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Article #290 : Combating child prostitution

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Child sex work

Controlling prostitution

 
To many governments around the world, A serious shortage exists nationally in
international tourism provides an answer the number and types of specialist in
to economic growth and development. As CSE. These shortages are most apparent
tourism begins to overtake traditional in the forensics area but also are
sources of employment, children and young manifest in judicial and prosecutorial
people are encouraged to migrate to agencies. An urgent need also exists for
tourist areas, in hopes they can earn an more social workers, psychologists,
income for themselves and their families. educators, physicians, lawyers, police
The commercial sexual exploitation of officers, coroners and other s with
children parallels the growth of tourism special expertise in CSE.
in many parts of the world. Tourism is Recommendation #10: Promote Effective
not the cause of child sexual Public/Private partnerships for Combating
exploitation, but it does provide easy Child Sexual Exploitation
access to vulnerable children. In some A successful national campaign to combat
instances, the marketing of certain CSE will require active participation
destinations, particularly within Asia, and coordination of efforts between and
portrays an image of women and children among all public and private stakeholders
who are passive, submissive and exotic. committed to the prevention of CSE and
These false images reinforce many of the to the protection of its victims. See
beliefs of sex tourists. Tourism also full recommendations for detailed list of
brings consumerism to many parts of the stakeholders.
world previously denied access to luxury Recommendation #11: The Need for More
commodities and services. The lure of Specific Studies of Perpetrators of Child
this easy money has caused many young Sexual Exploitation and Their Victims
people, including children, to trade The present investigation represents a
their bodies in exchange for T-shirts, unique "first generation" inquiry into
walkmans, bikes and even air tickets out the nature, extent, dynamics and
of the country. In other situations, seriousness of CSE in the U.S. This
children are trafficked into the brothels investigation has uncovered many
on the margins of the tourist area and surprising, and unsettling, facts about
sold into sexual slavery, very rarely the near epidemic nature of CSE in
earning the money to escape. contemporary American society. We have
Profiles: Sex tourists may be solo reported these findings in considerable
travelers or part of an arranged group. detail. Even so, much more needs to be
They may be Preferential Abusers, who understood about the causes and extent of
have clear and definite sexual CSE, especially among sexually
preferences for children or Situational vulnerable populations of children and
Abusers, offenders who may not have youth that are hidden from public view.
planned to have commercial child sex COMMERCIAL CHILD SEXUAL EXPLOITATION:
while abroad, but took the opportunity "THE MOST HIDDEN FORM OF CHILD ABUSE,"
when it presented itself. They use the SAYS PENN PROFESSOR
"why not" approach and might consider it University of Pennsylvania News Bureau
a bit of holiday "fun" not considering WASHINGTON – Tens of thousands of U.S.,
adolescents as children, even though many Mexican and Canadian children and youth
of the bar girls and boys are under 16 become victims of juvenile pornography,
years of age. While the majority of child prostitution and trafficking each year.
sex offenders are male, it is also known So significant is the problem that even
that women are involved, and in some most law-enforcement and child-welfare
cases, male and female offenders travel officials do not realize its scope.
as a couple to avoid discovery. Child sex "Child sexual exploitation is the most
tourist persuade themselves that in hidden form of child abuse in the U.S.
another country, normal social and moral and North America today. It is the
restraints can be discarded, along with nation's least recognized epidemic," said
the belief that one will not be held Richard J. Estes, a University of
responsible for his or her behavior. It Pennsylvania professor of social work
is within these circumstances that child and the author of "The Commercial Sexual
sexual exploitation thrives. The fact Exploitation of Children in the U.S.,
that most organized international child Canada and Mexico." Neil Weiner of
sex abuse occurs in developing countries Penn's Center for the Study of Youth
indicates that child sex offenders Policy co-authored the international
exploit the economic hardships which many report.
families endure. Offenders prefer to The three-year project was funded by the
believe that the children they abuse are National Institute of Justice of the
professional prostitutes, which allow the U.S. Department of Justice, the W.T.
perpetrators to feel exonerated or Grant Foundation, the Fund for
justified in their actions. The fear of Non-Violence and the Research Foundation
contracting AIDS through unprotected sex of the University of Pennsylvania.
