The trafficking of children for purposes of sexual exploitation

Chapter 4 covers the causal factors that give rise to the increase in the trafficking of children and
provide indications of patterns and trends as they relate to the phenomenon. It details the
institutional and structural socio-economic conditions prevalent in South Africa that constitute the
push factors that result in poverty and lack of access to financial resources. It also suggests that the
changes in family structure are a major contributing factor and these, combined with the
institutional socio-economic conditions prevalent in South Africa, constitute the primary push
factors. The pull factors essentially constitute the factors that facilitate both the demand and the
supply. The availability of money and the use of power determine the demand for sex with children
by adults. Some sex exploiters favour children over adult sex workers because children are less
likely to negotiate the exchange in terms of the sexual acts. The chapter also provides a sketch of
patterns and trends that relate to the issues of child prostitution and trafficking of children. This
chapter thus provides profiles of traffickers, children who are trafficked and some indications of
who the sex exploiters are and what their attitudes to sex with children are. It also indicates the
methods of trafficking used and gives an indication of in-country trafficking routes.
Chapter 5 provides indications of the cross-border trafficking of children into South Africa. The
cross-border trafficking of children is not a recent phenomenon and further in-depth research is
needed to establish the changes in the nature of cross-border trafficking over the past hundred years.
Despite the occurrence of the cross-border trafficking of children since the time of the "White Slave
Trade" in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, South Africa still does not have
legislation that prohibits the trafficking of children for this or any other exploitative purpose.
Information on the nature and extent of present day cross-border operations is limited and more
difficult to access than information on the in-country trafficking. This is largely due to two factors,
the international nature of the trafficking and the involvement of transnational crime syndicates.
Children are also kept in captivity and are therefore difficult to access.
Chapter 6 provides a case study of 19 girls trafficked into a Cape Town-based gang. The case
study provides some information on gang involvement in child prostitution and provides a picture
of the structure of the particular gang. Importantly the case study provides insights into the lives and
experiences of the girls trafficked for the purposes of sexual exploitation. It details the methods of
trafficking, provides a profile of the male members of the gang. It also explains the relationships
that operate within the gang where girl children are subjected to physical and sexual violence on a
daily basis from the gang leader, other male members in the gang and from sex exploiters. It also
gives a profile of the girls interviewed.
Chapter 7 looks at the legal issues as they pertain to child prostitution and trafficking of children
for this purpose. This chapter provides a review of current international conventions, African
charters and South African legislation. As such it provides legal remedies to deal with the
trafficking of children for the purpose of sexual exploitation.
Chapter 8 contains recommendations that will provide for the safety and care of sexually exploited
children. These recommendations focus on initiatives that could be undertaken at both a national
and a local level.
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