CHILD PROSTITUTION

Child prostitution

Child prostitution is prostitution involving a child and it is a form of

commercial sexual exploitation of children . The term normally refers
to prostitution of a minor, or a person under the legal age of consent.
In most jurisdictions, child prostitution is illegal as part of general
prohibition on prostitution.
It is one of the most exploitative crimes against innocent children as
they end up being trapped and violated in situations which may last
long into adulthood.
When children are trafficked, the majority of them are known to end
up in prostitution as they are cheaper to acquire and there is greater
profit in trafficking them.
There are a number of activities related to child prostitution, including
soliciting in a public place, owning or managing a brothel, pimping and
pandering, which are recognised as crimes.
In India nearly 1.2 million sex workers are below the age of 18
with every 40 girls under the age of 15 years are forced into
prostitution on a daily basis.
With 8% of increase in the flesh trade, India has become one
of the prominent name in child prostitution.
Research suggests that there may be as many as 10 million
children involved in prostitution worldwide.
Prostitution of children exists in every country, though the
problem is most severe in South America and Asia.
Child prostitution involving both boys and girls is very
common but female child prostitution is more common than
male child prostitution
As the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child
(CRC) notes, the prostitution of children is one manifestation of the
use of a child in sexual activities for remuneration or any other form
of consideration. Most generally, it means that a party other than the
child benefits from a commercial transaction in which the child is
made available for sexual purposes - either an exploiter intermediary
(pimp) who controls or oversees the child’s activities for profit, or an
abuser who negotiates an exchange directly with a child in order to
receive sexual gratification. The provision of children for sexual
purposes may also be a medium of exchange between adults. The
prostitution of children is closely connected to the trafficking of
children for sexual purposes and child pornography, while child sex
tourism generally falls into the category of prostitution.
 The prostitution of children is usually conducted in particular environments,
such as from brothels, or bars and clubs, or homes, or particular streets and
zones.
 Sometimes it is not organised, but most usually it is, either on a small scale
through individual exploiter-pimps or on a large scale through extensive
criminal networks.
 Children also engage in prostitution, however, when they exchange sex
outside these locations and in return not only for basic needs such as
accommodation, food, clothing, drugs or safety, but also for favours such as
higher grades at school or extra pocket money for desired consumer goods
otherwise out of their reach.
 In all these cases, the key issue is not that children opt to engage in
prostitution in order to survive on the one hand or to buy more consumer
goods on the other, but that children are pushed by social structures and
individual agents into situations in which adults take advantage of their
vulnerability and sexually exploit and abuse them.
 An all too common example of structure and agency combining to force a
child into commercial sex is where the prostitution of a child follows on from
prior sexual abuse, most likely in the home.
 Causes

Growing poverty, increasing urbanization, and

industrialization, migration, and widespread
unemployment, breaking up of joint family system etc.
are also responsible for the prevalence and
perpetuation of the child prostitution.
 The influx of the affluent and not so affluent people
from Gulf countries in India has boosted the flesh trade
in cities like Bombay, Hyderabad etc.
 Quick marriages without proper knowledge of the
bridegroom's family background leading to a divorce
initiates the gravitation of girls to the red light are
 The children are not lured into it but are thrust into it. There was a case of a
sixteen years old girl who was sold to a brothel owner by her father following
incest. 8% of these girls are victims of incest because of the myth-that one of
the causes for an STD is intercourse with a virgin.
 Many a times when a child who has lost both his parents is looked after by
the relatives and these relatives too force the child into prostitution.
Child marriages are a common phenomenon even today and the bride is very
much younger to the bridegroom so the husband drives the innocent wife into
prostitution. There is a case where a girl of 13 was married off to a man of
thrice her age three months later he abandoned her and married another girl.
She returned to her poor parents and three months later a man promised her
a good job and took her to Bombay from where he went and sold her to a
middle aged woman for money and did not come back to take her.
 Some of them are lured to Bombay the tinsel town. They dream of stellar
roles in films and mostly end up as prostitutes in the cages.
 Adverse effects in prostituted children

Infectious disease
Prostituted children are at high risk of many infectious diseases In many locations,
prostituted children are at high risk of infection with HIV.
The risk of HIV infection in prostituted children will depend on several factors, including
the local prevalence of HIV infection in sex workers, access to condoms, and attitudes of
clients towards their use. In some communities, up to 86% of sex workers are infected with
HIV.
Adolescent girls have a 1 % risk of acquiring HIV infection during one act of unprotected
sex with an infected partner.
 In addition, prostituted children who are infected with an STD that causes genital ulcers,
such as syphilis or chancroid, have a four times increased risk of HIV infection. Lack of
clinical services for children with STDs increases their risk of acquiring HIV since they will
be untreated or will self-medicate.
Prostituted children who are infected with HIV have a very high risk of developing active
tuberculosis.
Prostituted children are at high risk of acquiring STDs other than HIV, transmitting these
diseases to their infants and clients, and developing drug-resistant forms of STDs
 Pregnancy
Sexually active adolescents who do not use contraception have a
90% chance of becoming pregnant within 1 year.
Since many prostituted girls do not have access to contraceptives,
many will become pregnant. These girls are also at high risk of
pregnancy-related complications, including death.
Although there are no specific data on pregnancy-related morbidity
and mortality in prostituted children or adult sex workers, maternal
morbidity in girls younger than 18 years is two to five times greater
than in women aged 18-25 years, and pregnancy-related deaths
resulting from obstructed labour, infections, haemorrhage,
abortion, and anaemia, are the leading cause of death for girls aged
15-19 years worldwide.
 Mental Health Problems
Child prostitution often results in serious long-term psychological
harm, including anxiety, depression, and behavioural disorders
Prostituted children are also at high risk of suicide and post-
traumatic stress disorder
Such mental health problems are serious challenges to effective
treatment and reintegration of these children into society.
Substance abuse
Violence
Prostituted children are at risk of injuries, including rape, as a result
of violence from pimps, clients, police, and intimate partners. Girls
who are forced into prostitution may be physically and emotionally
abused into submission.