2007 Trafficking in Persons Report - Center for Women Policy Studies

I N T R O D U C T I O N
Children Exploited
for Commercial Sex
Each year, more than two million children are
exploited in the global commercial sex trade.
Children are also trapped in prostitution despite
the fact that a number of international covenants
and protocols impose upon parties an obligation
to criminalize the commercial sexual exploitation
of children. The use of children in the commercial
sex trade is prohibited under both U.S. law and
the UN TIP Protocol. There can be no exceptions,
no cultural or socio-economic rationalizations
that prevent the rescue of children from sexual
servitude. Terms such as “child sex worker” are
unacceptable because they sanitize the brutality of
this exploitation.
BRAZIL
Slave Labor Trying to support a nine-yearold
daughter back home, Benito followed a
brother who had found work at the brick kilns at
Transcameta in the Brazilian Amazon. Promised
adequate pay, he was deceived into working for
an employer who did not pay him, but rather
assigned him an ever growing debt for food
and lodging costs not previously disclosed. He
toiled six days a week and couldn’t afford to
leave, since he didn’t have enough money to get
back to his home 500 miles away. Benito and
the other slave laborers were not paid anything
for months. He was afraid he wouldn’t see any
Child Sex Tourism
Child sex tourism (CST) involves people who
travel from their own country to another and
engage in commercial sex acts with children. CST
is a shameful assault on the dignity of children
and a form of violent child abuse. The commercial
sexual exploitation of children has devastating
consequences for minors, which may include
long-lasting physical and psychological trauma,
disease (including HIV/AIDS), drug addiction,
unwanted pregnancy, malnutrition, social ostracism,
and possibly death.
Tourists engaging in CST often travel to
developing countries looking for anonymity and
the availability of children in prostitution. The
crime is typically fueled by weak law enforcement,
corruption, the Internet, ease of travel, and
poverty. Sexual offenders come from all socioeconomic
backgrounds and may hold positions
of trust. Cases of child sex tourism involving
U.S. citizens have included a pediatrician, a
retired Army sergeant, a dentist, and a university
professor. Child pornography is frequently
involved in these cases, and drugs may also be
used to solicit or control the minors.
wages at all if he left. Benito lived next to the
brick kilns in a shack with no ventilation, running
water, or electricity. He contracted malaria from
28
the mosquitoes that swarmed the camp.