The trafficking of children for purposes of sexual exploitation

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Executive summary This research reports on one component that underpins most child sexual exploitation through child prostitution: the sexual exploitation of children through trafficking. In examining this issue, our specific focus fell on both in-country and cross-border trafficking. The primary motivation for the research flowed from a growing concern about the increase in child prostitution. This report is the result of various national and international initiatives embarked on over the last four years. These initiatives are discussed in chapter 1. Premises of the research The primary assumption of this research report is that child prostitution equals the sexual exploitation of children and that children are coerced into prostitution. In keeping with the South African constitution, children in this report, are those persons under the age of eighteen years. As trafficked children do not voluntarily engage in the exchange of sex for money or luxury items this report therefore does not regard them as sex workers. Where the term sex worker is used it is placed in quotes. Sexual exploitation of children occurs primarily for the enrichment and economic survival of others. That the financial needs of others are met in this way clearly indicates that there is a demand for children as providers of non-emotional and anonymous sex.This research report, however, does not have an in-depth focus on sex exploiters, who provide payment in kind or cash. The primary focus is on socio-economic structural conditions in South Africa that provide the push and pull for the increase in child prostitution. Another focus is on adults who are responsible for facilitating the child's involvement in the exchange of sex for money or items the adult would normally not have ready access to. The report also provides a voice to children who have experienced such sexual exploitation. Focus of the study A concern underlying this research was to understand what accounts for the increase in child prostitution. The intended aim was to establish what the key causal factors for the trafficking of children are, how this trafficking takes place and who is involved, so that a picture of the nature of trafficking and the operations involved can be presented and solutions to stem the increase offered. Findings In presenting these findings the report focuses on critical aspects related to the trafficking of children. These are • Who are the children at risk? • Who is trafficking them? • How are children trafficked? • Why are children trafficked? • What happens to children when they are trafficked? And • What solutions can we offer to stem this practice? While the findings are varied, the results highlight the following key aspects: 1. The trafficking of South African children is predominantly an in-country phenomenon. Most of these children are trafficked within the vicinity of the place of origin. Girl children are the primary targets, although boy children have also been identified as victims. Girl children range in age from four to seventeen years 2. Parents and local gangs are the primary traffickers of children, sometimes in collusion with each other. Traffickers in South Africa are thus predominantly locals 3. With regard to the cross-border trafficking of children, traffickers have been identified as foreign. These traffickers have been identified as individuals and crime syndicates from Eastern Europe, Moçambique and Thailand 1
4. The causal factors that give rise to the increase in the phenomenon lie primarily in the economic situation in South Africa. This together with related phenomena such as, the breakdown in extended and nuclear families, which is often accompanied by changes in cultural attitudes and practices, place children at risk. Demand for sex with children is another primary cause.The findings also provide a sketch of the nature of the trafficking of children for the purpose of sexual exploitation. Trafficking typically assumes six forms. (a) Strangers, individuals and others who are linked to gangs or syndicates forcibly recruit children to work in the sex industry. The children subsequently either work in brothels or on the street. These brothels can be well-run operations in suburban areas or it can be a shack in a semi-rural area. This type of trafficking is of both an in-country and cross-border type. The nature of the trafficker or pimp's involvement with criminal activities or organised crime as well as the pimp or trafficker's access to commercial endeavours will determine whether the trafficked child becomes a brothel, escort agency or street worker. (b) Parents or relatives coerce children to work from their homes or the homes of sex exploiters. Indications from newspaper reports, interviews with police officers and community workers are that these parents are generally un- or under- employed, have dysfunctional relationships with other adults, and are not suited to care-giving on an ongoing sustained basis. (c) A child is forced to submit to sexual exploitation by a family acquaintance or a person in authority or through a person in authority. This is done through any of the following means:• abduction• deception• coercion.The child is used as a surrogate wife, to cook and clean. She is raped and sexually and physically assaulted repeatedly. The inclusion of this phenomenon as a form of trafficking draws on the voices raised by the Eastern and Southern African consultation to the Stockholm conference. The argument was for a broadening of the definition of commercial sexual exploitation to include all forms of sexual abuse against children. This practice is in essence a non-commercial practice but is linked to a number of elements we identified as consistent with trafficking. These elements are:• the