The trafficking of children for purposes of sexual exploitation

• Parents allow the sexual exploitation of their children in exchange for getting rid of a debt
• Parents receive money to give their children as child brides to others.
4. Additional factors that contribute to the sexual exploitation of children
Other factors identified by community organisations and media reports are those that relate to
social, structural and individual factors. These are presented here as macro, meso and micro level
factors.
4.1. Macro factors have been identified as 68
This encompasses the social, economic, political and ideological overarching forces, which shape
the lives of many, predominantly black children in South Africa. These include
• lack of intervention by police and welfare agencies to reports of the sexual exploitation of
children
• silence by communities that allows the exploitation to continue
• the influence of mass media and the cultural dissemination that
results in increased consumerism tied to status symbols such as
particular clothing labels
• gaps in policy and poor policy implementation
• inadequate knowledge about intervention and treatment
strategies for children in prostitution by professionals hinders
the implementation of policy
• lack of appropriate communication between various
government and non-government agencies that result in a
negative impact at grassroots level
• negative attitudes of those working with children at risk to the
issue of the sexual exploitation of children 69
• a combination of an unwillingness and lack of training and
knowledge by grassroots organisations and community
organisations to deal with the issue. 70
Box 2: Section 28, Bill of Rights,
constitution of South Africa
(1996)
Every Child has the right to
1d. be protected from
maltreatment, neglect, abuse or
degradation
1.f. not be required or permitted to
perform work or provide services
that -
(i) are inappropiate for a person of
that child’s age;
(ii) place at risk the child’s wellbeing,
education, physical or
mental or spiritual, moral or social
development
4.2. Meso level factors are 71
These factors occur at the level of the family. Here the following contributing factors have been
identified:
• children who come from poverty stricken, multi-problem families and/ or where parents abuse
alcohol and drugs
• children who are from broken homes or grow up in substitute care
• children who ran away from home or institutional care to escape adverse circumstances
• parents who traffic children
• siblings who traffic their younger sisters
• an older sibling who is being sexually exploited, which might indicate that there is an
expectation by parents that younger siblings will follow suit
• parents who unable to provide for the children's economic and emotional needs.
4.3. Micro factors have been identified as 72
68 Field researchers notes on interviews with organisations as listed in Chapter 2 (4.3) of this report. As well as various
newspaper reports
69 A community worker in Ocean View (Cape Town) in discussion cited an example of this with researchers on 13
January 2000. Where a principal of a Primary school in Ocean View referred to girls in the school who had been
trafficked as the sex exploiter's "whores". The Cape Times also reported that boys in the school were teasing and calling
these girls derogatory names. See M. Gosling 'Schoolgirls paid R150 a time in city child sex ring' 22/7/1998
70 This factor was identified from a survey of Cape Town based organisations at the beginning of this research
71 Researchers field notes
72 Researchers field notes
30