University of Zambia Medical Library

HIV and Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children (1997 World AIDS Campaign)

Commercial sexual exploitation:
It is estimated that, worldwide, more than 1 million children enter the sex trade every year. The scope of the problem is however difficult to gauge with any real accuracy. The research that has been done, however, suggests that sexual exploitation is growing, that most children in the sex industry are girls aged between 13 and 18 years, and that the average age of children involved is falling. Girls are at greater risk of commercial sexual exploitation than boys because of their lower social status and because of the discrimination that they often face, which often results in inferior access to educational and employment opportunities.

Sexual exploitation of children is a serious violation of their fundamental human rights and has devastating psychological and physical consequences for children. As Dr Peter Piot, the Executive Director of the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS), has stated: "The commercial sexual exploitation of children is an atrocity and has rightly been called the ultimate evil. It is a perversion of the natural order where adults should be there to protect and nurture children, not to take advantage of their emotionally and physically vulnerable state."

The link between AIDS and the sex trade in children:
The HIV/AIDS epidemic has made child sexual abuse and child prostitution more dangerous than ever before. The AIDS epidemic has become both a cause and consequence of the trade in children. Although child prostitution has a long history, the demand for child partners may be growing because of people's fears and delusions about AIDS. For example, some men reportedly seek out children because they believe children are less likely to be HIV-infected than adult prostitutes. AIDS has also become an important consequence of commercial sexual exploitation of children. Sex between a man and a child is particularly likely to transmit HIV, the virus that causes AIDS. A child who is not fully grown is more easily torn or damaged by penetrative sex, which makes it easier for the virus to pass into the child's body.

For these reasons, children run a greater risk than adults do of becoming infected with HIV or with other diseases such as syphilis. Condom use could at least protect the children from these diseases, though it will not protect them from the associated psychological and physical harm. However, children are weak, vulnerable and often uninformed, and they are scarcely in a position to demand that an adult should use a condom. Nor are the children in a position to seek out medical care if they get injured or fall ill with a sexually transmitted disease. Therefore, the millions of children who are sexually exploited now face the additional and fatal risk of HIV/AIDS.

The sex trade affects a large group of children who live in circumstances which make them vulnerable to commercial sexual exploitation and hence vulnerable to AIDS. They may come from a family that is impoverished or greedy for commercial gain or their relatives may be uninformed and fall for the lies of sex trade recruiters who promise their children good jobs. Or the children may be forced into prostitution by threatened or actual violence to themselves or their families. Studies indicate that rates of HIV infection among sexually exploited and street children are often very high.

Building a framework to protect children - the Convention on the Rights of the Child:
The 1996 World Congress Against Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children, held in Stockholm, marked the first concerted international attempt to address the problem of sexual abuse and exploitation of children. The conference both built on and reinforced the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. The Convention states that human beings under the age of 18 are special - they are children. Children must be given the time and opportunity to develop and must be protected from all forms of abuse and exploitation by adults. When children lack legal and social protection, a healthy environment, access to health care, education and recreation, and minimum standards of food, clothing and shelter, they become particularly vulnerable to exploitation and abuse.

Solutions - the following measures must be taken to restrain and ultimately eradicate the commercial sexual exploitation of children:
Children need to be removed from situations in which they are sold and purchased for sex - a practice in clear violation of Article 34 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. This will take the consolidated efforts of governments, nongovernmental organizations, the business sector, the media, religious groups, and communities. Their main support will have to take the form of a strong and sustained political and financial commitment.

Laws against commercial sexual exploitation of children must be made tougher and enforced vigorously. Publicizing the existence, severity and application of these laws is crucial to success. Punishing clients, procurers and other adults who break the law will demonstrate that the sexual exploitation of children is a serious crime - and deter potential exploiters. However, there is also need for caution here. Sexual abusers of children may need therapeutic or rehabilitative measures - the punitive response may not be sufficient to eradicate individual pathological behaviour. Also, laws against commercial sexual exploitation of children must not be used to punish children. Children who are caught in the sex trade should be seen as victims, not as prostitutes or criminals.

Public information campaigns against the commercial sexual exploitation of children need to be stepped up to raise awareness of the torments inflicted on these children, who are beaten, locked up, and abused by clients. The fatal risk to these children of acquiring HIV should also be highlighted. It must be recognized that children have fundamental rights that the world has agreed to protect - not violate. Attitudes and traditions that place a low value on children and women, and hence condone the trafficking and exploitation of girls and boys, must be changed. The sexual abuse of children must be unacceptable in the minds of everybody. Both governments and communities can and should play a leadership role in this.

In areas where commercial sex takes place, efforts must be increased to prevent HIV and treat and cure the other sexually transmitted diseases such as syphilis and gonorrhoea, which greatly increase the risk of HIV transmission through sex. Condoms must be promoted aggressively and marketed affordably. The goal is to end the sexual exploitation of children, but as efforts continue to rescue exploited children, it is essential to reduce their risk of infection with HIV and hence save their lives. The range of support services available to children who suffer or have suffered from sexual exploitation needs to be expanded. Children with HIV and their families need access to quality health care, including counselling, because the emotional consequences of HIV and AIDS are often as painful as the physical disease. Many families will need help and assistance with food, shelter, income generation, and education for their children.

Creative ways of making children and their families less vulnerable to the sex trade must be found. For example, through income-generating initiatives, education, and the promotion of rural industry, governments can reinforce families' resistance to the lure of commercial gain through the sale of their children. Religious groups, youth groups and other community-based organizations can help convince families and other members of the public to understand the harsh penalties for selling and buying children and the torments suffered by children trapped in the sex trade. Finally, the participation of children and young people in the formulation of preventive measures must be encouraged. In a first step to fulfilling their obligations to children, governments need to collect comprehensive data on sexual abuse and exploitation of children and adolescents, so that effective prevention and care programmes can be implemented in light of these data.

Conclusion:
A story told by Mettanando Bhikkhu, a Buddhist monk from Thailand, illustrates the nature of our responsibility. A woman approached the Buddhist monk and said: "When I was 12, my parents, who were very poor, sold me to a brothel and I have had to do this work ever since. I must beg your forgiveness for my sin." The monk replied; "There is no need to beg forgiveness from me. It is I and the world who should beg your forgiveness, for we have not done enough to protect you. Please forgive me and the world for having failed to protect you in the first place."

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Last updated November 30, 1997

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