with older prostitutes has increased the Estes reported that his and Weiner's
demand for virgins and young children. research identified 17 groups of children
WHY IS THIS HAPPENING TO WOMEN AND in the U.S. who are at "substantial
CHILDREN? risk" of being sexually exploited. The
SUPPLY largest of these groups are runaway,
Devaluation of the girl child and thrown away and other homeless American
discriminatory practices children who use "survival sex" to
Perceived responsibility of women and acquire food, shelter, clothing and
children to support families other things needed to survive on
Lack of educational, employment and America's streets," Estes said. "These
vocational opportunities children are solicited for sex repeatedly
Fragmentation of families: death of by men, many of whom are married and
parent/s, husband, increases homeless have children of their own," Estes said.
women and children "Like other groups of sexually exploited
Economic conditions, especially rural persons, street children are exposed to
poverty, fueled by economic development violence, drug abuse, rape and sometimes,
policies and the erosion of agricultural even murder at the hands of the pimps,
sectors ‘customers' and traffickers that make up
Rural to urban migration and the growth their world."
of urban industrial centers Estes also reported that some U.S.
Move from subsistence to cash based children engage in commercial sex while
economy and increased consumerism living at home. "The majority of these
Lack of laws and law enforcement children trade sex for money or for more
DEMAND expensive clothes and other consumer
Criminal networks who organize the sex goods. Most of the ‘customers' of these
industry and recruit the children children are members of their own junior
Law enforcement /governmental complicity and senior high school peer groups," he
in the sex trade said. Many of these children live in
Demands of foreign sex industries secure middle-class homes, and few
creating international trade in girls and parents are aware of their children's
women involvement in pornography and
Fear of AIDS, leading customers to demand prostitution. This group also includes
younger girls American youths who cross into Canada or
Early marriage and child marriage Mexico in pursuit of cheaper drugs,
Traditional and cultural practices, alcohol and sex. Mexican authorities
including the demand for virgins, the report that border town are little more
cultural practice of men patronizing than "cantinas for America's youth,"
prostitutes, inter-generational patterns Estes said.
of girls entering prostitution The sexual exploitation of children is
Employers using the debt-bond (slavery) not limited to particular racial, ethnic
system, forced labor and child labor or socioeconomic groups, according to the
Demand of sex tourists, pedophiles and Penn professors' report, although
the migrant labor force children from poorer families appear to
International promotion of the sex be somewhat at a higher risk of
industry through information technology commercial sexual exploitation. In fact,
Recommendations Regarding Domestic Sex most of the street children encountered
Trafficking of U.S. Teens in the study were Caucasian youths who
In Support of a National Strategy to had run away from middle-class homes.
Combat Child Sex Exploitation (CSE) & the But, "a disproportionate number of street
Commercial Sexual Exploitation of youth have histories of recurrent
Children (CSEC) physical or sexual abuse at home and took
University of Pennsylvania School of to the streets in a desperate effort to
Social Work bring their abuse to an end," Estes said.
For full report go here: http:// "It's ironic that running away from
caster.ssw.upenn.edu/~restes/CSEC.htm home increases their risk of physical
Recommendation #1: Protect the Children violence and sexual abuse." Many street
Children are the victims of sexual youths use drugs "deal with the emotional
exploitation and only rarely can protect pain of being sexually victimized at
themselves against sexual assaults by home and, once on the streets, by four to
trusted family members and other adults, 10 ‘customers' a day," Estes said.
especially when children themselves fail Just as the exploited children come from
to recognize or give credence to the all parts of society, so do the
coercion and deception that accompanies perpetrators of sex crimes against
CSE. Thus efforts at protecting children children. These sexual predators include
from sexual exploitation must emphasize relatives and other adults known and
prevention as the first priority. trusted by the children or their
Recommendation #2: Target Adult Sexual families. "Despite popular notions to
Exploiters of Children for Punishment, the contrary," Estes said, "strangers
Not the Children commit fewer than 4% of all the sexual
Sexually exploited children often are assaults on children." In the case of
re-victimized by the very agency that street children, their "customers"
have been designed to assist them. This include pedophiles, pederasts, pimps and
re-victimization takes several forms: 1) traffickers. Other customer are
the treatment of sexually exploited transient males, including members of the
children as criminals rather than as military, long-haul truck drivers,
victims of sexual exploitation; 2) to the seasonal workers, conventioneers and sex
extent they occur at all, arrests of tourists.
