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The phenomenon of street children in the Philippines was first attested in the 1980s. As of 2021 the number of street children in the Philippines is estimated at around 250,000. [1]
According to the "Stairway" foundation, there are three different categories of street children:
The Philippines ratified the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child on August 21, 1990. It also ratified the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the involvement of children in armed conflict on August 26, 2003, and the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the sale of children, child prostitution, and child pornography on May 28, 2002. [4]
Children bear the brunt of poverty of affected Filipino families. [5] Poverty, displacement due to armed conflict, and exposure to climatic and environmental impacts are key factors that lead to heightened vulnerability and increases in the number of street children. [6] [7] In 2015, 31.4% of children in the Philippines lived below the poverty line, with poverty rates for children in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao much higher at 63.1%, according to official government estimates. [8]
Street children are more likely to live in poverty, be deprived of access to education and other social services, and experience social discrimination. [8] They are also less likely to have of access to justice or legal status. [6]
Some street children take drugs as often as once a day. [2] A 1997 study estimated that up to 40% of street children had used drugs in the past. Other reports suggest that 66% to 85% of children had used inhalants, and 3% had used marijuana and methamphetamine (known locally as "shabu"). [9]
Many street children were in danger of summary execution during the Marcos government era. [10] In 2005, a report found that 39 children in Davao City had been killed by vigilante groups since 2001, most after having been released from police detention cells. [11]
Child prostitutes are used by foreign sex tourists and sexual predators, as well as local people. Some are used to film child pornography, which is rampant in the Philippines. [12] Many street children are lured into prostitution as a means of survival, while others do it to earn money for their families. A variety of different factors contribute to the commercial sexual exploitation of children in the Philippines. [13] [ further explanation needed ]
Rooted in poverty, as elsewhere, the problem of child prostitution in Angeles City was exacerbated in the 1980s by Clark Air Base, where bars employed children who ended up as sex workers for American soldiers. [14] Street children are at particular risk because many of the 200 brothels in Angeles offer children for sex. [15] According to 1996 statistics of the Philippine Resource Network, 60,000 of the 1.5 million street children in the Philippines were prostituted. [16]
There is no HIV testing for children in the Philippines, but approximately 18% of the street children contract sexually transmitted infections (STIs). [13]
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Various organizations have established charities and shelters, providing counseling, food, clothing and religious instruction in an attempt to help street children. These include Street Contact For Children, [3] Subic Bay Children's Home, [17] LifeChild, [18] Spirit and Life Mission House, Tiwala Kids and Communities , [19] Batang Pinangga Foundation, Inc (Cebu) [20] Jireh Children's Home, [21] He Cares Foundation, [22] ANAK-Tnk Foundation, [23] and the Tuloy Foundation, among others.
General:
The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child is an international human rights treaty which sets out the civil, political, economic, social, health and cultural rights of children. The convention defines a child as any human being under the age of eighteen, unless the age of majority is attained earlier under national legislation.
Sex tourism is the practice of traveling to foreign countries, often on a different continent, with the intention of engaging in sexual activity or relationships in exchange for money or lifestyle support. This practice predominantly operates in countries where sex work is legal. The World Tourism Organization of the United Nations has acknowledged that this industry is organized both within and outside the structured laws and networks created by them.
Child sex tourism (CST) is tourism for the purpose of engaging in the prostitution of children, which is commercially facilitated child sexual abuse. The definition of child in the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child is "every human being below the age of 18 years". Child sex tourism results in both mental and physical consequences for the exploited children, which may include sexually transmitted infections, "drug addiction, pregnancy, malnutrition, social ostracism, and death", according to the State Department of the United States. Child sex tourism, part of the multibillion-dollar global sex tourism industry, is a form of child prostitution within the wider issue of commercial sexual exploitation of children. Child sex tourism victimizes approximately 2 million children around the world. The children who perform as prostitutes in the child sex tourism trade often have been lured or abducted into sexual slavery.
Street children are poor or homeless children who live on the streets of a city, town, or village. Homeless youth are often called street kids, or urchins; the definition of street children is contested, but many practitioners and policymakers use UNICEF's concept of boys and girls, aged under 18 years, for whom "the street" has become home and/or their source of livelihood, and who are inadequately protected or supervised. Street girls are sometimes called gamines, a term that is also used for Colombian street children of either sex.
Child prostitution is prostitution involving a child, and it is a form of commercial sexual exploitation of children. The term normally refers to prostitution of a minor, or person under the legal age of consent. In most jurisdictions, child prostitution is illegal as part of general prohibition on prostitution.
Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children (CSEC) defines the "umbrella" of crimes and activities that involve inflicting sexual abuse on to a child as a financial or personal opportunity. Commercial Sexual Exploitation consists of forcing a child into prostitution, sex trafficking, early marriage, child sex tourism and any other venture of exploiting children into sexual activities. According to the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, the lack of reporting the crime and "the difficulties associated with identifying and measuring victims and perpetrators" has made it almost impossible to create a national estimate of the prevalence of Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children in the United States. There is an estimated one million children that are exploited for commercial sex globally; of the one million children that are exploited, the majority are girls.
