The trafficking of children for purposes of sexual exploitation

Chapter 4
Factors and trends with regard to the incountry
trafficking of girl children
1. Introduction
This chapter is based on interviews with community workers, police officers and a child rescued
from sexual exploitation. It reflects the findings from these interviews. With regard to the causal
factors, those identified by the media have been incorporated here as there is significant overlap
between these different sets of sources. These findings are also supported by findings in other
literature.
These findings allow for a sketch of:
• the causal factors
• a profile of girl children who are trafficked
• the traffickers
• trafficking routes.
2. South African children exploited in the formal and informal sectors of the
economy: context
South Africa's 17 million children make up 44,24 percent of its population. 40 The majority, 61
percent, of these children live in poverty. 41
The Network Against Child Labour (NACL) estimates that there are 400 000 children working in
South Africa. 42 According to the Human Rights Committee, these, children are working in both the
formal and informal sectors of the economy. Of the children working in the informal sector; there
are 200 000 between the ages of 10 to 14 and 200 000 between the ages of 15 and 18. The report
further states that "child labour is everywhere, from taxi ranks to farms and coalyards. They are
forced to work hours that adults are protected against simply because they have no voice in the
labour market or recourse to law. Their average wage is R10 a day." 43 Children who are sexually
exploited are counted among this number. Sex exploiters pay anything from R10 to a R150 to
traffickers, for access to the child's body. 44 Most children do not receive any of this money.
Newspaper reports and NGOs indicate an increase in child prostitution. 45
Children can be trafficked into any of the legal or illegal sectors of the sex industry. The sex
industry comprises the following sectors as presented in table 1, below.
Table 1: Sectors of South African sex industry
Sector Description
40 Human Rights Committee, Quarterly Review: Children's Rights and Personal Rights 1999 p. v
41 Rights Up Your Street: Nadel 1998 quoted in Z. Abass ' Realities of Children's Lives' in NASEC Conference Report
p. 87
42 C. Bhengu, 'Children Forced into Prostitution', Sowetan, 17/3/98. This figure has been contested by child rights
organisations, active in the field of child labour as a conservative estimate.
43 Human Rights Committee, Quarterly Review, Ibid p. vi
44 These sums were mentioned in interviews conducted. Media reports however suggest that sex exploiters pay anything
from 50c - R150 depending on where the exchange takes place for instance sex in an agency will fetch higher than sex
on the street.
45 See for instance: S. Naidoo and P. Kirk: 'Rampant child prostitution' the Saturday Paper 8/11/1997
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