By Alison Walkley
18 June 2009, [MEDIAGLOBAL]: The hunger and disease-ridden conditions in much of Zimbabwe has led many children to engage in prostitution in order to feed themselves, according to the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF).
This month Save The Children, a non-profit organization working to create positive change for disadvantaged children, estimated that girls as young as 12 are now selling their bodies for even the most meager of meals, such as biscuits and chips. Many of these children are orphans, finding themselves as heads of their households and taking care of not just themselves, but siblings as well.
The issue is further complicated by the growing presence of child traffickers in the region, looking for young girls to abduct and take to South Africa for the use of potential clients at the 2010 World Cup.
Tim Sutton, UNICEF media contact, told MediaGlobal, “By its nature, child prostitution is very difficult to research and/or quantify. It’s an activity that is done behind closed doors, under the cover of darkness, by older men who are aware of its legal ramifications and, sadly, by children who live on the margins and who often think there are no alternatives.”
Sutton assured, “There is little doubt that some children are involved in prostitution in Zimbabwe. This phenomenon is more prevalent in border towns, where children are often impoverished, where tourists visit, and where truck drivers frequent. UNICEF is concerned about evidence of growing numbers, but we are still trying to ascertain if this trend is mirrored nationally.”
The data UNICEF is working off has been compiled by Tengwa, a community based organization located in Victoria Falls that has been receiving reports of an increase in child prostitution, according to Sutton.
Sutton said that, “in a deteriorating economy that is US-dollar based, and in the midst of an ongoing humanitarian emergency characterized by a high HIV/AIDS and orphan crisis that has resulted in child-headed households, food shortage, and a reduced quality in the delivery of basic social services, the chance/danger and real possibility for exploitative yet transactional sex is very high.”
UNICEF is promoting components of “psycho-social support, peer support, and life skills” across the country, Sutton said. The national “Young People We Care” program in Zimbabwe aids in its dual roles of encouraging safe sex among youth and advocating for community responsibility. A program to specifically address child prostitution and labor is in the process of being developed.
“UNICEF is also supporting more than 30 NGOs, which in turn work with 150 community-based organizations, to implement various projects for children and adolescents,” Sutton reported. “Still much more needs to be done.”
Sutton explained how many Zimbabweans do not understand what child trafficking encompasses, “often mixing the phenomenon with child irregular migration, smuggling, child labor, child abuse, and exploitation. However, there is an evidence of movement of children from communities of origin to other areas in search of economic opportunities, which can easily be exploited by traffickers.”
Combating child prostitution and trafficking is complicated, according to Sutton, though he recommended the following: “Prioritizing the alleviation of poverty, with a particular emphasis on fighting poverty from a child’s perspective; prioritizing education for all, with emphasis on improving access for girls; creating intercountry collaboration through Memoranda of Understanding and regional agreements on child trafficking prevention and victim protection; building institutional capacity to facilitate a strong, coordinated response to protection rights violations; involvement of high risk groups like truck drivers, tourists, and uniformed men in mobilization; provision of information to victims and survivors of child prostitution and/or trafficking with information about available counseling and legislative services.”
