Statistics
According to the International Labor Organization (ILO) “Global Estimates of Modern Slavery,” the 2021 Global Estimates indicate a total of 6.3 million people are in situations of forced commercial sexual exploitation on any given day, including 1.7 million children. Nearly four out of five of those trapped in forced commercial exploitation are girls or women.
INTERPOL connects police around the world. Interpol’s International Child Sexual Exploitation (ICSE) image and video database holds 4.9 million images and videos and has helped identify 42,300 victims worldwide. Fourteen victims are identified on average every day.
According to Interpol and the latest available data from UNICEF, up to 20 percent of internet-using children in twelve low- and middle-income countries said they have experienced online sexual exploitation or abuse in the previous year.
UNICEF reports that a review of 217 studies found one in eight of the world’s children (12.7%) had been sexually abused before reaching the age of 18. UNICEF estimates that one in every 20 girls aged 15 to 19 (around 13 million) have experienced forced sex during their lifetime. 90% of perpetrators are male. A review of surveys asking men in the community about their use of online child sex abuse material and sexual behavior towards children found between one in ten, and one in five adults in studies from Finland, Germany, and Sweden had online sexualized conversations with children in the past year. One in twenty men admitted online sexualized behavior towards children who were known to be below the age of twelve.
RAINN (Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network) – According to RAINN, every 68 seconds, an American is sexually assaulted, and every nine minutes, that victim is a child.
Laws
18 U.S.C. 2251 is a federal law regarding child sexual exploitation, which is a crime, defining the different types of sexual exploitation of children and the production of child pornography. Extreme penalties can result. Basically, any person who attempts to induce, entice, or persuade a minor to engage in a sexual act for the purposes of making a video, picture or other images is guilty of sexual exploitation.
18 U.S.C. 1591 is a federal law regarding sex trafficking of children by force, fraud, or coercion. It is illegal both to offer and to obtain a child, and cause that child to engage in any kind of sexual activity in exchange for anything of value, whether it be money, goods, personal benefit, in-kind favors, or some other kind of benefit. Section 1591 also makes it a crime for individuals to participate in a business venture that obtains minors and causes them to engage in commercial sex acts.
Prevention
To reduce and prevent sexual exploitation: