Commercial sexual exploitation of children (CSEC) is a commercial transaction that involves the
sexual exploitation
Sexual slavery and sexual exploitation is an attachment of any ownership right over one or more people with the intent of coercing or otherwise forcing them to engage in sexual activities. This includes forced labor, reducing a person to a s ...
of a child, or person under the
age of consent
The age of consent is the age at which a person is considered to be legally competent to consent to sexual acts. Consequently, an adult who engages in sexual activity with a person younger than the age of consent is unable to legally claim ...
. CSEC involves a range of abuses, including but not limited to: the
prostitution of children
Child prostitution is prostitution involving a child, and it is a form of commercial sexual exploitation of children. The term normally refers to prostitution of a minor, or person under the legal age of consent.
In most jurisdictions, child p ...
(e.g.
survival sex
Survival sex is a form of prostitution engaged in by a person because of their extreme need. It describes the practice of people who are homeless or otherwise disadvantaged in society, trading sex for food, a place to sleep, or other basic need ...
,
street prostitution
Street prostitution is a form of sex work in which a sex worker solicits customers from a public place, most commonly a street, while waiting at street corners or walking alongside a street, but also other public places such as parks, benches, e ...
,
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 ...
, gang-based prostitution, intra-familial pimping),
child pornography
Child pornography (also called CP, child sexual abuse material, CSAM, child porn, or kiddie porn) is pornography that unlawfully exploits children for sexual stimulation. It may be produced with the direct involvement or sexual assault of a chi ...
(including
live streaming sexual abuse
Cybersex trafficking, live streaming sexual abuse, webcam sex tourism/abuse or ICTs (Information and Communication Technologies)-facilitated sexual exploitation is a cybercrime involving sex trafficking and the live streaming of coerced sexual a ...
), stripping, erotic massage, phone sex lines, internet-based exploitation, and early
forced marriage
Forced marriage is a marriage in which one or more of the parties is married without their consent or against their will. A marriage can also become a forced marriage even if both parties enter with full consent if one or both are later force ...
.
According to the
National Center for Missing and Exploited Children
The National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC) is a private, nonprofit organization established in 1984 by the United States Congress. In September 2013, the United States House of Representatives, United States Senate, and the Pres ...
(NCMEC), roughly one out of every five girls and one out of every ten boys will be sexually exploited or abused before they become of age.
Terminology
The Declaration and Agenda for Action, adopted during the First World Congress against Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children, held in Stockholm, Sweden, in 1996, formally defines CSEC as:
: a fundamental violation of children's rights. It comprises sexual abuse by the adult and remuneration in cash or kind to the child or a third person or persons. The child is treated as a sexual object and as a commercial object. The commercial sexual exploitation of children constitutes a form of
coercion
Coercion () is compelling a party to act in an involuntary manner by the use of threats, including threats to use force against a party. It involves a set of forceful actions which violate the free will of an individual in order to induce a desi ...
and
violence against children
Domestic violence occurs across the world, in various cultures, and affects people across society, at all levels of economic status; however, indicators of lower socioeconomic status (such as unemployment and low income) have been shown to be ris ...
, and amounts to
forced labour
Forced labour, or unfree labour, is any work relation, especially in modern or early modern history, in which people are employed against their will with the threat of destitution, detention, violence including death, or other forms of ex ...
and a
contemporary form of slavery.
CSEC is often associated with
child trafficking
Trafficking of children is a form of human trafficking and is defined by the United Nations as the "recruitment, transportation, transfer, harboring, and/or receipt" kidnapping of a child for the purpose of slavery, forced labour and exploitation. ...
, which is defined as "the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harbouring or receipt of a child for the purpose of exploitation," and a child as any person under the age of 18.
