UNICEF Presents Report on Exploitation of Children

ROME, DEC. 13, 2001 (Zenit.org).- About 1 million children a year, almost 3,000 a day, are obliged to enter the sex market, UNICEF says in a new report.

The report, presented Wednesday, reveals that in West Africa there are 35,000 children in the sex market and 25,000 in the Dominican Republic.

In India, between 400,000 and 500,000 girls are prostitutes, and in Lithuania between 20% and 50% of prostitutes are minors, the report says. In Mexico, some 16,000 minors are sexually exploited, it adds.

The UNICEF report is in preparation for the second World Congress Against Commercial Sexual Exploitation, which will be held in Japan next week.

In the United States, a study of adolescents who have fled from home or are homeless reveals that 17% were obliged by a family member to engage in sexual activities against their will.

The sex market also involves boys. Between 20,000 and 30,000 minors prostitute themselves in Sri Lanka, the majority being boys. The FBI estimates that over half of all confiscated material on child pornography involves boys.

Moreover, the CIA estimates that every year between 45,000 and 50,000 children are sent to the United States illegally to become part of the sex industry or to work in factories or other jobs in inhuman conditions.