adminMaxim Murungweni Correspondent
The sexual exploitation of children (SEC) has been a prominent topic in the child rights discourse for the past five years in Zimbabwe in particular and Africa in general.
As the debates on sexual exploitation have raged on, there is need for us to come up with relevant intervention strategies to protect our children from sexual exploitation.
Sexual exploitation of children is defined as the engagement of a child in a sexual activity in exchange for something (e.g. gain or benefit, or even the promise of such) from a third party, the perpetrator or by the child her/himself.
SEC is different from sexual abuse of children where there is no element of exchange.
ECPAT which is a global network of organisations and individuals working together to eliminate child prostitution, child pornography and the trafficking of children for sexual purposes distinguishes the manifestations of SEC as follows; a) Exploitation of children in prostitution-which is the use of a child in sexual activities for remuneration or any other form of consideration b) Online child sexual exploitation-which includes live online sexual abuse, grooming and child sexual exploitation material c) Sexual exploitation of children in the context of travel and tourism which is popularly known as “child sex tourism” d) trafficking of children for sexual purposes-an act or transaction whereby a child is transferred to another person or group of persons for remuneration or any other consideration e) Child, early and forced marriage (CEFM)-the ACRWC is the only human rights treaty that expressly requires State parties to set the minimum age for both persons entering a marriage at 18 years.
Reports indicate that children in Zimbabwe are exploited for sexual purposes, especially in urban centres.
There is limited scientific quantifiable evidence measuring the magnitude of Sexual Exploitation of Children in Zimbabwe. As Zimbabwe National Council for the Welfare of Children, we carried out national research on sexual exploitation of children in 2016 titled “Young Women in sexual exploitation along two transport corridors in Zimbabwe: Causes, initiation prevalence and use of HIV and Social Services.” Some of the key findings from the research include that 18 percent of the respondents were below the age of 18 years and more than 65 percent of the young women reported starting selling sex below the age of 18 years.
These findings showed how sexual exploitation of children is a violation of children’s fundamental rights.
In response to the research findings ZNCWC partnered with the Ministry of Labour and Social Welfare in implementing some of the intervention strategies to address the problem of sexual exploitation of children.
This has seen about 54 girls being rescued from sexual exploitation and being reunified with their families.
ZNCWC and the Ministry of Labour and Social Welfare have also managed to send the girls back to school. All these are efforts are meant to make sure that the children are not forced to go back to sexual exploitation.
ZNCWC is a member of ECPAT International, which is a global network of organisations and individuals working together to eliminate child prostitution, child pornography and the trafficking of children for sexual purposes which conducted global research on SEC made recommendations for national governments in order to address the problem of SEC.
National governments have a direct responsibility to protect children from SEC, whether they are countries of demand, supply or victimisation.
Governments have been urged to develop and promote reporting systems that allow children and citizens to report incidents of SEC without fear and ensure that child-sensitive services are available and regulated by quality standards, implemented by knowledgeable, well trained staff with adequate resources and easily accessible to all children.
Governments have also been urged to ratify and implement all relevant international child rights instruments and revise national laws accordingly.
ECPAT further recommends that governments should ensure that national legal frameworks address the sexual exploitation of children by formulating SEC as a separately identifiable crime in national laws, criminalise grooming and attempts to procure sex with a minor, excluding SEC crimes from bail and making it obligatory to report and suspected sexual exploitation of a child, with strong sanctions for non-compliance, developing protection mechanisms for those who report the crime, accepting reasonable anonymous complaints as sufficient evidence to open an investigation. Lastly governments are encouraged to strengthen law enforcement and international cooperation to combat SEC and invest in quality rehabilitation and reintegration programmes for child victims of SEC.
As a nation we really need to scale up our efforts in addressing this problem of sexual exploitation of children. We need to build on the intervention strategies that the government has put in place and ensure that children actively participate in the whole process.
Together we can end the sexual exploitation of children in Zimbabwe and at the same time meaningfully contribute to global commitment of ending AIDS by 2030 through smart partnerships.
Maxim Murungweni is a child rights lobbyist at ZNCWC. [email protected]
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