GOMUN 2024 OFFICIAL DOCUMENT

Study Guide
United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund

Josefína Končelíková and Lucie Ella Luňáková

Released October 2024, 1st Edition
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First Topic: Tackling the issue of child prostitution

Josefína Končelíková

Introduction
The issue of child prostitution, more correctly put commercial sexual
exploitation is defined as “exploitation by an adult with respect to a child or
an adolescent – female or male – under eighteen years old; accompanied
by a payment in money or in kind to the child or adolescent or to one or
more third parties”

For many years, incorrect labelling of this vast issue as “child prostitution” is
no longer recommended, since by this designation, we erroneously allow
the claim that the child or adolescent is not a victim of sexual exploitation
by suggesting that they could conceivably provide consent. That carries
prime misinformation and switches the blame onto the child.

Commercial exploitation of children includes:

i. trafficking of children for the sex trade

ii. the production, promotion and distribution of child pornography
iii. sexual exploitation of children in travel and tourism
iv. online child sexual exploitation and abuse

Key terms
I. Sexual abuse = the actual or threatened physical intrusion of a
sexual nature, any sexual activity with children (persons under the
age of 18 years) constitutes sexual abuse
II. sexual exploitation = any actual or attempted abuse of a position
of vulnerability, differential power, or trust, for sexual purposes,
including, but not limited to, profiting monetarily, socially, or
politically from the sexual exploitation of another, it includes but is
not limited to exchanging money, employment, goods or services

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for sex
III. CSEC = commercial sexual exploitation of children = sexual
activity involving a child in exchange for something of value or
promise thereof, to the child or another person, in this situation,
the child is being treated as a commercial sexual object, a type of
sex trafficking, the force of broader coercion does not have to be
proven in the form of law
IV. transactional sex = sex for non-essential items, sexual exchange
not for survival but for a range of other reasons (from educational
opportunities to social status or gifts), when the parties involved
include adults obtaining sex from children, automatically
considered as a child sexual exploitation
V. survival sex = sexual services are exchanged for basic necessities
such as food, clothing or shelter. In instances of survival sex, one
party is exploiting another’s need for basic necessities and is
taking advantage of the power they have to provide these
necessities in return for sexual acts
VI. Special Rapporteur = is a title given to independent human
rights experts whose expertise is called upon by the United
Nations

Overview of the topic

Commercial sexual exploitation of children represents one of the
most serious violations of children’s rights. Commercial sexual exploitation
of children (CSEC) comes in a variety of forms often concealed from the
public eye. Therefore, identifying the exact number of affected children is
rather unfeasible. On the basis of approximate statistics, the fact that
millions of girls and boys continue to be sold, exploited at the whims of
adults and treated as property to be passed from one hand to another is
unacceptable. Many myths circulate about the topic of exploited children,
such as that CSEC applies only to females/girls, or that youths figuring in
this area operate here voluntarily or even enjoy it. Concerned children often

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do not have a choice because of their social status and background, they
are doing it out of necessity. We frequently encounter the claim that only
men are perpetrators, despite the fact that in the family-facilitated CSEC is
about 2/3 of the time the trafficker the mother.

There are certain groups of children, who are more vulnerable to sale
and sexual exploitation owing to specific aspects of their conditions of
birth, identity or circumstances. These vulnerabilities may arise because of
the situational status of their families, in the digital space, or within
institutional or alternative settings. These children are more likely to
experience violence and denial of a spectrum of human rights. Youths
more likely at risk of falling into commercial sexual exploitation of children
are those from financially unstable families, refugees, indigenous
communities, ethnic minority groups, children with disabilities, homeless
children, children with substance use disorder or from family with a history
of substance use, children with low self-esteem, children who have a
history of sexual abuse and violence, etc. Some youths are more
predisposed to fall into a life of exploitation or sex work than others, most
likely those, who experienced a childhood full of abuse (sexual, emotional,
...) and, therefore have created behaviour patterns. From their childhood
they often fail to trust, then simply susceptible to manipulation,
normalization of abuse and viewing one as a sexual object. Up to 70 to 90%
of children in CSEC have a history of childhood sexual abuse. Then it is
comprehensible they take up as the perpetrators. Further excellent
explanation of why this occurs is the Maslow’s hierarchy of needs.
Traffickers will provide basics survival needs addressed by the exploiters:
physiological needs, safety, love and belongingness. Many victims
encounter with meeting their needs for the first time in their life. Not to
mention the elaborated methods of manipulation perpetrators use.

