migration

International Organization for Migration

The International Organization for Migration is an intergovernmental organization. It was initially established in 1951 as the Intergovernmental Committee for European Migration to help resettle people displaced by World War II....

reported that the sexual exploitation of children, child trafficking and sexual violence towards minors is increasing and that Russia

Russia

Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...

is becoming a new destination for child sex tourism. The report adds that some studies claim approximately 20 to 25 percent of Moscow's sex workers are minors.

Oceania

In Australia, there are an estimated 4000 children involved in prostitution, according to a study by Child Wise, the Australian arm of the global End Child Prostitution Pornography And Trafficking group.

ECPAT

ECPAT

ECPAT is an international non-governmental organisation and network headquartered in Thailand which is designed to end commercial sexual exploitation of children...

New Zealand

New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...

and Stop Demand Foundation have cited in a report, “The Nature and Extent of the Sex Industry in New Zealand,” a police survey of the New Zealand