However, not all trafficked children are trafficked for the purposes of CSEC. Furthermore, the sexual abuse of child trafficking victims at work may not necessarily constitute CSEC. Likewise, CSEC is also part of, but distinct from other forms of
child abuse
Child abuse (also called child endangerment or child maltreatment) is physical, sexual, and/or psychological maltreatment or neglect of a child or children, especially by a parent or a caregiver. Child abuse may include any act or failure to a ...
and
child sexual abuse
Child sexual abuse (CSA), also called child molestation, is a form of child abuse in which an adult or older adolescent uses a child for sexual stimulation. Forms of child sexual abuse include engaging in sexual activities with a child (whet ...
, including
child rape
Child sexual abuse (CSA), also called child molestation, is a form of child abuse in which an adult or older adolescent uses a child for sexual stimulation. Forms of child sexual abuse include engaging in sexual activities with a child (wheth ...
and
domestic violence
Domestic violence (also known as domestic abuse or family violence) is violence or other abuse that occurs in a domestic setting, such as in a marriage or cohabitation. ''Domestic violence'' is often used as a synonym for ''intimate partner ...
.
Types
Prostitution
Child prostitution
Child prostitution is prostitution involving a child, and it is a form of commercial sexual exploitation of children. The term normally refers to prostitution of a minor, or person under the legal age of consent.
In most jurisdictions, child ...
is the use of a child in sexual activities for remuneration." Prostitution is known as one of the oldest professions. Nearly 80% of adult prostitutes entered the industry between 11 and 14. Prostituted children face risks of damage to their physical and mental health,
early pregnancy, and
sexually transmitted diseases
Sexually transmitted infections (STIs), also referred to as sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) and the older term venereal diseases, are infections that are spread by sexual activity, especially vaginal intercourse, anal sex, and oral sex ...
, particularly
HIV
The human immunodeficiency viruses (HIV) are two species of ''Lentivirus'' (a subgroup of retrovirus) that infect humans. Over time, they cause acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS), a condition in which progressive failure of the immune ...
. They are inadequately protected by the law and may be treated as criminals.
Child sex tourism
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 ...
refers to tourism by predators for the purpose of engaging in child prostitution.
Sex tourism
Sex tourism refers to the practice of traveling to foreign countries, often on a different continent, with the intention of engaging in sexual activity or relationships in exchange for money or lifestyle support. This practice predominantly oper ...
and
sex trafficking
Sex trafficking is human trafficking for the purpose of sexual exploitation. It has been called a form of modern slavery because of the way victims are forced into sexual acts non-consensually, in a form of sexual slavery. Perpetrators of the ...
generate revenue for countries.
[Roby, J. L. "Women and Children in the Global Sex Trade: Toward More Effective Policy."International Social Work 48.2 (2005): 136–47. Sage Journals. Web. 9 Oct. 2013.] In some countries, with economies that rely on the exploitation of women and children, the government encourages child sex tourism, resulting in low fines for engaging in the sex trade. Many travel agencies offer guides on exotic entertainment, further encouraging men to travel for sexual purposes.
[Herrmann, Kenneth J., and Michael Jupp. "International Child Sex Trade." The Sexual Trafficking in Children: An Investigation of the Child Sex Trade. By Daniel S. Campagna and Donald L. Poffenberger. Dover, MA: Auburn House Pub., 1988. 140–57. Print.]
Pornography
Child pornography
Child pornography (also called CP, child sexual abuse material, CSAM, child porn, or kiddie porn) is pornography that unlawfully exploits children for sexual stimulation. It may be produced with the direct involvement or sexual assault of a chi ...
is the "representation, by whatever means, of a child engaged in real or simulated explicit sexual activities or any representation of the sexual parts of a child for primarily sexual purposes". These representations include photographs, books, audiotapes, and videos that depict children performing sexual acts with other children, adults, and objects. The children are subjected to exploitation, rape, pedophilia, and in extreme cases, murder.
Pornography is often used as a gateway into the sex trade industry.
Many pimps force children into pornography as a way of conditioning them to believe that what they are doing is acceptable.
Pimps may then use the pornography to blackmail the child and extort money from clients.
