Child prostitution refers to children and adolescents receiving money or other items of value in exchange for engaging in sexual acts or allowing sexual acts to be performed on them. Child prostitution is a form of sexual abuse. According to Child Maltreatment 2003, published in 2005, sexual abuse is defined as a type of maltreatment that refers to the involvement of the child in sexual activity to provide sexual benefit or financial benefit to the perpetrator, including contacts for sexual purposes, molestation, statutory rape, (child) prostitution, (child) pornography, exposure, incest or other sexually exploitative activities.

Both girls and boys may be prostituted. Some children have had hundreds of sex partners. They usually continue a life of prostitution into adulthood.

Federal laws in the United States, as well as laws in every state, ban child prostitution. In the United States, any person who knowingly transports any child under the age of 18 years in interstate or foreign commerce or in any commonwealth, territory or possession of the United States, with the intent that the individual engage in prostitution or in any sexual activity for which any person can be charged with a criminal offense, or attempts to do so, may be fined or imprisoned. In some states, such as Maine and Wisconsin, prostituting one's child is specific grounds for the termination of parental rights. (In other states, parental rights may be terminated for sexual abuse, abandonment and other crimes; thus, in effect, it is likely that parents in every state could lose their parental rights for prostituting their children.)

Internationally, the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child prohibits child prostitution. (The United States is not yet a signatory to this UN Convention.) Organizations such as End Child Prostitution, Child Pornography and Trafficking of Children for Sexual Purposes (EPCAT), formed in Stockholm, Sweden in 1996, work to end child prostitution and the sexual exploitation of children.

Said Queen Silvia of Sweden in a United Nations UNICEF report published in 2004, "Trafficking is made possible by a breakdown in the protective environment. When social, political or economic conflicts are accompanied by poor legal and justice systems, deepening poverty as well as a lack of education or economic opportunities for children and their families--not to mention the growing demand from the industrialized world for exploitive sex--children are left much more vulnerable to the prey of traffickers." Queen Silvia recommended raising awareness of child trafficking rings, enforcing existing laws and reintegrating victims of child prostitution and trafficking.

According to Willis and Levy in their 2002 article for the Lancet, the numbers of prostituted children worldwide may be as high as 10 million. Child prostitutes may also be involved with child pornography and are more vulnerable to being exploited in this manner because they have already experienced sexual exploitation.

Some children are sexually exploited through the internet, where they may be advertised for sale or for phone sex.

Other children are exploited by tourists who travel to countries such as Cambodia, Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic, the Philippines and Thailand, where they use and abuse adolescent and prepubescent children. Some parents advertise and prostitute their own children. In most countries (including the United States), child prostitution is illegal.

Said O'Connell Davidson in 2004 in her article on child sex tourism for the Journal of Contemporary European Studies, "'Ordinary' tourists who visit brothels or use street prostitutes, like 'ordinary' clients in other settings, do not necessarily care very much whether the prostitute they use is fifteen or sixteen or twenty or older, providing they fancy the look of her. The same point holds good for those tourists who find sexual partners in the informal tourist-related prostitution sector, where the bulk of child prostitution often takes place." O'Connell Davidson said the main goal of sex tourists is to enjoy themselves, and if a young teenager offers her sexual favors, they will often accept. However, it is also known that some individuals specifically seek out underage children in other countries in order to have sex with them.

Child prostitutes may work on their own or under the control of pimps or gang members. Organized crime members may be involved in the trafficking of children for sex.

There is little evidence to support the popular myth of the happy prostitute, particularly among children. Child prostitutes often see the selling of sexual favors as the only way that they can survive in the adult world; this is also known as "survival sex." Children addicted to drugs may be forced into prostitution in exchange for receiving drugs. Some gangs have an initiation practice requiring new members to engage in sex for money. In developing countries, impoverished children may be lured into prostitution by promises of marriage to a wealthy foreigner. In some cases, children are sold into prostitution by their own parents, who may be impoverished and see no other means of survival. Children who are runaways may perceive prostitution as their only means to stay alive.

Though some may be lured into prostitution with promises of money and an exciting lifestyle, most young prostitutes suffer a great deal of abuse, unhappiness and poor health. Drug addiction, violence and suicide claim the lives of many who are prostituted as children, either during their childhood or into their adulthood.

Children and adolescents who are prostituted have a high risk of contracting the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). In some areas, the majority of child "sex workers" are infected with HIV. Prostituted children are also at an increased risk for contracting tuberculosis as well as sexually transmitted disease such as gonorrhea, herpes and syphilis.

Child prostitutes may suffer from rapes and beatings, as with adult prostitutes. Those who manage to avoid serious physical harm are likely to bear significant psychological scars, including depression, post-traumatic stress disorder, extreme feelings of worthlessness and difficulty forming close relationships.

Bibliography:

1)         Administration on Children, Youth and Families. Child Maltreatment 2003. Children's Bureau, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Washington, D.C., 2005.

2)         Bellamy, Carol. The State of the World's Children 2005. New York: United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), 2004.

3)         Finkelhor, David, and Richard Ormrod. "Prostitution of Juveniles: Patterns from NIBRS." Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, Office of Justice Programs, U.S. Department of Justice, 2005.

4)         O'Connell Davidson, Julia. "Child Sex Tourism": An Anomalous Form of Movement?" Journal of Contemporary European Studies 12, no. 1 (April 2004): 31-46.

5)         Ormrod, Richard K., and David Finkelhor. "Using New Crime Statistics to Understand Crimes against Children--Child Pornography, Juvenile Prostitution, and Hate Crimes against Youth." In Child Victimization. Kingston, N.J.: Civic Research Institute, 2005.

6)         Willis, Brian M., and Barry S. Levy. "Child Prostitution: Global Health Burden, Research Needs, and Interventions." Lancet 359 (2002): 1,417-1,422.

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