III. Study on the care, recovery and reintegration of child victims of sale and sexual exploitation
C. Effects of sexual exploitation on child victims
28. Research shows that girls account for the majority of documented victims of sexual exploitation. However, the fact that boys are also victims cannot be disregarded.{{14}} Similarly, children who identify as transgender are extremely vulnerable to sexual exploitation.{{15}} In the United States of America, lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex youth are disproportionately represented in runaway and homeless youth programmes and child welfare systems and 42 per cent of them have been sexually exploited.{{16}} A 2006 study in Cambodia found that 80 per cent of interviewed victims of street-based sexual exploitation were male.{{17}} In Taiwan Province of China, the number of boys being prostituted discovered through social networking sites peaked in 2008.{{18}} In Ethiopia, a study revealed that male children are specifically targeted for prostitution on the basis of the belief that anal intercourse is less likely to transmit HIV/AIDS.{{19}} A recent study in the United Kingdom found that one third of children accessing specialist sexual exploitation services were male.{{20}}
30. Gender-based discrimination and inequalities also play a large role in the propagation of sexual exploitation of children, in particular girls and children who identify as transgender.{{24}} Sexual exploitation of girls is often rooted in patriarchal structures that promote male sexual domination and do not condemn the commercialization of girls and women. Culturally imposed feminine gender stereotypes also contribute to sexual exploitation of women and girls by placing them in the role of serving males, negating their ability to make decisions regarding their own sexual and reproductive life{{25}} and making them prime targets for sexual violence.{{26}}
E. Comprehensive, rights-based and child-centred care, recovery and reintegration programmes for child victims of sexual exploitation
68. Care, recovery and reintegration programmes must incorporate a gender perspective, taking into account the different needs and opportunities of boys, girls and lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex children. While emphasis is often placed on female child victims, there is a growing need for assistance and protection of boys and children who identify as transgender and therefore also a need to establish specialized care, recovery and reintegration programmes for those children.{{79}} For instance, in the United States, the Department of Justice Office for Victims of Crime supports the development of specialized services for boys and men as well as programmes for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex persons to ensure that their needs are met and that they are identified as victims.{{80}}
F. Conclusions and recommendations
At the national level
88. The Special Rapporteur invites all States:
(c) To conduct research on the effects of sexual exploitation and related sale and trafficking on girls, boys and transgender child victims as well as on the effects of sexual exploitation facilitated by information and communication technologies to inform specialized care, recovery and reintegration programmes;
Link to full text of the report: Report-SRSC-GA-2015-eng
[[14]]14. R. Lillywhite and P. Skidmore, ”Boys are not sexually exploited? A challenge to practitioners”, Child Abuse Review, vol. 15, No. 5 (September/October 2006), pp. 351-361; H. Blanch and G. Miles, “An initial exploration of young males in the male-to-male massage industry in Phnom Penh, Cambodia”, Social Work and Christianity, vol. 39, No. 4 (Winter 2012), pp. 407-434. [[14]]
[[15]]15. O. Martinez and G. Kelle, “Sex trafficking of LGBT individuals: a call for service provision, research, and action”, International Law News, vol. 42, No. 4 (Fall 2013). [[15]]
[[16]]16. Contribution from the United States of America. [[16]]
[[17]]17. J. Davis, G. Miles and M’lop Tapang, “‘I want to be brave’: a baseline study on the vulnerabilities of street-working boys in Sihanoukville, Cambodia”, paper presented at the Sixth Annual Interdisciplinary Conference on Human Trafficking 2014, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, p. 12. [[17]]
[[18]]18. ECPAT International, Global Monitoring: Report on the Status of Action against Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children — Taiwan, 2nd ed. (Bangkok, 2011). [[18]]
[[19]]19. ECPAT International, The Commercial Exploitation of Children in Africa: Developments, Progress, Challenges and Recommendation Strategies (Bangkok, 2014). [[19]]
[[20]]20. www.natcen.ac.uk/media/530797/hidden-in-plain-sight-final-22082014-under-strict-embargo-until-0001-27-08-2014.pdf. [[20]]
[[24]]24. Y. Rafferty, “International dimensions of discrimination and violence against girls: a human rights perspective”, Journal of International Women’s Studies, vol. 14, No. 1 (January 2013), pp. 1-23; Y. Rafferty, “Gender as an obstacle to good health: health related human rights violations and the girl child”, International Psychology Bulletin, vol. 17, No. 1 (Winter 2013), pp. 15-24; ILO, International Programme on the Elimination of Child Labour (IPEC), Baseline data on commercial sexual exploitation of children in the Municipality of San Salvador, 2006. [[24]]
[[25]]25. ILO-IPEC, ibid. [[25]]
[[26]]26. Rafferty, “International dimensions of discrimination”. [[26]]
[[79]]79. Contribution from ECPAT-United Kingdom and ECPAT-Germany. [[79]]
[[80]]80. Contribution from the United States of America. [[80]]