The trafficking of children for purposes of sexual exploitation

the appropriate authorities, like the Child Welfare official or social worker. The fact that there is no
clearly defined obligation to report allows the perpetuation of the ill treatment of children.
Section 50A(1) deals with the commercial sexual exploitation of children and reads:
Any person who participates or is involved in the commercial sexual exploitation of a child shall be
guilty of an offence.
Even though, the section declares the participation and involvement in commercial sexual
exploitation of children as an offence, it fails to specify the activities and persons who facilitate and
enable such exploitation, such as the sex industry, media, pornography, as well as the role of any
person coercing a child into the circumstances allowing sexual exploitation, such as peers, family
members, women working in prostitution, pimps, etc.
In other words, this section is only aimed at any person who is 'directly' participating and involved
in the commercial sexual exploitation of children and not those who are 'indirectly' involved.
Section 50A(2) states that:
Any person who is an owner, lessor, manager, tenant or occupier of property on which the
commercial sexual exploitation of a child occurs and who, within a reasonable time of gaining
information of such occurrence, fails to report such occurrence at a police station, shall be guilty of
an offence.
This section, on the one hand, focuses on the actual place where the sexual exploitation occurs and
allows for any person related to that property to be prosecuted. It is however not clear whether
property is understood in its narrow meaning of a building or if it would include a car, where sexual
exploitation occurs, in its definition of property.
On the other hand, this section highlights the obligation of any person who gains knowledge about a
property where sexual exploitation occurs, to report the fact to the police. The phrase 'within a
reasonable time' and the failure to define the meaning of 'reasonable' minimises the legal obligation
since it is left to the person's very subjective interpretation of what a 'reasonable time' is.
Section 50A provides for the prosecution of any person directly involved in children's sexual
exploitation, as well as any person legally linked to a property where the exploitation occurs. It does
not however, explicitly cover any person who, through facilitating and enabling sexual exploitation
of children, is 'indirectly' involved. In other words, this section covers the actual act of sexual
exploitation and the place where it occurs but not activities related to this exploitation like
trafficking.
The abduction of children, one of the methods of trafficking, is dealt with in Section 51 entitled
'Unlawful removal of children'. It states that:
Any person who abducts or removes any child or pupil, or directly or indirectly counsels, induces or
aids any child or pupil to abscond…, or knowingly harbours or conceals a child or pupil who has
been so abducted or removed or has so absconded, or prevents him [or her] from returning…, shall
be guilty of an offence.
This is a broad understanding of 'unlawful removal', which includes coercion, assistance,
harbouring and preventing the return of a child and can therefore be applied to child survivors of
trafficking.
Section 52A(1) provides that any person who employs or provides work to any child under the age
of 15 years of age shall be guilty of an offence.
• Basic Conditions of Employment Act
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