Sexual Practices and Fluidities in a Shared Pre-Modern Mediterranean

ABSTRACTAs reflected in the Pacific nation of Solomon Islands (SI), child trafficking and the commercial sexual exploitation of children (CSEC) represent global problems with serious ramifications for community development. While acknowledging the deployment of internationalist, “child rights” interventions combined with top-down legislative provisions, this article revisits the possibility of positive, community-based strategies. Having appraised problematic contexts of the SI economy, society, and culture, it advances a comprehensive theoretical platform to facilitate a practice approach using customary and local measures to foster the status of women and children, counter CSEC, and advance community relations. Explained at both national and local scales, the methodology is presented for review prior to implementation. If successful, it is likely to have wide application in other afflicted societies.

Literature on human trafficking suggests the vulnerability to commercial sexual exploitation of children (CSEC) and child sexual abuse (CSA) changes by the prevalence of certain risk factors (e.g., runaway), trafficker-used lures (e.g., isolation), and the environmental conditions present at the time of victimization (e.g., foster care). Often, youth in foster care are at high risk for CSEC and CSA victimization associated with runaway instances. This scoping review aims to identify prevention and intervention strategies for CSEC/CSA of youth who run away from foster care. PRISMA scoping review guidelines were followed to review the literature across two search parameters (CSEC; CSA). An electronic review was conducted between August 2022 and January 2023 across four databases: PubMed, SAGE Journals Online, ScienceDirect, and Web of Science. The CSEC and CSA search parameters comprised three domains (sexual exploitation, foster care, and runaway; sexual abuse, foster care, and runaway, respectively). Literature published between 2012 and 2022 was included regardless of the methodological approach. Literature not concerning youth who run from foster care was excluded. Database searches yielded 206 publications for CSEC and 351 for CSA, reduced to 185 and 212, respectively, after removing duplicates. Seventy-one articles were identified, of which, 64 articles (28 CSEC, 36 CSA) were categorized as prevention strategies and seven (five CSEC, two CSA) as interventions. The intersection and dual victimization of CSEC and CSA of youth who run away from foster care are discussed. This paper also discusses applied behavior analysis principles for developing function-based interventions.

This article provides an overview of commercial exploitation, with a focus on commercial sexual exploitation of Black children and youth in South Africa. A literature review on research on the labor exploitation among youth globally and in South Africa and on the commercial sexual exploitation of South African youth is presented first. International and national policy proclamations related to South African youth are highlighted. Second, findings from a study of Black South African youth who engaged in commercial sexual activities in Cape Town are presented. Third, conclusions and recommendations to consider the complex social, educational, economic, and political aspects of child exploitation are offered. This includes implications for further research, policy, and programs to assist this group of youth and their families. The benefits of economic globalization, internationalization, and free trade have brought with them an unanticipated set of social problems. Among them is a dramatic rise world-wide in the incidence of child exploitation. Child sexual exploitation is one of the most virulent forms of this exploitation and includes child sexual abuse. Commercial sexual exploitation of children, is the other, and includes child pornography, juvenile prostitution, trafficking in children for sexual purposes, and child sex tourism (Estes, 2002). This article provides an overview of commercial exploitation of Black children and youth in South Africa, with an emphasis on commercial sexual exploitation. First, it includes a literature review in three areas: (a) labor exploitation among youth globally and in South Africa; (b) commercial sexual exploitation of South African youth; and (c) international and national proclamations related to South African youth. This includes abbreviated information from policy proclamations such as the South African Constitution, the United Nations Convention of the Rights of the Child, World Declaration of the Survival, Protection, and Development of Children, and the Declaration and Agenda for Action by the World Congress against Commercial Exploitation of Children. Second, selected findings from ethnographic research on Black urban street youth who engaged in commercial sexual activities in Cape Town, South Africa, are presented. Third, conclusions and recommendations to consider the complex social, educational, economic, and political aspects of child exploitation are offered. Major findings indicate that limited knowledge about HIV/AIDS did not translate into safer sexual practices. This includes implications for further research, policy, and programs to assist this group of youth and their families. LITERATURE REVIEW Labor Exploitation among Youth Globally and in South Africa The International Labor Organization (ILO) in May 2002 found that 179 million children worldwide are exposed to the worst forms of child exploitation-labor, slavery, debt bondage, prostitution, pornography, drug trafficking, forced armed military conflict, and other illicit activities. These activities are self-explanatory although debt bondage may not be widely known. It refers to payment to an adult authority figure in a child's life in exchange for a child with the proviso that the child will have to earn the money back. The expectation of both child and parent (or guardian) is usually that the child will be released once the debt has been paid. Regarding child labor, the widespread exploitation of millions of children in the workplace has become a global concern resulting in a worldwide effort to abolish child labor. The ILO reports that 250 million children, globally, between the ages of 5 and 14 are forced to work. Child labor is most widespread in Asia, an area where nearly 153 million children, over half of the global total, are forced to work under hazardous conditions (Budlender & Bosch, 2002). South Africa has approximately 44 million people with one-third under 15 years of age, the age at which, legally a child in South Africa may begin work (United Nations Office of Drugs and Crime, n. …