Average age of exploited youths is around 12 to 14 years of age, however,

this is a range, in which is the easiest to identify victims, unfortunately it is
assumed that the exploitation starts around the age of 8.

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Another complex term commonly used in the discourse around sexual

exploitation of children in prostitution is ‘transactional sex’. It is argued that
‘transactional sex’ differs somewhat from the sexual exploitation of children
in prostitution as it may involve “agreement or predetermined payment,
form part of a broader set of social obligations, is often embedded in an
emotional relationship, and is generally not perceived by communities as a
form of prostitution or sexual exploitation. Furthermore, ‘transactional sex’
may in fact be ‘survival sex’, where sexual services are exchanged for basic
necessities such as food, clothing or shelter. In instances of survival sex, one
party is exploiting another’s need for basic necessities and is taking
advantage of the power they have to provide these necessities in return for
sexual acts. However, it can be said that whenever adults exchange sex for
anything with children, it always constitutes child sexual exploitation.

CRUCIAL EFFECT ON CHILDREN

I. Sexually transmitted diseases

II. Unwanted pregnancies
III. Illegal abortions
IV. Early marriage
V. Limited access to education
VI. Psychological disorders
VII. Substance abuse
VIII. Juvenile justice system
IX. Exposure to physical violence
...and many more.

CONTEXTUAL CHALLENGES
Existing risks for child trafficking are worsened further during times of
emergency. Natural disasters, such as floods, droughts and typhoons, and
armed conflicts force children to flee their homes often unaccompanied by
or, at times, separated from parents or guardians (earthquake in Haiti in

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2019 or in Nepal in 2015). The fragile landscape is becoming more complex

with climate change, rising inequality, demographic change, new
technologies and other issues. Over the last 10 to 20 years has CSEC
exponentially risen due to many factors and contextual challenges. As
previously mentioned, the online environment has helped this
considerably, however, climate change or COVID – 19 are not negligible
factors.

Types of CSEC

Children are trafficked for the earnings of their perpetrators. Many ways
exist:

i. Trafficker facilitated CSEC: individuals or group of individuals is

using elements of force to engage in sexual acts for items of
value, other youth serve as a recruiters for new youth -> traffickers
are using already involved youth to recruit new once (in
classrooms, communities,...), since from young age children are
told not to talk to strangers, over last few decades extreme
increase

ii. Technology facilitated CSEC: Through the gradual building of a

relationship of trust, predators manage to persuade the child to
engage in sexual activity either live in front of a webcam or by
sending explicit pictures. The child is then vulnerable to
exploitation as predators will often blackmail them into producing
more material. The rate of online child pornography increased
290% between 2014 and 2022. Between 2014 and 2022, there were
15,630 incidents of police-reported online sexual offences against
children and 45,816 incidents of online child pornography. Mafia
networks have been known to take advantage of the economic
needs of families by grooming children and exploiting them
through sexting and sextortion.

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iii. Gang facilitated CSEC: Over the last 10 to 20 years gangs have
increasingly turned into human (sex) trafficking. The reason is that
it is less risky than drug trafficking and arms dealing, moreover
with human trafficking the human can be sold multiple times,
this results in a higher profit. In the last 2 decades, the large scale
of sexual exploitation of children by organised criminal gangs was
exposed in the United Kingdom. Several gangs were able to
target vulnerable children due in part to the deficient care they
were receiving from public institutions. Unaccompanied minors
had been placed in inappropriate accommodation with little to no
supervision thus making them easy targets for the perpetrators.

iv. Bussiness facilitated CSEC: Youth who take part in an enterprise

and who engage in sexual activities in that enterprise.

v. Family facilitated CSEC: one of relatives of a youth is exchanging

sexual acts with the youth for the thing of value or the relative is
having the youth exchange sexual acts for others for items of
value, often younger victims – children between 6 and 13

vi. Sex tourism: The main reasons for child sex tourism are related to
the lack of education, economic disparity, corruption and
rural-urban migration which put children in the condition to be
forced to have sexual intercourses for survival, money or to
accomplish some cultural practices. Poverty could also push
children’s parents to allow or be complicit in child sex tourism as it
could be a way for the entire family to survive. On the other hand,
clients have an interest in taking advantage of these vulnerable
situations for their own interests. The different layers of demand
for the sexual exploitation of children in travel and tourism has
mainly originated in industrialised countries and targeted popular

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tourist destinations. It is not limited to developing countries and

will depend mainly on the ease to commit such crimes with utter
impunity.

