Child prostitution in Ukraine has been described by Juan Miguel Petit, Special Rapporteur on the Sale of Children, Child Prostitution and Child Pornography for the

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and international security, security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be ...

, as a major problem in the country. A research publication "2016 Findings on the Worst Forms of Child Labor" prepared by

Bureau of International Labor Affairs The Bureau of International Labor Affairs (ILAB) is an operating unit of the United States Department of Labor which manages the department's international responsibilities. According to its mission statement: ''“The Bureau of International La ...

reports that the Ukrainian children engage in the worst forms of child labor including production of

pornography Pornography (often shortened to porn or porno) is the portrayal of sexual subject matter for the exclusive purpose of sexual arousal. Primarily intended for adults,

and sex work. Orphaned, homeless, and

street children Street children are poor or homeless children who live on the streets of a city, town, or village. Homeless youth are often called street kids or street child; the definition of street children is contested, but many practitioners and policym ...

are trafficked both domestically and transnationally. In the past the majority of prostitutes were girls from urban districts. Now most victims of child prostitution in Ukraine come from small towns and rural regions,Julia Galustya
The Situation Of Children In Ukraine And Their Vulnerability To Commercial Sexual Exploitation
p. 43-44, Ukrainian Institute of Social Research, 2003 and prostitution of Ukrainian boys has increased. The Ukrainian legal system does not provide a clear definition for "prostitution" and "child prostitution".Global Study on Sexual Exploitation of Children in Travel and Tourism
Country-Specific Report. Ukraine, 2015 It levies a harsh punishment for the involvement of children into commercial sex work, but their clients are often not prosecuted. As a result, the children become liable for their own exploitation.Executive summary: Ukraine
ECPAT Report, 2016

Social and economic background

Ukrainian independence in 1991 brought to the nation all kinds of freedom and high aspirations of a bright economic future . However, by 2005, Ukraine plunged into a first economic crisis which quickly spread across the country hitting the most vulnerable groups of society hard. After the first wave of economic issues, the local data demonstrated a short recovery in 2006, but this was just a preface of system crises of 2008. Economy of the Ukraine faced the crises being under pressure of financial debts, high inflation, unstable national currency and ubiquitous

corruption Corruption is a form of dishonesty or a criminal offense which is undertaken by a person or an organization which is entrusted in a position of authority, in order to acquire illicit benefits or abuse power for one's personal gain. Corruption m ...

. The bad economic situation of 2008 was aggravated by accumulated social problems, like poor education, inappropriate healthcare and unfavorable demography. The absence of systematic and consistent reforms in Ukraine led to a wasting of huge budget spent for social programs. As a result, the Ukrainian society experiences a high level of poverty, inequality of opportunities and uneven access of people to different public services. This socio-economic strain has had profound impacts on Ukrainian households. Subsequently, a number of divorces is growing and

single parent A single parent is a person who has a child or children but does not have a spouse or live-in partner to assist in the upbringing or support of the child. Reasons for becoming a single parent include divorce, break-up, abandonment, becoming wid ...

family is becoming more and more common in Ukraine, also the situation has a negative impact on children and enhances a problem of

child poverty Child poverty refers to the state of children living in poverty and applies to children from poor families and orphans being raised with limited or no state resources. UNICEF estimates that 356 million children live in extreme poverty. It's estima ...

. In poor families children experience a higher risk of being involved in criminal activity, prostitution and vagrancy.

General overview

According to Ukrainian media the country along with Moldova and Portugal became a European center of

child sex tourism Child sex tourism (CST) is tourism for the purpose of engaging in the prostitution of children, which is commercially facilitated child sexual abuse. The definition of '' child'' in the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child is "ev ...

. With respect to the situation Mark Capaldi,

ECPAT ECPAT International is a global network of civil society organisations that works to end the sexual exploitation of children. It focuses on ending the online sexual exploitation of children, the trafficking of children for sexual purposes, the se ...

's head of policy and research, expressed a concern that the countries "see tourism as a fantastic economic development sector" ignoring the risks which international tourists impend to the children.Magdalena Mi
Child sex exploitation spreads to new destinations as tourism booms - charity
Thomson Reuters Foundation, 12.05.2016 The sexual exploitation of children is most obvious in

Kyiv Kyiv, also spelled Kiev, is the capital and most populous city of Ukraine. It is in north-central Ukraine along the Dnieper, Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2021, its population was 2,962,180, making Kyiv the List of European cities by populat ...

and some other big cities such as Odesa, Kharkiv and Sevastopol. Many children are forced to migrate there to get education and then they are getting involved into Ukrainian sex industry to support themselves financially. An involvement of Ukrainian adolescent boys into prostitution has risen a number of special concerns. There is a consistent trend of

human trafficking Human trafficking is the trade of humans for the purpose of forced labour, sexual slavery, or commercial sexual exploitation for the trafficker or others. This may encompass providing a spouse in the context of forced marriage, or the extrac ...

from the Ukraine, especially women and children.