To test the hypothesis that childhood sexual abuse (CSA) is a risk factor for commercial sexual exploitation of children (CSEC), we analysed data from the Haiti Violence Against Children Survey (VACS), a population-based sample of adolescents and young adults ages 13–24 (1459 males and 1457 females). Twenty-one percent of males and 25% of females reported CSA; 6% of males and 4% of females reported CSEC. The adjusted odds ratios (AORs) for CSEC based on exposure to CSA were 5.6 (95% confidence interval/CI: 3.1–10.2) for males and 5.9 (CI: 2.6–13.0) for females. For each year earlier that males first experienced CSA, the odds of CSEC increased 60% (AOR 1.6, CI 1.2–2.0). In this first nationally-representative study of lifetime CSEC, both boys and girls victimised by CSA in Haiti were more likely to have also experienced CSEC than other youth, with children who experienced CSA at younger ages at the greatest risk.

Many nationally representative datasets are available for assessing the magnitude, trend, and risk for child sexual victimization in the United States. Unfortunately, the disaggregation of sexual violence into more specific sex crimes and the reliable measurement of these specific acts are often avoided by researchers due to the methodological limitations of victimization data. For example, previous scholars have successfully measured the strength of the relationship between the commercial sexual exploitation of children (CSEC) and child sexual abuse (CSA) within their respective samples; however, little is known about the extent to which CSEC occurs in the larger U.S. population, irrespective of past CSA. This study presents new analyses of publicly available representative data on the incidence, trend, and risk for CSA and CSEC independent of one another. We find that significantly more is known about CSA than CSEC. In addition, while victims of CSA and CSEC share many risk factors, CSA is far more common than CSEC, and their trends are going in different directions. We find that rates of CSA and CSEC are often derived from data with significant methodological limitations, such as administrative datasets that are limited to only victimizations reported to governmental agencies or representative surveys that measure the incidence/prevalence in one year alone, not repeatedly as required to assess trends. We fill in some of the gaps existing in our analyses with a review of other studies examining CSA and CSEC, as well as discuss future directions in research that researchers and child welfare practitioners should consider.

The article deals with the concept of commercial sexual exploitation of children. The forms of commercial sexual exploitation of children, among that there is child's prostitution, child's pornography, trading in children, child's sex-tourism, early marriage, are described. International documents, that regulate a legislation in relation to crimes, children related to commercial sexual exploitation, are considered. Work of ungovernmental organizations, that conduct active activity in relation to defence and help to the children that suffered from sexual violence, is described. It is noted that the fight against commercial sexual exploitation of children with sexual violence against children should be conducted, in addition to international, national and local levels. The principles of the legal principles and standards that should guide children's strategies and practices, including advocacy for the prevention of violence and measures to protect all children from all forms of violence are described. The economic, social and cultural rights that contain the provision according to which children should be protected from economic and social exploitation are indicated. It has been determined that commercial sexual exploitation of children is a violation of the rights of the child, which is considered as a subject of sex and the subject of trade; and includes sexual abuse of the child or exploitation of the child by an adult, as well as payment in cash or in kind. It has been established that the development of legislation and recognition of the problem of sexual exploitation and sexual abuse of children at the national and international levels will be an impetus in combating the commercial sexual exploitation of children. It has been stressed that commercial sexual exploitation of children in many countries is particularly dangerous criminal activity, violating the rights of the child.

Commercial sexual exploitation of children (CSEC) is a global public health crisis. CSEC is defined as the use of a child under the age of 18 years in a range of crimes and activities involving the sexual abuse or exploitation of the child for the financial benefit of any person or in exchange for anything of value given or received by any person. CSEC is a problem of epidemic proportions throughout the world including the United States. It is difficult to determine the true number of CSEC victims in the United States. However, the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children states that, in 2021, more than 17,200 reports of child sex trafficking were received from all 50 U.S. states and estimates that of the 25,000 children reported missing, one in six were likely victims of sex trafficking. CSEC can result in significant physical and mental health consequences for victims, even death. Studies indicate that CSEC victims are consumers of healthcare. Up to this point, the focus of healthcare related to CSEC has primarily been upon recognizing red flags that should raise CSEC concerns and the identification of victims. Although victim identification is critical, it is time for forensic nurses to understand their role in the prevention of CSEC. This narrative review will discuss the prevention of CSEC using a multitiered healthcare approach.

