Abstract
This article examines patterns of risk regarding child sexual exploitation (CSE). There is specific focus on those living in alternative care, child sexual exploitation and trafficking among Roma communities in Bulgaria and the UK. Data is drawn from a desk-based literature review and partnership work with Bulgarian and British academics and practitioners to explore the issues in both countries. Although there is limited statistical data on CSE and children in care across Europe and the risk-factors for Roma children and young people are still not being fully recognised, we can draw on what is known in Bulgaria to inform practice in the UK with emerging Roma communities. Research on CSE more generally can also inform awareness of risk factors particularly around care systems. Comparative information about what is known in the UK and Bulgaria is considered in order to make some recommendations for international prevention, protection efforts, and prosecution strategies for the future.
Highlights
There are ten to twelve million Roma living in Europe
The socio-economic disadvantage experienced by the Roma community has particular implications for the safety and well-being of children and young people, and this has become increasingly apparent in relation to the issue of Child Sexual Exploitation (CSE)
Child Sexual Exploitation can be conceptualised as part of the spectrum of child abuse, and can take multiple forms, which range from grooming by an individual to more organised forms of exploitation, which may incorporate the exploitation of groups of young people and may include the trafficking and movement of young people both within and between different nation states (Department for Education, 2011; ECPAT UK, 2011)
Summary
There are ten to twelve million Roma living in Europe. There is extensive evidence attesting to the poverty and discrimination experienced by Roma in all European countries, and a high level of concern at the movement of Roma into different parts of Europe, reflected in negative media coverage and public attitudes. Poverty and different forms of socioeconomic disadvantage place children and young people at greater risk of child sexual exploitation, and contributes to the children affected being marginalised or “hidden” from public view (Pearce, 2009) Those who are living in alternative care or missing from care provision are at increased risk of CSE, though care should be taken in assuming the nature of causal connections between living in alternative care and being exploited—so, for example, the exploitation may precede entry to care and continue during the placement (Brodie, Melrose, Pearce, & Warrington, 2011). There is an ongoing need to recognise child sexual exploitation as a transnational and trans-European phenomenon, and that the prevention of such exploitation requires shared learning and action
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