abduction and removal of a child from his/her place of residence• the use of the child as a surrogate wife, where the child is engaged in domestic and sexual labour against her will. (d) The trafficking of children into the sex industry by children already in the industry. In this instance children will either recruit their siblings or friends or will recruit children living on the street. This recruitment however is not necessarily for street prostitution alone. Children have also been trafficked in this way into escort agencies and brothels and into the legal aspects of the sex industry such as exotic dancing and massage parlours. (e) New or relatively established business ventures advertise in national and local newspapers for teenage girls of working age for work in the hospitality or film industries. This work then turns out to be work in the sex industry. The process by which the child is coerced into doing sex work appears to be similar to the manner in which syndicates and individual gangs operate. The syndicate or gang involvement in this form of trafficking is not clear. On the surface it would seem that there is no involvement. The methods of operation however indicate that this is a more sophisticated form of recruitment and that it might be an attempt to recruit middle class girls with better educational qualifications. This in turn might be an indication that there is an increased demand for such girl children. (f) The cross-border trafficking of children into South Africa is organised by crime syndicates and individuals in the countries of origin and in South Africa. Little information is available on the nature and extent of these operations. It has been possible to establish that children are trafficked from Russia, Thailand, Taiwan, Moçambique and Angola. Trafficking from 2
Page 2 and 3: The Trafficking of Children for Pur
Page 4 and 5: Acknowledgments This report was res
Page 6 and 7: Contents Page About Molo Songololo
Page 8 and 9: 5.4 Punishment and resistance 59 5.
Page 12 and 13: Moçambique and Angola involves bot
Page 14 and 15: Children. The Norwegian Justice Min
Page 16 and 17: Chapter 1 Motivations of the resear
Page 18 and 19: 2. Ensure a reduction in the incide
Page 20 and 21: Box 1: Glossary of terms Trafficker
Page 22 and 23: 3. Terminology The terms, "the chil
Page 24 and 25: 4. Design and Method 4.1. Aims and
Page 26 and 27: m) A review of the following releva
Page 28 and 29: to emphasise the immediate need for
Page 30 and 31: countries to ensure that measures a
Page 32 and 33: Actors/dancers/singers wanted. Expe
Page 34 and 35: Chapter 4 Factors and trends with r
Page 36 and 37: Mpumalanga 7 3 18 12 North West Pro
Page 38 and 39: According to a sex worker the effec
Page 40 and 41: Here individual traits and problems
Page 42 and 43: • Men from the Northern Suburbs o
Page 44 and 45: Alleged police involvement and corr
Page 46 and 47: Map 2: Some indications of local tr
Page 48 and 49: • An increase in unemployment •
Page 50 and 51: Johannesburg. Needless to say, once
Page 52 and 53: Map 3: Cross-border trafficking of
Page 54 and 55: Chapter 6 The role of gangs in the
Page 56 and 57: gangs in their own right. 135 These
Page 58 and 59: Little is known about the gang lead
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• All had been physically and sex
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Original transcripts of selected te
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Abduction 3: Alicia's story Origina
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Any act seen as resistance or a cha
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Referred to as " besagheid" or "wer
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Lucia gets away: as told by Jenny T
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Table 6: Girls in the gang intervie
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During the course of the twentieth
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States Parties undertake to protect
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Article 3 states that: State Partie
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Article 7 places an obligation on s
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constitutive elements related to of
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the appropriate authorities, like t
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whoa) permits, procures or attempts
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foreign nationals to come to this c
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This Act provides for a broad defin
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• Films and Publication Act, No 6
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2) The Children's Court may order t
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espect to restorative justice this
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process to manage the problem in So
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Legal Instruments South African Leg
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"Zunaid". Ek het, was die enigste e
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Ons gee vir hulle pak. - Belinda 5.
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man sê toe nou vir my ek moet eers
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For these purposes, State Parties s
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States Parties to the present Chart
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9. The commercial sexual exploitati
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esponsible sexual attitudes and beh
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The trafficking of children for purposes of sexual exploitation

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