International Organization for Migration The International Organization for Migration (IOM) is a United Nations agency that provides services and advice concerning migration to governments and migrants, including internally displaced persons, refugees, and migrant workers. The IOM was ...

reports that the Ukraine became one of the major sources of minors and females for their forced sexual exploitation; as a rule they are sold to

Balkans The Balkans ( ), also known as the Balkan Peninsula, is a geographical area in southeastern Europe with various geographical and historical definitions. The region takes its name from the Balkan Mountains that stretch throughout the who ...

Central Europe Central Europe is an area of Europe between Western Europe and Eastern Europe, based on a common historical, social and cultural identity. The Thirty Years' War (1618–1648) between Catholicism and Protestantism significantly shaped the area' ...

and

Middle East The Middle East ( ar, الشرق الأوسط, ISO 233: ) is a geopolitical region commonly encompassing Arabian Peninsula, Arabia (including the Arabian Peninsula and Bahrain), Anatolia, Asia Minor (Asian part of Turkey except Hatay Pro ...

. An average price of Ukrainian girl is around $2,000 — $10,000 depending on her destination. In

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

a Ukrainian youngster may earn up to $50,000 — $100,000 annually for her pimp and have nothing left for herself. According to the available statistics the number of Ukrainian children involved in prostitution is growing both domestically and abroad. UN Special Rapporteur on the Sale of Children, Child Prostitution and Child Pornography

Juan Miguel Petit ''Juan'' is a given name, the Spanish and Manx versions of ''John''. It is very common in Spain and in other Spanish-speaking communities around the world and in the Philippines, and also (pronounced differently) in the Isle of Man. In Spanish, t ...

concluded that the human trafficking and commercial exploitation of children are major problems in the country. After his visit to Ukraine he filed a special report to the

UN Human Rights Committee The United Nations Human Rights Committee is a treaty body composed of 18 experts, established by a 1966 human rights treaty, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR). The Committee meets for three four-week sessions per y ...

, which says that 10% of the victims of human trafficking are aged between 13 and 18. Children of Ukraine are being exploited in different businesses for example as servants, in street trading, and to provide sex services. A typical model of the human trafficking in Ukraine is that the children are becoming victims of sexual exploitation residing within their country. In the majority of the incidents the Ukrainian criminals lure the potential victims into debt and then force them become prostitutes.UN concerned by the scale of child prostitution in Ukraine
Human Rights in Ukraine. 22.03.2007 Citizens of the country have been reported to be involved in the production of child pornography, with some entities masquerading as "Child Model Agencies". A significant instance of this was exposed during the

2004 Ukrainian child pornography raids The 2004 Ukrainian child pornography raids occurred a few months before the First Orange Revolution, when police in Ukraine raided a softcore child pornography ring operating in the cities of Kyiv, Kharkiv, and Simferopol. The ring had operated s ...

, where a modeling agency operating in the major cities was found to be involved in the production and distribution of child pornography under the guise of a legitimate business. There is a connection between child trafficking and child pornography production, with instances of children being trafficked from neighboring countries within the

CIS countries The Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) is a regional intergovernmental organization in Eurasia. It was formed following the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991. It covers an area of and has an estimated population of 239,796,010. ...

for such purposes.

Available data and statistics

An estimation of a total number of female sex workers in Ukraine is around 70,000, 15,000 of them are at the 14–19. A study performed by the Ukrainian Institute for Social Research demonstrated that 11% of Ukrainian women who provide sexual services are aged between 12 and 15 years old, 20% of Ukrainian prostitutes are from 16 to 17 years old. In some registered cases the age of Ukrainian women involved in prostitution was as low as 10 years old. There is no data about the age when Ukrainian children enter the sex industry, but there are some statistical data indicating that the average age of "sexual debut" in Ukraine is declining. In general it has dropped to 15–16 years, but for many situations it might be as low as 9–10 years. As to Ukrainian boys, it was reported that 3% of them had their first sexual experience at the age 11 or even earlier. Also a survey of Ukrainian children in the age group of 11-years old has shown that 21% of boys and 5% of girls admitted that they already had their first sexual contact. This situation apparently results from infiltration of Western mass culture of

consumerism Consumerism is a social and economic order that encourages the acquisition of goods and services in ever-increasing amounts. With the Industrial Revolution, but particularly in the 20th century, mass production led to overproduction—the supp ...

and degradation of traditional values among young Ukrainians.

Notes

References

* * * {{cite book, last=Журженко, first=Т., title=Гендерные рынки Украины, publisher=Европейский гуманитарный университет, year=2008, place=Вильнюс, archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181024085405/https://ru.ehu.lt/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/GenderRynkiUkraine_52de75e965777.pdf, archive-date=2018-10-24, url-status=live, url=https://ru.ehu.lt/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/GenderRynkiUkraine_52de75e965777.pdf, isbn=978-9955-773-15-3 Prostitution in Ukraine Child prostitution

Social and economic background

General overview

Available data and statistics

See also

Notes

References