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Child Sex Trafficking in Southeast Asia

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Throughout many centuries, the exploitation and abuse of children and adolescents led to the current trafficking problem occurring in Southeastern Asian countries. Child sex trafficking is known as one of the most common types of trafficking in the Asian nations.
Traced back to the Vietnam War in 1954, according to Nikolic-Ristanovic Vesna the visit of many U.S. soldiers caused a major demand for prostitution, which would later on convert to sex tourism. The U.S. soldiers being away from their home, and especially their wives, for very long periods of time, started feeling the need of sexual pleasure. As a result, many Asian women and children were forced and raped by U.S. armies. The consequences, would later be reflected in the countries that now face the major concern of child sex trafficking.
Currently, the commercial sexual exploitation of children exists in almost every Asian country, including: Thailand, Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam, Myanmar, and Burma. For various reasons, child sex trafficking dominates many countries. “It is reported that 23,000 Cambodian per year are victims of trafficking, including minors” (United Stated Department of State). Laos also has groups of 50 to 100 Lao victims among thousands of Lao national deportees. The UNIAP, reports that because of poverty issues, lack of education and the need of employment, many children are abused and placed in the sex industry. As well, the Polaris Project Organization emphasizes that exposed populations are homeless youth. The United States Department of State adds that parents sometimes force their children to work in domestic services in urban areas, knowing and not knowing the risk of their child being trafficked. Moreover, the Polaris Project points out that the nu...

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...hild sex trafficking, which does not provide minors a protection from trafficking. So government in order to stop or lessen the sex trafficking in children they must create laws and policies to protect children rights in Southeastern Asia.
Child sex trafficking is tolerated by many Southeastern countries, impacting negatively the lives of many children; however attempts could be made to vanish the sexual exploitation of children.

Work Cited
“2013 Trafficking in Persons Report-Thailand.” Refworld.org United Sates Department of State,
19 Jun. 2013. Web. 17 Feb., 2014.
“Commercial sexual exploitation of Children.” International Labour Organization,. International
Labour Organization, n.d. Web. 17 Feb., 2014.
Polaris Project. Polaris Project, n.d. Web. 11 Feb., 2014
UNIAP. United Nations Inter-Agency Project on Human Trafficking, n.d. Web. 30 Jan., 2014
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