CENTRES
USA: While exact numbers are difficult to assess, in 2020 was announced
17,200 reports of possible child sex trafficking – and those reports came
from all 50 states. In 2021, the NCMEC CyberTipline received more than 29.4
million reports of online child sexual abuse material involving photographs
and videos of the sexual assault of minor children (including infants).

Haiti – Haiti is one of the poorest countries in the world. Poverty, coupled
with environmental challenges such as earthquakes remain key drivers for
violation of children's rights. Haiti is a known destination for child sex
tourism (predominantly for tourists coming from Canada, and the United
States), and often children are forced into commercial or transactional sex
in order to fund basic needs such as school-related expenses. These
children are vulnerable to abuse, sexual exploitation and pornography at
the hands of criminal gangs. Despite the establishment of laws and
regulations to protect children from child labour, gaps still exist and
children in Haiti are subjected to the worst forms of child labour, including
commercial child sexual exploitation and child trafficking.

France: The victims were said to belong to all social backgrounds, but
affected minors were found to have shared similar problems, often having
been victims of or confronted with violence, particularly within the family.

China: Over the past few decades, the country has experienced remarkable
progress in poverty alleviation and living standards leading to mass
migration. Meanwhile, nearly 70 million of children have become the
so-called “left-behind children”, in the care of relatives in their home
villages. Away from the protection of their parents or unable to register as
legal residents of China’s cities, running the risk of being trafficked, sexually

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exploited or dragged into other forms of forced labour. Traffickers target

adults and children with developmental disabilities and children whose
parents have left them with relatives to migrate to the cities – estimated at
6.4 million – and subject them to forced labour and forced begging
domestically and abroad.

Europe: The CSEC in Europe takes place – mainly in the 28 countries of the
European Union. Countries in Eastern and Western Europe often
experience CSEC differently; for example, those in the West are generally
recipients of trafficked children, while those in the East are more often the
source. One result of economic inequalities is increased migration across
(now easily traversed) borders; unaccompanied minors face special risks of
sexual exploitation during the migration process and after arriving at their
destination. Migration by parents has weakened family structures, again,
leaving children vulnerable. Countries severely affected are for example:
Czechia, Germany (The number of known cases of sexual abuse of
children and adolescents in Germany increased in 2023.), France (The
victims were said to belong to all social backgrounds, but affected minors
were found to have shared similar problems, often having been victims of
or confronted with violence, particularly within the family.), United
Kingdom (New data has revealed that in 2022, 1,871 children identified as
potential victims of human trafficking or modern slavery dropped off the
support system set up by the UK government system after they turned 18.)
or Greece.

Sexual exploitation of children in tourism: Although Western

European child sex tourists often travel to other continents, a trend of
increased travel and tourism within Europe, with the intent sexually
abusing children, has been noted. Some engage in the relatively new
mode of “voluntourism,” seeking out children for abuse in orphanages,
schools or shelters.

Child Sexual Exploitation Online: The widespread use of new information

and communication technologies throughout Europe has encouraged a

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growing trend in the production and distribution of abusive child images,

especially in Western Europe.

Prostitution of children: Despite a lack of reliable regional data on

child prostitution, sharp increases have been noted, especially in countries
hard-hit by the global recession. The use of children in prostitution appears
to be closely tied to child trafficking, although some young people
exchange sex for cash needed to survive or to obtain drugs or high-end
consumer goods.

Child trafficking happens everywhere, other stricken regions are: Central

America, the Caribbean, North Africa, the Middle East, and Sub-Saharan
Africa.

South Africa, United States, Thailand, Cambodia, India, Nepal, Dominican

Republic, Kenya and Morocco have been identified as leading hotspots of
child sexual exploitation.