Live streaming sexual abuse
Child victims
of
live streaming sexual abuse
Cybersex trafficking, live streaming sexual abuse, webcam sex tourism/abuse or ICTs (Information and Communication Technologies)-facilitated sexual exploitation is a cybercrime involving sex trafficking and the live streaming of coerced sexual a ...
are forced to perform sex acts in real time in front of a webcam while watching the paying customers on-screen and following their orders.
This occurs in locations commonly referred to as 'cybersex dens' that can be homes, hotels, offices, internet cafes, and other businesses.
Traffickers advertise children on the internet to obtain purchasers, and overseas predators often seek out and pay for these illicit services.
Causes
The supply and demand for children in the sex trade industry is greatly influenced by the structure of a country. Kevin Bales says the increase of children sold into prostitution reflects the industrial transformation the country has experienced in the last fifty years. Young girls in Thailand are commonly from northern areas. Because of the harshness of the land and a family's dependency on a good harvest many families see their daughters as commodities.
On the macro-level of causes for child sexual exploitation is the globalization of the consumer market and the influx of new goods and services that encourage new forms of consumerism.
The amount of money offered to parents for their children is often too good to refuse because they are living at or below the poverty level. The children are turned over to the buyer without any knowledge of what they were sold into.
Other macro-level influences include the expansion of construction sites and military bases in developing countries. These installations attract those who wish to sexually exploit children for large sums of money. The men who participate in the sexual exploitation of children at these installations are most often from developed countries and have no regard for the children.
"It has been alleged that military personnel figure at a disproportionately high rate in the pedophile exchange lists confiscated by some police departments."
Families who sell their daughters to brothels tend to repeat the pattern with their younger daughters. The younger daughters, however, are more willing to go. This is because their older sisters tell them stories of their extravagant times in the city. The girls admire their sister's western clothes and money. The younger girls then enter into prostitution with little notion of what they are getting themselves into.
Dangers and consequences
Whether the children be in pornography, brothels, or trafficked they are all at risk for sexually transmitted infections, physical violence, and psychological deterioration. Research has shown that "fifty to ninety percent of children in brothels in Southeast Asia are infected with HIV." In many cases when children are brought into the sex trade industry they are beaten and raped until they are so broken they no longer try to escape.
Physical hazards can also include infertility, cervical cancer, assault, and sometimes murder.
Pregnancy is also a physical risk factor for many children. Much like if they are found to have HIV or AIDS the girls are thrown out of the brothels with nowhere to go.
Many of the children "break the conscious link between mind and body" in order to function in these situations (Bales 221). By doing so, many children begin to think they are nothing more than "whores" and some develop suicidal thoughts.
Other psychological risk factors include sleep and eating disorders, gender-disturbed sexual identity, hysteria, and even homicidal rage.
Outside physical and psychological dangers lies fear of the law. Many girls and women are illegally trafficked across borders. If they manage to escape from the brothel or pimp, the women and children quickly come to the attention of the authorities. Because they do not have proper documentation they are detained by the authorities. If they are held in local jails, the women and children often suffer further abuse and exploitation by the police.
Prevalence
While it is impossible to know the true extent of the problem, given its illegal nature,
International Labour Organization
The International Labour Organization (ILO) is a United Nations agency whose mandate is to advance social and economic justice by setting international labour standards. Founded in October 1919 under the League of Nations, it is the first and o ...
(ILO) global child labour figures for the year 2003 estimate that there are as many as 1.8 million children exploited in prostitution or pornography worldwide.
The Rapid Assessment survey, developed by the ILO's International Programme for the Elimination of Child Labour (IPEC) and United Nations Children's Fund (
UNICEF
UNICEF (), originally called the United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund in full, now officially United Nations Children's Fund, is an agency of the United Nations responsible for providing Humanitarianism, humanitarian and Devel ...
), relies on interviews and other, mainly qualitative, techniques, to provide a picture of a specific activity in a limited geographic area. It is a highly useful tool for collecting information on the worst forms of child labour, like CSEC, that is difficult to capture with standard quantitative surveys.
