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Thailand

Estimates of the number of child prostitutes living in Thailand range from 12,000 to the hundreds of thousands, according to the U.S.-based research institute the Protection Project. Their involvement in the sex trade is associated with poverty, lack of education and social conditions, including pressure to contribute to family income. Thailand is a significant source, destination and transit country in the trafficking of children for sexual purposes. Thailand developed a national plan to fight child prostitution in 1996 that became the responsibility of the National Youth Bureau.

South Africa

According to the Police Child Protection Unit in Johannesburg, about 28,000 children are engaged in prostitution and approximately 15 new girls between the age of 15 and 18 are arrested every month. A study carried out by the Khayelethu Health Centre in Diepsloot, a settlement in the north of Johannesburg, revealed that 40 per cent of girls below 16 are involved in prostitution. One in five girls is HIV-positive. Unemployment in the community is more than 50 per cent, and child prostitution takes the form of survival sexual exploitation. Schools in Kwa Zulu Natal have reported that there are prostitution rings operating in their schools where groups of girls between 11 and 16 years old frequent discos and prostitute themselves. About one-fourth of Cape Town's street children are estimated to be engaged in prostitution.

Mexico

An extensive study by Unicef Mexico and the DIF/National System for Integral Family Development reveals that more than 16,000 children in Mexico were involved in prostitution in June of 2000. The numbers are not definitive because of the covert nature of the sex trade. The study found that girls, mostly 13 to 17 years old, were prostitutes in Acapulco and Cancun, working out of cafés and bars where they were waitresses. Massage parlours and escort agencies often offer sexual services and openly promote this fact in the media. The Unicef-DIF study cites the following advertisements that appeared in the Acapulco local press: "University girls, sexy, daring, inviting and insatiable; School girls and ardent young boys. The best services you can find. Just dare!; Beautiful, loving slaves, educated to satisfy your most disturbing fantasies. Phone us."

Jamaica

Male and female sex workers operating in tourist areas are known as "beach boys" and "beach girls." Working on the beach, they make private contacts with tourists. Additionally, there are reports of van operators who take passengers to safe houses for sex with boys and girls. Some girls are sent out to the beach by their parents to wait for men. In general, clients are mostly Westerners, but local men are also involved. Boy prostitution, described as "rent-a-dread," also occurs.

Source: ECPAT International

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