Trafficking of children is a form of human trafficking and is defined by the United Nations as the "recruitment, transportation, harboring, and/or receipt" kidnapping of a child for the purpose of slavery, forced labour, and exploitation. This definition is substantially wider than the same document's definition of "trafficking in persons". Children may also be trafficked for adoption.
Forced prostitution, also known as involuntary prostitution or compulsory prostitution, is prostitution or sexual slavery that takes place as a result of coercion by a third party. The terms "forced prostitution" or "enforced prostitution" appear in international and humanitarian conventions, such as the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, but have been inconsistently applied. "Forced prostitution" refers to conditions of control over a person who is coerced by another to engage in sexual activity.
Human trafficking and the prostitution of children has been a significant issue in the Philippines, often controlled by organized crime syndicates. Human trafficking is a crime against humanity.
Prostitution in the Philippines is illegal, although somewhat tolerated, with law enforcement being rare with regards to sex workers. Penalties range up to life imprisonment for those involved in trafficking, which is covered by the Anti-Trafficking in Persons Act of 2003. Prostitution is available through bars, karaoke bars, massage parlors, brothels, street walkers, and escort services.
Children' rights in Colombia is the status of children's rights in the Republic of Colombia. Colombia signed the Convention on the Rights of the Child in 1989 and later ratified the CRC on September 2, 1990. Internally issues related to children are mostly under the Instituto Colombiano de Bienestar Familiar, or the ICBF, which is translated as the Colombian Institute for Family Welfare.
Prostitution in Colombia is legal, regulated and limited to brothels in designated "tolerance zones". Sex workers are required to have regular health checks. However, the laws are rarely applied and prostitution is widespread, partly due to poverty and internal displacement.
Various groups have taken steps to combat growing commercial sexual exploitation of children and child pornography in the Philippines. In 2016, UNICEF declared that the Philippines is one of the top sources of child pornography.
India has a very high volume of child trafficking. As many as one child disappears every eight minutes, according to the National Crime Records Bureau. In some cases, children are taken from their homes to be bought and sold in the market. In other cases, children are tricked into the hands of traffickers by being presented an opportunity for a job, when in reality, upon arrival they become enslaved. In India, there are many children trafficked for various reasons such as labor, begging, and sexual exploitation. Because of the nature of this crime, it is hard to track; due to the poor enforcement of laws, it is difficult to prevent. As such, there are only vague estimates of figures regarding the issue. India is a prime area for child trafficking to occur, as many of those trafficked are from, travel through or destined to go to India. Though most of the trafficking occurs within the country, there is also a significant number of children trafficked from Nepal and Bangladesh. There are many different causes that lead to child trafficking, with the primary reasons being poverty, weak law enforcement, and a lack of good quality public education. The traffickers that take advantage of children can be from another area in India, or could even know the child personally. Children who return home after being trafficked often face shame in their communities, rather than being welcomed home.
ECPAT is a global network of civil society organisations that works to end the sexual exploitation of children. It focuses on ending the online sexual exploitation of children, the trafficking of children for sexual purposes, the sexual exploitation of children in prostitution, child, early and forced marriages, and the sexual exploitation of children in the travel and tourism industry.
Based on the definition by the Inter-NGO Programme on Street Children and Street Youth, 1983, a street child refers to "any boy or girl…for whom the street in the widest sense of the word…has become his or her habitual abode and/or source of livelihood, and who is inadequately protected, supervised, or directed by responsible adults". One recent U.S. State Department study reported an estimated 20,000 children on the streets of Thailand's major urban centres.
Human trafficking in Southeast Asia has long been a problem for the area and is still prevalent today. It has been observed that as economies continue to grow, the demand for labor is at an all-time high in the industrial sector and the sex tourism sector. A mix of impoverished individuals and the desire for more wealth creates an environment for human traffickers to benefit in the Southeast Asia region. Many nations within the region have taken preventive measures to end human trafficking within their borders and punish traffickers operating there.
Protection of children’s rights is guaranteed by the Constitution of the Republic of Azerbaijan and a number of other laws. Children’s rights embrace legal, social and other issues concerning children.
Cybersex trafficking, live streaming sexual abuse, webcam sex tourism/abuse or ICTs -facilitated sexual exploitation is a cybercrime involving sex trafficking and the live streaming of coerced sexual acts and/or rape on webcam.
Child prostitution is prevalent in all major cities in West Africa with girls typically being the focus, as boys in the sex trade are often overlooked. Reasons for entrance into prostitution vary; they include child trafficking and forces associated with "survival sex" such as poverty, sexual abuse, and homelessness, all with resulting effects such as the spread of HIV and STIs. The presence of underage individuals in the sex trade is perceived as taboo in many communities in West African countries, however, there are only a limited number of established policies or developed programs in some countries aiming to combat the health concerns regarding children in prostitution.
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