STOP infographic EN

Unveiling the hidden reality of sexual exploitation of minors in prostitution in Europe

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What

What

do we talk about?

does the law say?

how

Who

are young people involved in prostitution?

is affected by this phenomenon

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WHAT do we talk about?

It is affects more than

Sexual Exploitation of minor under prostitution is defined as a form of sexual violence in which an adult commits sexual acts against a minor in exchange for some form of compensation, either for the victim, third parties or the exploiter.

3 millions

of minors worldwide,

+100 000 in the EU

This figure might be much higher since in France, the estimation is already between 15 000 and 20 000.

A fast growing phenomenon:

+70%

18%

within 5 years

of 14-17 years old young people

may have had sexual relations in exchange for some type of gifts

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WHAT does the law say?

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Sexual exploitation of adolescent in prostitution is a crime. Recently, legal and penal responses have evolved in most countries emphasizing the inability of minors to consent and the obligation to protect minors from sexual trafficking. Clients like pimps are criminalized

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WHO IS AFFECTED BY THIS PHENOMENON?

10%

90%

males

of victims are women

The majority of adolescent under prostitution are national-born young girl 15-16 years old

It happens everywhere: either in small village or big cities

It affects young people from all social backgrounds

The particularity of minors who are in a situation of prostitution is that they often do not recognise themselves as victims. Some of them even use a vocabulary related to work to talk about their situation (“self-employed”, “contracts”,…).

start at 14/15 years old, but some begin at 11

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HOW ARE YOUNG PEOPLE INVOLVED IN PROSTITUTION?

In more than 8 out of 10 cases, customers and victims are put in touch via an app or by telephone

The most common systems that have been identified

Most of the situations of prostitution take place in hotels or flats rented via online platforms

For 8 minors out of 10, the pimp is a friend or family member. Prostitution of young girls is a lucrative affair with pimps earning up to €1,500 a day.

Prostitution by plans

Micro-network

67% spent between 6 months to 2 years in the prostitution system

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Funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the European Commission. Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them. STOP – Sensitize and Train Organizations to fight against the Prostitution of minors KA220-VET-0B84F500 Erasmus+ Key Action 2, KA220-VET – Cooperation partnerships in vocational education and training KA220-VET-0B84F500

STOP is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/

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This implies that the victim is not only sexually abused, as in other forms of sexual violence, but also used for commercial purposes. That is, it is a severe form of sexual victimization where sexual abuse and assault coexist alongside the economic exploitation of children, where a person or group takes advantage of a situation of power imbalance to coerce, manipulate or deceive a child or adolescent in exchange for something the victim may want or need, or in exchange for an increase in status or position in the social group.

In 1989, the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child emphasized the need to combat sexual exploitation in prostitution and pornography. In 1996, at the First World Congress against the Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children held in Stockholm, states were urged to criminalize all forms of commercial exploitation of children and to review and implement laws, policies, and programs to eradicate this issue. In the year 2000, the United Nations Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children, defined the 'sexual trafficking' of minors as 'trafficking in persons.' This protocol was integrated into the domestic legislation of most countries worldwide within a few years, emphasizing the inability of minors to consent and defining all forms of juvenile sexual commerce as sexual abuse.

That it is complicated and challenging to give exact figures, given that many situations of sexual exploitation go unreported or come to light under various criminal typologies. The complexity arises from factors such as invisibility, social stigma and the trauma experienced by victims, who often remain unaware of their situation. No country can give a true estimate of the extent of the phenomenon; however, it appears to be a significant and really fast-growing problem. Figures provided come from different local or national authorities from France, Greece, Spain and Italy and help picture the reality.

Micro-network One of the main difficulties to identify sexual exploitation of minors in prostitution is the form of the pimping. We talk about “micro-network”, that would be made of few victims (3-5) under the power of one pimp. Pimps are reported to be fellow to their victims, commonly aged between 18 and 22.

Prostitution by plans Is made up of 1 to 5 pimps, including a "Boss" (the person with the power of direction over the prostitution activity) and "Service Providers" (logistics, recruitment, etc.). This "prostitution by plans" would take place over very short periods of time (a few days during specific event like sports competitions, concerts, festivals…) during which prostitution is carried out continuously, the victim being in constant contact with those who supervise her. The pimps who provide the services "help" the prostitutes by bringing them food, drugs or condoms. In 9 out of 10 cases, the "bosses" are men, with an average age of 22.

Reported cases do not give access to very accurate data, nevertheless from the ones available it shows clearly that the majority of adolescents victims of sexual exploitation in prostitution are nationals and not migrants, women mostly and that it can affects all social types of families.