juveniles involved in prostitution rather "In the U.S., child sexual exploitation
than the pimps, traffickers, customers affects as many boys and girls, but boys
and other adults that benefit from the are less well served by human service
sexual exploitation of children; and 3) and law-enforcement systems because of
"benign neglect" by many agencies of the the widespread belief that boys are
complex service needs of tens of better able than are girls to fend for
thousands of runaway and homeless street themselves," Estes reported. Given the
youth that enter local communities as high levels of emotional dysfunction,
"transients." drug abuse and violence that exists for
Recommendation #3: Enforce More Fully boys living on America's streets,
Existing National & State Laws Relating however, this is not true. In time, many
to CSE boys shift from being victims of sexual
This investigation has determined a abuse to victimizing other boys and girls
pattern of benign neglect on the part of as pimps and traffickers. Other groups
many law enforcement and human service of commercially sexually exploited
agencies vis-a-vis the needs of sexually children in the U.S. include girls in
exploited children and youth. This gangs; transgender street youth; foreign
pattern is reflected both in the children brought into the U.S. illegally
comparatively low number of CSE cases from Africa, Asia, Eastern Europe and
currently being served by public agencies elsewhere in the Americas; and U.S. youth
and the absence of written policies and who are trafficked nationally and
procedures for dealing with CSE cases in internationally as part of organized
all but a few agencies. The pattern crime sex rings.
prevails despite the existence of strong Estes and Weiner have identified an
Federal, and usually, state, laws 11-point action agenda focused on
designed to protect the children from eliminating the further commercial sexual
sexual exploitation. exploitation of America's youth. "There
Recommendation #4: Increase the is an urgent need," Estes said, "for the
Penalties Associated With Sexual Crimes systematic public and professional
Against Children education on the causes, nature and
While no one can forecast exactly the extent of child sexual exploitation in
net impact of greater or enhanced the United States. The situation in the
criminal penalties in reducing CSE; there U.S. must be understood within the
is an important logic for doing so. broader content of child sexual
Penalty enhancement broadcasts the exploitation occurring throughout both
unmistakable message that CSE is a crime, the North American region and the rest of
not a viable defensible personal the world. Only through such
choice. understanding will the U.S. be able to
Recommendation #5: Support local act decisively in protecting her children
Communities in their Efforts to from heinous abuse."
Strengthen Local and State Law Pertaining He also called for earlier
to Child Sexual Exploitation identification and more intensive
At the same time that work is done by supervision of sexually offending adults
governmental and non-governmental groups and juveniles as urgent priorities in
to change the penalty structure and protecting children from sexual
hierarchy of statutes pertaining to CSE, exploitation.
work also needs to be done in THIS INFORMATION IS EMBARGOED UNTIL 1:00
strengthening those statutes that already P.M. (EDT), SEPT. 10, 2001
exist. U.S. Campaign Against the Commercial
Recommendation #6: Establish a National Sexual Exploitation of Children
Child Sexual Exploitation Intelligence Campaign Purpose: To end the use and
Center abuse of children and youth in
This investigation has demonstrated the prostitution, pornography and
need for a full-time intelligence sex-trafficking
gathering and strategic planning The Campaign Seeks To:
apparatus for monitoring national trends 1. Develop new national legislation that
related to CSE. The that end, we will create incentives for states to
recommend that National Child Sexual enforce laws that prohibit the use of
Exploitation Intelligence Center (NCSEIC) children in the sex trade
be established. 2. Increase public concern about CSEC
Recommendation #7: Expand Federally 3. Promote coordinated and effective law
funded Multi-jurisdictional Task Forces enforcement response
on Child Sexual Exploitation Into All 4. Increase services for sexually
Major Federal and State Jurisdictions exploited youth
Recommendation #8: Expand 5. Strengthen penalties for those who
Federally-Funded Internet Crimes Against recruit/use children for sex and
Children Units into All Major Federal and pornography
State Jurisdictions 6. Support youth participation in
Federally-initiated multi-jurisdictional advocacy efforts to end CSEC.
task forces on CSE as well as federally Currently the Campaign includes 36
initiated Internet Crimes Against organizations that actively recruit new
Children units have demonstrated great membership and work together to create a
promise in the communities in which they legislative strategy. Along with
are located. They have succeed in developing new legislation, the Campaign
sensitizing communities, promoting is encouraging the U.S. Senate to ratify
multi-jurisdictional cooperation, the Optional Protocol Against the Sale of
promoting new public-private Children, Child Prostitution and Child
partnerships, strengthened local laws and Pornography.
served as focal points for promoting of Members of the Campaign Steering
public and continuing professional Committee have briefed over 40
education concerning CSE both locally and representatives of federal agencies about
nationally. CSEC in the United States and the need
Recommendation #9: Expand the National to develop coordinated and effective
Pool of Child Sexual Exploitation Experts responses to this problem. A website is
and Specialists being developed.






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