General knowledge offered to a child can decrease the likelihood of children being exploited into prostitution or pornography. A national campaign in Thailand provided "9 years of basic education, ... awareness-raising activities to change attitudes about child prostitution, and a surveillance system to prevent children from being coerced into prostitution."
UNICEF and the
United Nations Population Fund
The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), formerly the United Nations Fund for Population Activities, is a UN agency aimed at improving reproductive and maternal health worldwide. Its work includes developing national healthcare strategies ...
(UNFPA) estimate that 2 million children are exploited in prostitution or pornography every year.
International agreements
In 1989, the
UN General Assembly
The United Nations General Assembly (UNGA or GA; french: link=no, Assemblée générale, AG) is one of the six principal organs of the United Nations (UN), serving as the main deliberative, policymaking, and representative organ of the UN. Curr ...
adopted the
Convention on the Rights of the Child
The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (commonly abbreviated as the CRC or UNCRC) is an international human rights treaty which sets out the civil, political, economic, social, health and cultural rights of children. The Con ...
(UNCRC), the first international agreement to recognize the human rights of children, with freedom from sexual exploitation included as a basic right.
Notably, Article 34 commits countries to "prohibiting inducement or coercion of children into unlawful sex acts, prostitution, or pornography."
[Munir, Abu Bakar, and Siti Hajar Bt. Mohd Yasin. "Commercial Sexual Exploitation."Child Abuse Review 6.2 (1997): 147–53. Web. 9 Oct. 2013.] Currently, all United Nations member states except for the United States are parties to the UNCRC.
In 1996, the First World Congress Against the Commercial Exploitation of Children adopted the Declaration and Agenda for Action, which formally reframed child prostitution as CSEC, and committed participants to develop and enforce national plans of action against CSEC; a follow-up Second World Congress was held in 2001.
Following these conferences, the UN took additional steps to address CSEC. Between 2002 and 2003, the UN adopted the
Optional Protocol on the Sale of Children, Child Prostitution, and Child Pornography, which has more detailed commitments on the protection of children, including reporting and monitoring. The vast majority of countries have also ratified this protocol. Also adopted was the
Protocol to Prevent, Suppress, and Punish Trafficking in Persons Especially Women and Children, which was the first international agreement to formally define human trafficking.
Additionally, specialized organizations under the UN (
UNICRI
The United Nations Interregional Crime and Justice Research Institute (UNICRI) is one of the five United Nations Research and Training Institutes. The Institute was founded in 1968 to assist the international community in formulating and impl ...
,
UNODC
The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC; French: ''Office des Nations unies contre la drogue et le crime'') is a United Nations office that was established in 1997 as the Office for Drug Control and Crime Prevention by combining the ...
,
ILO
The International Labour Organization (ILO) is a United Nations agency whose mandate is to advance social and economic justice by setting international labour standards. Founded in October 1919 under the League of Nations, it is the first and ol ...
,
WTO
The World Trade Organization (WTO) is an intergovernmental organization that regulates and facilitates international trade. With effective cooperation
in the United Nations System, governments use the organization to establish, revise, and e ...
) have established efforts focused on CSEC, including research, data collection, reporting, training, and anti-trafficking strategy and implementation.
The same committee that put the Optional Protocol into action has put more effort into acquiring more accurate data on child sexual exploitation. The 2012 Global Report on Trafficking in Persons shows that with the Protocol in place countries without a child sexual exploitation offense have nearly halved. At the regional level, criminal convictions of trafficking offenses have increased.
In 2010, the UN instated a Global Plan of Action against Trafficking in Persons. This plan involves strengthening the abilities of law enforcement to identify victims of trafficking, enhance investigations of alleged cases, and prosecute and punish the many corrupt officials who partake in sex trafficking and tourism.
