On the 30th of September you could read an article in the local newspaper about a gala performance against the sexual trade with children. It was arranged in a small village forty kilometres outside of Örnsköldsvik. Even in a small village like this, people realised how big the growing problems are.

Many children in poor countries sell themselves to get food, a bath or to earn money for the family. This is a growing problem all over the world.

Children in Eastern Europe In former Eastern Europe the dictatorship changed for a weak democracy and a rough controlled economy changed for an unorganised economy. This has caused big differences between poor and rich people. You can buy everything, even children. One of the worst things is that no one takes care of the orphans. The children often have to sell themselves to survive. One example of this is nine year old Marinela who had to sell sexual services for 2500 lei per time (0,5 Euro). She shared the money with a pimp. The most vulnerable are street children like Marinela.

The lack of knowledge and the lack of interest is huge. If a girl sells her body, they think that she wants to do it, not because she has to.

ECPAT International In 1990 there was an appointment about the sexual trade with children in Chiang Mai, Thailand. Most of those taking part in the meeting were from countries in the West. They found that the sexual exploitation of children was not only a few cases but an organised activity. Together they decided to start a campaign that during six years would inform about the sexual exploitation of children. They also wanted to make people realise how big the problems are in some countries. The name of the campaign became ECPAT a shortening for End Child Prostitution in Asian Tourism. Nowadays ECPAT is situated in more then fifty countries all over the world.

Sexual trade The sexual trade with children includes different sorts of sexual services, child-sex tourism, child prostitution, child pornography and trafficking. The trade is controlled by supply and demand and a group or a single person that supplies and recruits children. During the last years the sexual trade with children has increased drastically. In Asia, Africa and Latin America there are a lot of children who are locked up and chained in brothels. The owners of the brothels force them to sell sexual services against their will. That is what child prostitution really means. The trade with children and women has in the last years become a global problem. Surveys have shown that pedofiles are not the biggest users when it comes to using underaged in the sex industry. The biggest users are ordinary people, development assistance workers, tourists, businessmen, UN- soldiers and so on.

The law in Sweden says that all kind of sexual crimes can give you at the most two years in prison. If the child is under fifteen years old it is always a sexual outrage. All used children loses their human dignity and many of them commit suicide.


© 2002 Freeway
Writers: Emma Jonsson (sp04-33@park.se) & Sandra Granberg (sp04-30@park.se)
HTML by: Lars Olsson (te04-41@park.se).