The Facts about Child Exploitation…

• The commercial sexual exploitation of children includes prostitution, child pornography and trafficking of children for sexual purposes.

• More than two million children are exploited in the global commercial sex trade each year (UNICEF 2006).

• 14 million children worldwide have already lost one or more parents to HIV/AIDS – over 12 million are living in sub-Saharan Africa (UNICEF 2006).

• 30 to 35% of all prostitutes in Cambodia are children between the ages of 12 and 17 years (UNICEF).

• The majority of trafficking victims are young females between the ages of 12-18 from rural areas who are forced to work in brothels (ECPAT).

• The average age of girls entering into the commercial sex trade within the Svay Pak brothel district in Cambodia is 12.9 years (AIDeTouS 2004).

• There are an estimated 150 million street children worldwide. Approximately 40% of these children are homeless and the other 60% work the streets to support their families (UNICEF 2001).  Children on the streets are extremely vulnerable to drug use, crime and all forms of exploitation and abuse.

• Trafficking involves the targeting and illegal movement of children across national or international borders for the purpose of sexual exploitation.  This denies children their most basic rights forcing them into situations of unimaginable suffering.

• Traffickers typically look in the poorest areas for their victims, such as the slums and rural villages.  Children are sold by unscrupulous relatives or lured away with the promise of a better life.  The dark reality is that they end up trapped in brothels as modern-day slaves.

• Children most at risk are those in developing countries where factors such as poverty, harmful cultural beliefs, discrimination, poor law enforcement, armed conflict and AIDS all foster a social environment that leaves children incredibly vulnerable to exploitation.