The sexual exploitation of children has reached alarming levels in Asia and other parts of the world, a new study by an international advocacy group suggests.
The Report on the Implementation of the Agenda for Action Against the Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children was drawn up by Bangkok-based advocates ECPAT (End Child Prostitution, Child Pornography and Trafficking).
ECPAT warned underaged male prostitution was on the rise in South Asia, child marriages are rampant in Asia and Africa and teenage domestic labourers in Latin America face an overwhelming threat of sexual abuse.
"We have looked into the hidden forms of commercial sexual exploitation of children which are not receiving much attention, particularly those abuses that are couched in socially acceptable practices," ECPAT International's executive director, Ms Carmen Madrinan, said today.
The ECPAT report, based on data collected in 73 countries, was released last night in the Thai capital, focused on practices long considered acceptable behaviour in some communities.
Some of ECPAT's harshest criticism was levelled at child marriages, in which "girls may be married to men who are possibly forty years their senior and are able to pay adequate dowries," the report said.
According to conservative estimates, of the $20 billion generated annually by prostitution worldwide, more than $5 billion comes from selling children in the sex trade.
AFP