Commercial Sexual Exploitation and Sexual Abuse of Children

United Nations ESCAP
HRD Section

Commercial Sexual Exploitation and Sexual Abuse of Children

Recommendations

There is no shortage of general policies at the national and local levels to address the sexual exploitation and abuse of children. Most governments support measures to protect children without hesitation, as shown by the almost universal ratification of the Convention on the Rights of the Child and the unanimous adoption of the Declaration at the World Congress Against Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children.

The challenge that most countries face is how to translate these commitments into action. Policy change is needed if governments are to place greater emphasis on the sexual exploitation and abuse of children. Currently, children in need of special protection measures do not constitute a priority for ministries of health or social welfare.

In many countries, resources and technical support are lagging behind policy. Donors and governments must back their commitments with funding. Below are selected items from the Agenda for Action against Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children which are supplied here as minimum guidelines for action to be taken nationally to counter the commercial sexual exploitation and abuse of children.

(a) Local/national levels:

(i) urgently strengthen comprehensive, cross-sectoral and integrated strategies and measures, so that by the year 2000 there are national agenda(s) for action and indicators of progress, with set goals and time-frame for implementation, targeted at reducing the number of children vulnerable to commercial sexual exploitation and nurturing an environment, attitudes and practices responsive to child rights;

(ii) urgently develop implementation and monitoring mechanism(s) or focal point(s) at the national and local levels, in cooperation with civil society, so that by the year 2000 there are databases on children vulnerable to commercial sexual exploitation and abuse, and on their exploiters, with relevant research and special attention to disaggregating data by age, gender, ethnicity, indigenous status, circumstances influencing commercial sexual exploitation, and respect for confidentiality of the victims, especially in regard to public disclosures;

(iii) foster close interaction and cooperation between the government and non-government sectors to plan, implement and evaluate measures against the commercial sexual exploitation of children, coupled with campaigns to mobilize families and communities to protect children from commercial sexual exploitation, and with adequate resources.

(b) Prevention:

(i) improve access and provide relevant health services, education, training, recreation and a supportive environment to families and children vulnerable to commercial sexual exploitation, including those who are displaced, homeless, refugees, stateless, unregistered, in detention and/or in state institutions;

(ii) target those involved with commercial sexual exploitation and abuse of children with information, education and outreach campaigns and programmes to promote behavioural changes to counter the practice;

(iii) identify or establish peer education programmes and monitoring networks to counter the commercial sexual exploitation of children.

(i) develop or strengthen and implement national laws, policies and programmes that protect child victims of commercial sexual exploitation from being penalized as criminals and ensure that they have full access to child-friendly personnel and support services in all sectors, and particularly in the legal, social and health fields;

(ii) in the case of trafficking of children, develop and implement national laws, policies and programmes to protect children from being trafficked within or across borders and penalize the traffickers; in cross-border situations, treat these children humanely under national immigration laws, and establish readmission agreements to ensure their safe return to their countries of origin accompanied by supportive services; and share relevant data.

(d) Recovery and reintegration:

(i) adopt a non-punitive approach to child victims of commercial sexual exploitation in keeping with the rights of the child, taking particular care that judicial procedures do not aggravate the trauma already experienced by the child and that the response of the system be coupled with legal aid assistance, where appropriate, and provision of judicial remedies to the child victims;

(ii) provide social, medical, psychological counseling and other support to child victims of commercial sexual exploitation, and their families, paying particular attention to those with sexually transmitted diseases, including HIV/AIDS, and with a view to promoting the self-respect, dignity and rights of the child;

(iii) undertake gender-sensitive training of medical personnel, teachers, social workers, non-governmental organizations and others working to help child victims of commercial sexual exploitation on child development and child rights, bearing in mind the Convention on the Rights of the Child and other relevant human rights standards;

(iv) take effective action to prevent and remove societal stigmatization of child victims and their children; facilitate the recovery and reintegration of child victims in communities and families; and where institutionalization of the child is necessary, ensure that it is for the shortest possible period in accordance with the child's best interests;

(v) promote alternative means of livelihood with adequate support services to child victims and their families so as to prevent further commercial sexual exploitation and abuse;

(vi) adopt not only legal sanctions against the perpetrators of sexual crimes against children, but also socio-medical and psychological measures to create behavioural changes on the part of the perpetrators.

(e) Child participation:

(i) promote the participation of children, including child victims, young people, their families, peers and others who are potential helpers of children so that they are able to express their views and to take action to prevent and protect children from commercial sexual exploitation and abuse and to assist child victims to be reintegrated into society.

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