Prevention
Education
One of the many ways to aid in CSEC prevention is through education. The previously mentioned Protocol requires members to provide preventative measures against child sexual exploitation; among these preventative measures is educating the public, especially families, on the dangers of sex tourism and trafficking.
World Vision
In its most general sense, the term "world" refers to the totality of entities, to the whole of reality or to everything that is. The nature of the world has been conceptualized differently in different fields. Some conceptions see the worl ...
World Vision website
/ref> is one of the leaders in creating these educational opportunities for young girls. Other efforts involve educating police, medical, and school personnel on how to identify CSEC victims and respond in a situation involving CSEC, and educating potential CSEC victims about the tactics recruiters often use to reach at-risk individuals.
See also
*Child sexual abuse
Child sexual abuse (CSA), also called child molestation, is a form of child abuse in which an adult or older adolescent uses a child for sexual stimulation. Forms of child sexual abuse include engaging in sexual activities with a child (whet ...
* Cybertip.ca
*''Demons of Eden
''The Demons of Eden: The Power that Protects Child Pornography'' is a book by the Mexican journalist Lydia Cacho that analyzed the problem of child pornography and child prostitution. The book records Cacho's investigation of the networks of po ...
''
*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 ...
*FBI
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic Intelligence agency, intelligence and Security agency, security service of the United States and its principal Federal law enforcement in the United States, federal law enforcement age ...
*Immigration and Customs Enforcement
The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is a federal law enforcement agency under the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. ICE's stated mission is to protect the United States from the cross-border crime and illegal immigration tha ...
(ICE)
*International Programme on the Elimination of Child Labour The International Programme on the Elimination of Child Labour (IPEC) is a programme that the International Labour Organization has run since 1992. IPEC's aim is to work towards the progressive elimination of child labour by strengthening national c ...
*Mongolian Gender Equality Center
The Mongolian Gender Equality Center (MGEC) is a non-governmental organization based in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, established in 2002 to fight the growing crime of human trafficking in Mongolia, with a focus on protecting young women and girls, th ...
*OneChild
Cheryl Perera (born 1986) is a Canadian children's rights activist. As a teenager, she founded OneChild, a non-governmental organization which seeks to eliminate the commercial sexual exploitation of children abroad. For her work, and in particu ...
*Towards the Elimination of the worst forms of Child Labour
The programme Towards the Elimination of the worst forms of Child Labour (TECL) is a programme on child labour and related issues that is run in all the countries of the Southern African Customs Union (SACU), namely Botswana, Lesotho, Namibia, Sout ...
*Trafficking in human beings
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 extracti ...
*Trafficking of children
Trafficking of children is a form of human trafficking and is defined by the United Nations as the "recruitment, transportation, transfer, harboring, and/or receipt" kidnapping of a child for the purpose of slavery, forced labour and exploitation. ...
*United States Postal Inspection Service
The United States Postal Inspection Service (USPIS), or the Postal Inspectors, is the law enforcement arm of the United States Postal Service. It supports and protects the U.S. Postal Service, its employees, infrastructure, and customers by enfor ...
;Relevant ILO conventions and recommendations
*Worst Forms of Child Labour Convention
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 (ILO) in 1 ...
*Worst Forms of Child Labour Recommendation
The Worst Forms of Child Labour Recommendation was adopted by the International Labour Organization (ILO) in 1999 as ILO Recommendation No 190. The provisions of this Recommendation supplement those of the Worst Forms of Child Labour Convention ( ...
Notes
References
IACAC-International Agency for Crimes Against Children
Further reading
*
External links
Trafficking in Minors for Commercial Sexual Exploitation - United Nations Interregional Crime and Justice Research Institute
* IACAC - International Agency for Crimes Against Children - Child Exploitation, Trafficking, & Cyber Crimes Tactical Initiative
Child Sex Tourism Data
Havocscope Black Markets
{{DEFAULTSORT:Commercial Sexual Exploitation Of Children
Child labour
Child sexual abuse
Forced prostitution
Child prostitution
Sex trafficking
Rape
Sexual exploitation