Commercial sexual exploitation of children
Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children (CSEC) defines the “umbrella” of crimes and activities that involve inflicting sexual abuse on to a child as a financial or personal opportunity. Commercial Sexual Exploitation consists of forcing a child into prostitution, sex trafficking, early marriage, child sex tourism and any other venture of exploiting children into sexual activities. According to the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, the lack of reporting the crime and “the difficulties associated with identifying and measuring victims and perpetrators” [1] has made it almost impossible to create a national estimate of the prevalence of Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children in the United States. There is an estimated one million children that are exploited for commercial sex globally; of the one million children that are exploited, the majority are girls.
CSEC in the United States[edit]
According to the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation, "Between 244,000 and 325,000 American youth are considered at risk for sexual exploitation, and an estimated 199,000 incidents of sexual exploitation of minors occur each year in the United States ".[2] Within the United States, schools are one of the biggest targets of children becoming trafficked.
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic in 2021, the most recent year for which national data is available, "the actual number of children abused is likely underreported."[3]
Types[edit]
Prostitution[edit]
There is an estimated 1-2 million minors that are exploited sexually through prostitution every year.[6] Most children in the U.S. become a part of the prostitution industry around the ages 12–14 years old. These children typically "trafficked by someone they know, such as a friend, family member, or romantic partner,[7]".
Child sex tourism[edit]
Child sex tourism (CST) involves predators that travel from their homeland to a different country to engage in sexual relations with a trafficked child [8] With the prevalence of travel and tourism has increased the accessibility for traffickers to have access to trafficked children from other countries. Traffickers often travel to underdeveloped countries to take advantage of the lack of laws surrounding the crime of child prostitution, corruption within government, high levels of poverty, and other various factors.
Pornography[edit]
Child pornography is the "representation of a child engaged in explicit sexual activities or any representation of the sexual parts of a child for primarily sexual purposes" whether in real life or simulated.[9] When it comes to the representations of child pornography they include and come in many forms being photographs, audiotapes, and especially videos that portray children performing sexual acts with objects, adults even other children. 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.[10] Many pimps force children into pornography as a way of conditioning them to believe that what they are doing is acceptable.[11] Pimps may then use the pornography to blackmail the child and extort money from clients.[11]
The production, possession and distribution of child pornography are prohibited by law and are harshly punished. Child pornography generally involves egregious acts of criminal sexual abuse and exploitation towards children, which are profoundly harmful to the child victims, being a form of child abuse. Those who seek to or are currently participating in the exploitation of children are currently connecting on Internet networks in order to sell, share, and trade material.
Dangers and consequences[edit]
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."[20] 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.[21] Physical hazards can also include infertility, cervical cancer, assault, and sometimes murder.[12] 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.[21] 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.[22][21] Other psychological risk factors include sleep and eating disorders, gender-disturbed sexual identity, hysteria, and even homicidal rage.[12]
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.[21]
Multiple dangers come with exploitation when it comes to children, as we know children are among the most vulnerable people when it comes to our society and should be watched over and guarded carefully from all types of dangers in the world. Many people often think of abuse as just physical; cuts and bruises but physical violence is just one form that abuse takes with other forms including sexual, emotional abuse along with neglect.
The effects of children used in child pornography can have psychological, emotional, and physical effects on a survivor. These are inescapable repercussions which can include general symptoms of flashbacks, as well as post-traumatic stress disorder that could lead a child to sink into a deep depression. Sexual abuse can lead to other results of self-harm, substance abuse, eating disorders, pregnancy, sleep disorders, suicide, and multiple other sexually transmitted infections (STIs). Experiencing sexual abuse is not something any child should endure or would choose for themselves at all, yet due to their young nature and innocence they are forced to cope with unavoidable situations and symptoms from the trauma they have endured.
International Fight Against Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children[edit]
The first world meeting to fight globally against the commercial sexual exploitation of children was held in Stockholm, Sweden in 1996. The idea was first proposed by End Child Prostitution in Asian Tourism (ECPAT) in 1994. ECPAT then worked collaboratively with the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) and other nongovernmental organizations to create the world Congress that fights to bring awareness to the problem of commercial sexual exploitation of children.[27]
There has been multiple agreements and works of actions put in place to fight against the commercial sexual exploitation of children. One of the actions being taken is the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime which was "adopted by General Assembly resolution 55/25 of 15 November 2000[28]". This convention is meant to target three areas of organized crime one of those areas being "the protocol to prevent, suppress and punish trafficking in persons, especially women and children".[29] The purpose is to encourage participants to cooperate in the actions needed to prevent and transactional crimes.
"The World Congress III against Sexual Exploitation of Children and Adolescents took place in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil"[30] on November 25 through 28th in 2008. The Congress was composed of UNICEF, ECPAT, the NGO Group for the Convention on the Rights of the Child, and lastly, the Brazilian Government. This Congress' turnout for advocating and speaking out against the sexual exploitation of children was incredible. There was over 3,000 attendees coming from over 135 government, institutions, and civil communities. 300 of these participants were adolescents.