Comparative healthcare use by adolescents screening positive for sexual exploitation

“I Need You All to Understand How Pervasive This Issue Is”: User Efforts to Regulate Child Sexual Offending on Social Media

Children and adolescents make up the greatest proportion of sexual assault victims reported to law enforcement, and victims are overwhelmingly female. Nearly all known perpetrators of contact sexual abuse or assault are male, and only a very small percentage of perpetrators of sexual violence against children are strangers. Perpetrators of child sexual abuse or assault are usually family members or acquaintances of the child or family. However, incidence, prevalence, and recurrence of child sexual victimization vary depending on the definition of sexual victimization, population being studied, and source of data. In the United States, two federally sponsored surveillance efforts compile and report data on incidence of child maltreatment: the National Child Abuse and Neglect Data System (NCANDS), which compiles data annually on the incidence of CSA from Child Protective Services (CPS), and the National Incidence Study of Child Abuse and Neglect (NIS), which compiles data every decade from CPS and other “sentinel” agencies such as public schools, medical facilities, and law enforcement agencies. Because of the differing ways these surveillance efforts capture and count cases of CSA, true incidence numbers are difficult to determine; it is generally acknowledged that official reports to CPS, law enforcement, and known mandated reporters represent a fraction of childhood sexual victimization. In addition to the more familiar forms of CSA, such as unwanted touching and forced or coerced sex, commercial sexual exploitation (CSE) of children is also a serious problem. CSE includes the recruiting, transporting, or maintaining of a child for the purpose of sexual exploitation, including prostitution, exchange of sexual acts for something of value, pornography, or performances at sexual venues. Child advocates are also increasingly becoming more aware of how Internet access and technology has helped facilitate online sexual grooming, sexual harassment, and CSE of children around the world.

Commercial sexual exploitation of children (CSEC) is a persistent problem in the United States, yet few youth-oriented CSEC prevention tools exist. The objectives of this project were to develop an educational website about CSEC for adolescents and evaluate it through pre- and posttests of adolescents' knowledge and attitudes about CSEC. Results demonstrated increases in participants' CSEC knowledge and decreases in their tolerance of CSEC after navigating the website and viewing an embedded video. Qualitative and quantitative results suggest that CSEC is deemed an important issue by adolescents and web-based content is a relevant and useful mode through which to educate adolescents about CSEC. Consideration should be given to further exploration of this and other tools for CSEC prevention tailored to adolescents' needs and preferences.

ABSTRACTThis study includes a vertical analysis of the legal framework regarding the sexual abuse and exploitation of children on the internet. It starts with the examination of the international legal instruments for then continuing with the legislation of Kosovo by evaluating its compliance with these international legal standards in the fight against online sexual exploitation of children while trying to draw recommendations for future development. Finally, the paper includes an empirical part based on interviews with law enforcement. Detecting sexual exploitation of children on the internet is not as easy as detecting offline sexual exploitation. There are no available statistics on the scale of online child sexual abuse in Kosovo, but it is well-known among law-enforcement agents that a large gap exists between the number of reported cases and the actual cases. This discrepancy happens for various reasons and factors which will be further explained in this paper through the analyses of the interviews conducted with the prosecutors and investigators of Kosovo in charge of the investigation of child sexual abuse and sexual exploitation cases.

There has been growing attention focused on the commercial sexual exploitation of children (CSEC), with many policymakers, practitioners, and anti-human trafficking advocates stressing the importance of educating youth about CSEC. To examine the state of the literature on educating youth about CSEC, and to determine key recommendations about this topic, we systematically reviewed the peer-reviewed literature. Only 13 articles on educating youth about CSEC met our broad inclusion criteria (i.e., included some content on educating youth about CSEC and was published in English before or during April of 2017). In addition to identifying few articles on the topic, only five articles were empirical in nature (i.e., collected and/or analyzed data), of which only one examined outcomes following participation in a program focused on educating youth about CSEC. Based on the existing literature, we highlight educational strategies and recommendations, including information on modality, content, target audience, content facilitator, and setting. Overall, this literature emphasizes that youth should receive education about CSEC, and that schools—particularly those focused on middle school, high school, and high-risk students—might be promising settings for such education. However, more research is needed to determine how best to educate youth about CSEC.

ABSTRACTResearch on the commercial sexual exploitation of children (CSEC) in sub-saharan Africa was considered sparse and fragmented. Today, a substantial number of studies are available on CSEC in the region. A total of 92 studies were selected and reviewed. Electronic database and manual searches were used to locate the studies. First, regarding the quality of the studies, several themes emerged, including (a) inadequate description of ethical considerations in some studies, (b) substantial participation of children in research on CSEC in the region, and (c) the use of participatory research strategy with children. Second, the findings show not only that most victims of CSEC have agency over their sexual transactions but that they also live with their families. Other distinctive aspects of CSEC in sub-saharan Africa include limited presence of pimps in CSEC and lack of research on mental health issues among child victims. The review challenges some key knowledge in the mainstream literature on CSEC. It points to the importance of giving consideration to social and cultural factors in research on CSEC. The review also calls for ethical considerations and robust monitoring standards in any research on CSEC in the region and beyond.

Teen Knowledge of Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children.