CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION
1:1 Background of the study
According to the World Congress against Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children,
held in Stockholm in 1996, Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children (CSEC) is
defined as:â€ÂÂSexual abuse by the adult and remuneration in cash or kind to the child or a
third person or persons. The child is treated as a sexual object and as a commercial
object†(Clift and Carter 2000). Commercial sexual exploitation of children includes the
sex trade of children, child pornography, child sex tourism and other forms of
transactional sex where a child engages in sexual activities to have key needs fulfilled,
such as food, shelter or access to education. It includes forms of transactional sex where
the sexual abuse of children is not stopped or reported by household members, due to
benefits derived by the household from the perpetrator. CSEC also potentially includes
arranged marriages involving children under the age of 18 years, where the child has not
freely consented to marriage and where the child is sexually abused (Clift and Carter
2000).
A child is defined as “every human being below the age of 18 years unless, under the law
applicable to the child, majority is attained earlier†(UNICEF 2009:13).An estimated 10
million children worldwide are engaged in some facet of the commercial sex industry.
Each year at least one million children, mostly girls become commercial sex workers. It
has been estimated that about 300,000 children in the U.S are at risk every year for
commercial sexual exploitation (USA Department of Justice, Dec 2007).In Thailand for
instance, 10-12 year old girls serve men in the commercial sex industry. They typically