Archives

Nearly 1m children worldwide enter sex industry annually

Nearly one million children, mainly girls enter the multimillion dollar commercial sex trade every year due to poverty, family disfunction, organized crime, conflict and the drug trade.

Refugees are one of the emerging vulnerable groups. In war-torn countries girls as young as 12 are forced to sexually submit themselves to soldiers in order to defend and support their families.

These are some of the appalling facts that are before, the Second World Congress Against the Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children that began in Yokohama Japan at the Pacifico Yokohama Convention Center on Monday.

This year's congress, which brought together nearly 3,000 delegates, government officials, NGOs and other representatives aims at strengthening global strategies to stem the swiftly developing exploitation of children in prostitution, pornography and trafficking.

One of the key features of this year's congress, is the release of a new report, titled 'Profiting from Abuse' in conjunction with the five day assemblage.

The report highlights in detail the scope and toll of the problem on the commercial exploitation of children with testimonials from abused and exploited women and children.

The Congress is co-organised by UNICEF, the Government of Japan, the international NGO ECPAT International and the NGO Group for the Convention on the Rights of the Child.

According to UNICEF Executive Director Carol Bellamy, poverty, gender discrimination, war, organized crime, globalisation, greed , traditions, family disfunction and the drug trade are some of the main underlying causes for this growing trend.

Armed conflict also creates special risks of sexual violence and exploitation for women and children since "'desperation may force women and children into prostitution.''

Bellamy notes that there are only a few more shocking violation of children's rights than sexual abuse and exploitation. Confronting these dark forces calls for leadership and stricter laws and their enforcement with tough penalties.

However, UNICEF Japan Office Director Samuel Koo says that despite certain setbacks ''the high level of response the congress has received'' is a clear indication that " the issue of sexual exploitation of children is high on the international agenda."

But, he notes that "there is much to do before the heinous violation of children's rights is eliminated or even significantly reduced."

News | Business | Features | Editorial | Security
Politics | World | Letters | Sports | Obituaries |

Produced by Lake House
Copyright 2001 The Associated Newspapers of Ceylon Ltd.
Comments and suggestions to :Web Manager