PAST ACTION
i. the Agenda for Sustainable Development: The 2030 Agenda for
Sustainable Development was adopted by all United Nations
Member States in 2015. The required measurement for the 17
Sustainable Developments Goals should lead to an improved
assessment of progress, namely through the adoption of
comprehensive legislation, effective prevention through quality
education that empowers children, enhanced law enforcement
and all-encompassing victim support programmes.

ii. UNICEF Special Rapporteur: Special Rapporteurs are independent

experts appointed by the U.N. Human Rights Council with the
mandate to monitor, advise and publicly report on human rights
situations in specific countries. UNICEFs Special Rapporteurs have
been systematically visiting countries or performing fact-finding

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missions. Fact-finding missions or country visits are an

opportunity for the Special Rapporteur to assess the human
rights situation in a given country and more specifically the state
of child rights and child protection systems. Country visits are
undertaken following an invitation by the Government and are
prepared and conducted in close cooperation with the State
concerned. Special Rapporteurs conduct two to three country
visits per year. As the only mandate holder in the Special
Procedures system with an exclusive focus on children, the
Special Rapporteur has a unique role and responsibility to raise
awareness about the rights of the child.

iii. The Convention on the Rights of the Child: The sale and sexual
exploitation of children was addressed and codified at the
international level for the first time in 1989 with the adoption of
the Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC), which is a
universal instrument that sets out the civil, political, economic,
social and cultural rights of children. It was entered into force in
1990. With 196 states party, the UNCRC is currently the most
ratified international human rights law instrument, however, still
not ratified by the USA. Despite the importance of this document
some gaps have been identified, such as the definitions of these
crimes and the legal responsibilities of States.

iv. Optional Protocol on the sale of children, child prostitution and

child pornography: This is a protocol to the Convention on the
Rights of the Child and requires parties to prohibit the sale of
children, child prostitution and child pornography. Many States
that have ratified the Protocol have not properly implemented

v. Global Partnership to End Violence against Children: In 2015,

world leaders made a commitment to end all forms of violence

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against children by 2030, as part of the Sustainable Development

Goals. The Partnership will advocate for more urgent action to
end all forms of violence and make the case for increased
investment in preventing and addressing violence.

vi. The International Labour Organization: ILO is a United Nations

agency whose mandate is to advance social and economic justice
by setting international labour standards.

vii. Virtual Global Taskforce: VBS is an international collaboration of

eight agencies to combat online child exploitation and create a
safer online environment.

PREVENTION AND REHABILITATION

Prevention was divided in three layers: primary prevention, which focuses
on the entire population and consists in the provision of universal quality
social services that reduce the likelihood of future violations; secondary
prevention, which concentrates on specific groups or children which are
known to be more at risk by providing additional, targeted, support
services; and tertiary prevention, which consists of services targeting
perpetrators and/or victims in order to limit the effects of the violation and
prevent reoffending. For prevention to be effective, it must be an ongoing
activity, not a fleeting one.

Rehabilitation and recovery for victims of commercial sexual exploitation of

children is an important intervention in children's lives, however, it was
observed that in the majority of national scenarios, there was no
programme specifically addressing child victims of sale and sexual
exploitation. Furthermore, there have been identified barriers preventing
to provide of quality care and support to children, as well as children’s
ability and attempt to recover from their experiences, such as: survivors’
lack of knowledge and awareness about available resources, lack of

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resources, including funding associated with care, discrimination, lack of

long-term support...

Many legal tools are in place that clearly lay out the duty of states to
support children affected by CSE. Yet it is speculative whether they are
efficient enough.

DELEGATES SHOULD CONSIDER

Here are some questions that delegates should try to answer in the
resolution:

i. How to reform legal frameworks and social attitudes towards the

exploitation of children in prostitution?
ii. How to educate, engage and empower child survivors?
iii. How to fight against the impunity of perpetrators?
iv. How to ensure functional rehabilitation for the children and their
families?
v. How to face the issue effectively?
vi. How to raise awareness?
vii. What can be done to minimise repercussions on children?
viii. How to ensure that victims come forward to report human
rights violations committed against them?
ix. How to identify victims?
x. How to protect children from sexually transmitted diseases?
xi. How to extant and strengthen cooperation between Member
States?

CONCLUSION
The commercial sexual exploitation of children is a world wide issue
affecting children permanently and rapidly. Throughout approximately the
last two decades has this trend risen extremely. Mainly because of the
development of digital technology, which has introduced new forms of
online harm while also worsening the offline abuse of children. CSEC is

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