Recent US events have called attention to children’s trafficking and exploitation, a phenomenon that is widespread and causes enormous suffering. Among the several forms of children’s exploitation are forced labor, sexual abuse, involving them in armed conflict, marrying them when they are underage, or selling them for illegal adoption.

Millions of women and girls are bought and sold each year either into marriage, prostitution or slavery. Although most trafficking victims are girls, boys are also involved. Boys and men are more often trafficked for forced labor, while girls and women are predominantly trafficked for sexual exploitation. Human trafficking, most of whose victims come from just ten countries, generates an estimated $150 billion annually in profits.

According to the President’s International Crime Control Initiative, in the early 2000s approximately 45,000 to 50,000 women and children are trafficked to the U.S. every year, primarily from Southeast Aisa, South Asia, Latin America and Eastern Europe and forced to work as servants or prostitutes. In the notorious case of Jeffrey Epstein, an investigation conducted by the office of Senator Ron Wyden of Oregon found that Mr. Epstein brought in young women from countries as distant as Russia, Belarus, Turkey and Turkmenistan to the US to be sexually exploited.

According to the US Office of Justice Programs, in fiscal year 2022, 1,656 persons were prosecuted for human trafficking offenses, of which 1,118 were convicted. In some other countries, the prosecution rate is lower, which hinders the possibility of effectively controlling this phenomenon.

Child sex tourism is another aspect of this worldwide phenomenon, and it is mostly seen in Asia and Central and South America. UNICEF reports that annually, 10,000 girls enter Thailand from neighboring countries and end up as sex workers. Thailand’s Health System Research Institute reports that children make up 40% of those working in prostitution in Thailand. Between 5,000 and 7,000 Nepali girls are transported across the border to India each year and end up in commercial sex work in Mumbai or New Delhi.

As a social and pathological phenomenon, forcing children into prostitution does not show signs of abating. Not only individual traffickers but also organized groups kidnap children, transport them to other countries, and sell them to be sexually exploited, with border officials and police frequently serving as accomplices. Because of their often-undocumented status, language deficiencies and lack of legal protection, kidnapped children are particularly vulnerable in the hands of smugglers or corrupt government officials.

The causes underlying commercial sexual exploitation of children include increased trade across borders, poverty, unemployment, low status of girls, lack of education (including sex education) of children and their parents, inadequate legislation, poor law enforcement and the eroticization of children by the media, a phenomenon increasingly seen in industrialized countries.

Children forced into the sex trade in different regions of the world do it for different social and cultural reasons. Children from industrialized countries may enter the sex trade because they are fleeing abusive homes. In countries of Eastern and Southern Africa, children who became orphans as a result of AIDS frequently lack the protection of caregivers and become more vulnerable to exploitation. Often, sexual violence is deployed as a weapon of war. Adolescent girls are sometimes singled out because they are perceived to be less likely to be infected with HIV.

In many cases children are sexually abused by members of their own family, including their parents. The National Foundation to End Child Abuse and Neglect (ENDCAN) reports the case of a girl abused by her own father since she was as young as 6 or 7-years-old. “After each session of abuse my father would give me a gift and tell me how ‘sorry’ he was while crying! I don’t know if all survivors feel this way but for me, the mental and emotional abuse, as well as the look on his face was the most terrifying part,” she said.

Sexually exploited children can suffer a wide range of long-term psychological, behavioral and physical consequences. Among them are Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), depression and anxiety, low self-esteem, and long-lasting feelings of guilt, blaming themselves for the abuse they suffered. Abused children also become prone to sexually transmitted infections, including HIV/AIDS. In addition, because of the conditions in which they live, children can become malnourished, which will affect their mental and physical development.

Throughout the world, many individuals and nongovernmental organizations are working intensely for the protection of children’s rights. Often, their work puts them in conflict with government officials and powerful interest groups.

Common citizens are often at a loss on what to do to improve this situation. That is why it is more important than ever to support both national and international organizations that are working on this problem. Improving the present situation is possible if more efforts and enough resources are put into it. We owe the world children a better future than what we are offering them now.

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