Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children Overview

The commercial sexual exploitation of children consists of criminal practices that demean, degrade and threaten the physical and psychosocial integrity of children. There are three primary and interrelated forms of commercial sexual exploitation of children: prostitution, pornography and trafficking for sexual purposes. Other forms of commercial sexual exploitation of children include child sex tourism, child marriages and forced marriages.

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Child Sex Tourism

Child sex tourism, also known as the commercial sexual exploitation of children in travel and tourism is the sexual exploitation of a child by a person who engages in sexual activities with a child while traveling away from their own country or region. It usually involves some form of payment, either in cash or in kind. Perpetrators are often referred to as child sex tourists. While most people who sexually exploit children don’t travel to do so, they do it in their home country or region, the phenomenon of child sex tourism has apparently grown in recent years. The ease with which citizens of wealthy countries travel around the world to countries where there are many poor children, including street children and others in unstable family conditions, has contributed to a greater demand for children’s bodies. Other reasons contributing to a greater demand for children by sex exploiters who travel include:

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ECPAT-USA Activities to Combat Child Sex Tourism

ECPAT-USA combats the child sex tourism by: 1) working with the private sector to adopt and implement the Code of Conduct for the Protection of Children from Sexual Exploitation in Travel and Tourism; and 2) education, training and awareness raising aimed at the travel industry, sex tourists, public authorities, elected officials and the general public about the harms of child sex tourism, the laws against it and what can be done to stop it.   

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Child Trafficking to the United States

Children are trafficked to the United States from all over the world as part of a larger global phenomenon of human trafficking. Human trafficking is a complex phenomenon, caused by poverty, corruption poverty, uneven development, official corruption, gender discrimination, traditional cultural practices, civil unrest, natural disasters and lack of political will to end it. Trafficking routes exist in every region and also within countries. The U.S. government estimates 600,000 to 800,000 people trafficked across international borders each year. Trafficking also occurs internally, with victims moved within a single country. The U.S. government estimates 14,500 t o 17,500 people trafficked to the U.S. each year. Some experts estimate that about one third of them are children under 18 years old. Children are especially vulnerable to being trafficking because they are often uneducated and untrained. They are easy to overpower and easy to convince that they must do what an adult tells them to do. They are also in a position where they believe they must help support the family and may even be sold or sent abroad by family members to do so. Street children, children in refugee camps, children whose family and community life has been disrupted and do not have someone to look out for them are all especially vulnerable to human trafficking.

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ECPAT-USA Activities to Combat Trafficking of Children to the U.S.

1) Research.  ECPAT-USA published a report about trafficking of children to the U.S. for sexual exploitation in 2002. Click here to read “International Trafficking of Children to New York City for Sexual Purposes.” 
 
A report about trafficking of children to the United State for Domestic Servitude is currently underway. 

2)  New York City Community Response to Trafficking Project.   On the basis of the report “International Trafficking of Children to New York City for Sexual Purposes,  ECPAT-USA and its partner organization the International Organization for Adolescents sponsored the Community Response to Trafficking Project in New York City with funding from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.  The CRT Project had a three pronged approach to combating human trafficking in New York City. 

• Conducted educational outreach and provided specialized technical support to raise awareness among community-based organizations, public and private service providers, members of at-risk communities, and other NGOs through training, community forums, and the development of appropriate outreach materials for at-risk communities;
• Fostered collaboration between community-based organizations, members of at-risk communities, NGOs, and law enforcement agencies through specialized training and roundtable discussions, developed the “Guidelines for Responding to Trafficking in Persons in New York City” for identifying trafficked persons and assisting them through the certification, and provided legal assistance to identify and assist trafficking victims.
• Provided specialized training to service providers, criminal justice agents and community groups about human trafficking, the federal Trafficking Victims Protection Act and how to identify and assist victims.

For more about the accomplishments of the ECPAT-USA/IOFA Community Response to Trafficking Project, click here.

The CRT Working Group in Action: Forming Strategic Alliances to Prosecute Traffickers and Assist Victims. Click Here to read the report.