What needs to be done?
All sexually exploited children suffer serious physical, psychological and social harm. The exploitation may involve rape or other physical and mental violence. In addition, children have a high risk of being infected with HIV and other sexually transmitted infections, because young bodies are generally more vulnerable to damage from sex, and because children are often not able to control when and with whom they have sex, or whether a condom is used.
Children who are sexually exploited or abused are victims of a crime. No child can ever be said to have 'chosen' to be sexually exploited or is to blame for what happens to them.
The solution to the problem of child sexual exploitation must involve a range of measures. These include:
- Reducing poverty - to remove the need for children to earn money in this way
- Improving access to education - to help children develop more options for earning a living
- Changing attitudes - to stop some adults thinking of children in a sexual way and treating them as property which can be abused
- Introducing and enforcing appropriate laws - to punish exploiters and abusers (and not victims)
- Identifying and supporting children at risk - to help sexually abused and exploited children to return to their communities and rebuild their lives.