The Cause of Sex Trafficking is the Demand for it.
Just like arms and drug trafficking, human trafficking exists to meet the demand.
- INTRODUCTION -
An estimated 2 million women and children are held in sexual servitude throughout the world, and between 800,000 and 900,000 are trafficked across international borders for the purposes of sexual exploitation each year. These women and children make up the "supply" side of sex trafficking.
This supply has been created to meet a demand. Without this demand, there would be no need for trafficked women and children. The demand side of the trafficking equation includes those (mostly men) who buy sexual services and/or consumer goods (videos, Internet pornography, etc.) created from the sexual exploitation of trafficked persons. Little attention has been given to the demand created by those people and organizations that benefit from the commercial sexual enslavement of women and children.
To combat sex trafficking, much more information is needed to understand the root causes and conditions that create a need for a supply of trafficked women and children. Without this information, those who are motivated to exploit and use trafficked victims will continue to remain a mystery. By understanding the dynamics of demand, we can develop the legal and political policies necessary to control and end this horrific practice.
We have presented two very successful conferences on the subject of demand: one in 2003 (Demand Dynamics: The Forces of Demand in International Sex Trafficking) and one in 2005 (Pornography: Driving the Demand for International Sex Trafficking). Please visit our conferences page by clicking here for extensive information about each of these conferences.
Publication on the topic of demand from the Swedish Institute:
Targeting the Sexbuyer. The Swedish Example: Stopping Prostitution and Trafficking Where it All Begins by Kajsa Claude.
COMPREHENDING CHILD SEX TOURISM
To many governments around the world, international tourism provides an answer to economic growth and development. As tourism begins to overtake traditional sources of employment, children and young people are encouraged to migrate to tourist areas, in hopes they can earn an income for themselves and their families. The commercial sexual exploitation of children parallels the growth of tourism in many parts of the world. Tourism is not the cause of child sexual exploitation, but it does provide easy access to vulnerable children. In some instances, the marketing of certain destinations, particularly within Asia, portrays an image of women and children who are passive, submissive and exotic. These false images reinforce many of the beliefs of sex tourists. Tourism also brings consumerism to many parts of the world previously denied access to luxury commodities and services. The lure of this easy money has caused many young people, including children, to trade their bodies in exchange for T-shirts, walkmans, bikes and even air tickets out of the country. In other situations, children are trafficked into the brothels on the margins of the tourist area and sold into sexual slavery, very rarely earning the money to escape.
Profiles: Sex tourists may be solo travelers or part of an arranged group. They may be Preferential Abusers, who have clear and definite sexual preferences for children or Situational Abusers, offenders who may not have planned to have commercial child sex while abroad, but took the opportunity when it presented itself. They use the "why not" approach and might consider it a bit of holiday "fun" not considering adolescents as children, even though many of the bar girls and boys are under 16 years of age. While the majority of child sex offenders are male, it is also known that women are involved, and in some cases, male and female offenders travel as a couple to avoid discovery. Child sex tourist persuade themselves that in another country, normal social and moral restraints can be discarded, along with the belief that one will not be held responsible for his or her behavior. It is within these circumstances that child sexual exploitation thrives. The fact that most organized international child sex abuse occurs in developing countries indicates that child sex offenders exploit the economic hardships which many families endure. Offenders prefer to believe that the children they abuse are professional prostitutes, which allow the perpetrators to feel exonerated or justified in their actions. The fear of contracting AIDS through unprotected sex with older prostitutes has increased the demand for virgins and young children.
WHY IS THIS HAPPENING TO WOMEN AND CHILDREN?
SUPPLY
*Devaluation of the girl child and discriminatory practices
*Perceived responsibility of women and children to support families
*Lack of educational, employment and vocational opportunities
*Fragmentation of families: death of parent/s, husband, increases homeless women and children
*Economic conditions, especially rural poverty, fueled by economic development policies and the erosion of agricultural sectors
*Rural to urban migration and the growth of urban industrial centers
*Move from subsistence to cash based economy and increased consumerism
*Lack of laws and law enforcement
DEMAND
*Criminal networks who organize the sex industry and recruit the children
*Law enforcement /governmental complicity in the sex trade
*Demands of foreign sex industries creating international trade in girls and women
*Fear of AIDS, leading customers to demand younger girls
*Early marriage and child marriage
*Traditional and cultural practices, including the demand for virgins, the cultural practice of men patronizing prostitutes, inter-generational patterns of girls entering prostitution
*Employers using the debt-bond (slavery) system, forced labor and child labor
*Demand of sex tourists, pedophiles and the migrant labor force
*International promotion of the sex industry through information technology
