Child Sexual Exploitation

INTRODUCTION

With the development and subsequent global rise of free trade, globalization and internationalization many new benefits are afforded to society, many old and new social inequities have reared their ugly heads once again. This has allowed an alarming and disturbing rise of instances in the exploitation of minors. The most widespread and upsetting of these is child sexual exploitation (hereafter “CSE”). However with greater power comes even greater responsibility, not only for individuals but the masses at large to help change and understand the phenomenon of juvenile prostitution, trafficking in children for sexual purposes and child pornography. This has emerged as increasingly significant social issues within the global arena and most facets of everyday life, even though most people are unaware of the darkness which surrounds them. Child sex tourism has also seen a global increase. According to a study conducted by Estes and Weiner the order of frequency with which CSE has been identified to be fuelled by are listed as follows: 1) Prostitution by runaway and throwaway children is used to provide for their subsistence needs for example, heroin and ecstasy; 2) Pre-existing adult prostitution in the areas where there is a large numbers of street youth; 3) A history of child sexual abuse and child sexual assault; 4) poverty; 5) Large numbers of unattached and transient males in communities for example, military personnel, truckers, conventioneers, sex tourists, as well as others; 6) for some girls, membership or some connection to gangs; 7) Juvenile prostitution conducted by parents, older siblings and boyfriends; 8) Organized crime units recruiting children for prostitution; and, increasingly, 9) The illegal trafficking of children for sexual purposes to the United States from developing countries located in developing Asia, Africa, Central and South America, and Central and Eastern Europe. As these countries are the most susceptible to these factors due mainly in part to the extreme poverty line,