Background
The term commercial sexual exploitation of children (or CSEC) is used to describe the various activities that exploit children for their commercial value including child prostitution, child pornography, child sex tourism and child trafficking for sexual purposes.
The term implies that the child is not only sexually exploited but that there is a profit arising from the transaction, in cash or kind, where the child is considered to be a sexual and commercial object. According to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, which New Zealand has ratified, a child is a person aged under 18 years of age.
In 1994 the ECPAT (End Child Prostitution, Child Pornography and Trafficking of Children for Sexual Purposes) Campaign proposed a World Congress to encourage the direct involvement of governments in ending the commercial sexual exploitation of children. In 1996 a World Congress against the Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children was held in Stockholm. At the Congress, delegates representing 122 countries unanimously adopted a Declaration and Agenda for Action, thus committing themselves to a global partnership against the commercial sexual exploitation of children. The Agenda for Action is essentially a set of guidelines for concrete action. It proposes a five-pronged approach to the eradication of CSEC:
- the co-ordination of actions at the local, national, regional and international levels
- the taking of preventive measures through the formal and informal education sector and sensitising target groups to their rights and to the issues
- the protection of children already caught in the sex trade through the strengthening or development of relevant laws, policies and law enforcement
- the recovery and reintegration of children into society through non-punitive gender-sensitive support systems
- promoting the participation of children, including child victims and their families, so they are able to express their views and take action to protect children from commercial sexual exploitation.
