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The Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children

In the early years of the 21st Century, 2000 to 2025                                                                                                                    gvnet.com/childprostitution/Netherlands.htm

Kingdom of the Netherlands (Holland)

The Netherlands has a prosperous and open economy, which depends heavily on foreign trade. The economy is noted for stable industrial relations, moderate unemployment and inflation, a sizable current account surplus, and an important role as a European transportation hub.

The pace of job growth reached 10-year highs in 2007, but economic growth fell sharply in 2008 as fallout from the world financial crisis constricted demand and raised the specter of a recession in 2009.  [The World Factbook, U.S.C.I.A. 2009]

Netherlands

CAUTION:  The following links and accompanying text have been culled from the web to illuminate the situation in the Netherlands.  Some of these links may lead to websites that present allegations that are unsubstantiated, misleading or even false.   No attempt has been made to validate their authenticity or to verify their content.

HOW TO USE THIS WEBPAGE

Students

If you are looking for material to use in a term-paper, you are advised to scan the postings on this page and others to see which aspects of child prostitution are of particular interest to you.  You might be interested in exploring how children got started, how they survive, and how some succeed in leaving.  Perhaps your paper could focus on runaways and the abuse that led to their leaving.  Other factors of interest might be poverty, rejection, drug dependence, coercion, violence, addiction, hunger, neglect, etc.  On the other hand, you might choose to write about the manipulative and dangerous adults who control this activity.  There is a lot to the subject of Child Prostitution.  Scan other countries as well as this one.  Draw comparisons between activity in adjacent countries and/or regions.  Meanwhile, check out some of the Term-Paper resources that are available on-line.

Teachers

Check out some of the Resources for Teachers attached to this website.

*** FEATURED ARTICLE ***

Child Prostitution in the Netherlands

Carin Tiggeloven, Radio Netherlands Worldwide, 18-12-2001

At one time this article had been archived and may possibly still be accessible [here]

[accessed 26 June 2011]

The number of Dutch children working in prostitution has increased dramatically over the past five years: from 4,000 to 15,000 according to figures published by the Amsterdam-based ChildRight organization.

 Most children that end up in prostitution in the Netherlands are boys or young under aged asylum-seekers – particularly Nigerian girls. ChildRight claims this group numbers some 5,000 children. But recent years have seen a significant rise on the number of Dutch girls forced into the sex industry. Among them are an estimated 5,000 runaway or homeless children, many of whom are mentally retarded. Another large group (also 5,000) are ‘ordinary' Dutch schoolgirls, aged 13 or 14 from a "regular home environment" who are lured into prostitution by so-called "lover-boys". - sccp

 

*** ARCHIVES ***

Runaways - Where To Turn For Help Before You Are Homeless - (+31) 06-0432

Rebeccas Community -- This is for anyone aged up to 13 years old who is thinking about running away

www.homeless.org.au/runaways.htm

[accessed 26 June 2011]

Here are the best phone numbers to call …They are Confidential - which means they won't tell anyone about your call unless you want them to talk to somebody for you, or you are in danger.  They are open 24 hours - it doesn't matter what time you call.  In Netherlands, call (+31) 06-0432

ECPAT Country Monitoring Report [PDF]

Irene Pietropaoli, ECPAT International, 2011

www.ecpat.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/NETHERLANDS%202nd.pdf

[accessed 6 September 2020]

Desk review of existing information on the sexual exploitation of children (SEC) in the Netherlands. The report looks at protection mechanisms, responses, preventive measures, child and youth participation in fighting SEC, and makes recommendations for action against SEC.

Human Rights Reports » 2019 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices

U.S. Dept of State Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor, March 10, 2020

www.state.gov/reports/2019-country-reports-on-human-rights-practices/netherlands/

[accessed 6 September 2020]

SEXUAL EXPLOITATION OF CHILDREN - Throughout the kingdom, the law prohibits commercial sexual exploitation of children as well as production, possession, and distribution of child pornography, and authorities enforced the law. The minimum age of consent is 16 in the Netherlands, Curacao, and Aruba and 15 in Sint Maarten. The Netherlands is a source country of child sex tourists. The government ran campaigns to encourage travelers to report suspicions of child sex tourism. An offender can be tried in the Netherlands even if the offense takes place abroad.

Concluding Observations of the Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC)

UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, 30 January 2009

www.ecpat.net/eng/Ecpat_inter/IRC/articles.asp?articleID=40&NewsID=12

[access date not available]

20. The Committee welcomes initiatives for preventive action against sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography both within the State party and abroad, such as the tightened criminal provisions on child pornography, corrupting children and grooming, but is concerned at the lack of a comprehensive national strategy to prevent sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography.

22. The Committee is concerned about the existence of child sex tourism involving Dutch nationals, and the lack of an adequate response.

24. The Committee is concerned that the State party’s legislation does not criminalise the production or dissemination of materials advertising the sale of children, child prostitution or child pornography, but notes information from the State party that it is currently working to decide whether supplementary legislation is desirable to ban such advertisement.

Italian police break up child prostitution network

Radio Netherlands Worldwide, 15 January 2008

At one time this article had been archived and may possibly still be accessible [here]

[accessed 26 June 2011]

Italian police have made scores of arrests and rolled up a child prostitution network. Fifty-one people were arrested in Italy and 15 in other countries, mainly the Netherlands. They are accused of human trafficking, exploitation and kidnapping. In Nigeria, Nigerian women took very young children from orphanages to work in the drug trade and as prostitutes. The children are also believed to have been taken from asylum centres in the Netherlands. The police operation began in October 2007 when, at the request of the Dutch government, 22 Nigerians were detained in Nigeria, various European countries and the US.

The paedophiles are here

Martin Henry, Jamaica Gleaner, June 8, 2006

jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20060608/cleisure/cleisure2.html

[accessed 26 June 2011]

old.jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20060608/cleisure/cleisure2.html

[accessed 13 November 2016]

Last Wednesday [May 31], a paedophile political party was launched in The Netherlands. The NVD whose name in English means the Neighbourly Love, Freedom and Diversity party wants to cut the age of consent for youth-adult consensual sex from 16 to 12

Five Years After Stockholm [PDF]

ECPAT: Fifth Report on implementation of the Agenda for Action

ECPAT International, November 2001

www.no-trafficking.org/content/web/05reading_rooms/five_years_after_stockholm.pdf

[accessed 13 September 2011]

[B] COUNTRY UPDATES – NETHERLANDS – Following the approval of the national plan of action last year, a team has been appointed to monitor and implement it. This team is led by the Ministry of Justice and includes experts from the governmental sector and NGOs such as ECPAT Netherlands.

Sexual Exploitation - ECPAT The Netherlands

Defence for Children International The Netherlands

At one time this article had been archived and may possibly still be accessible [here]

[accessed 15 September 2011]

ECPAT-NL exists since 1995 and as of 2003 is a cooperative with Defence for Children International The Netherlands. ECPAT-NL works closely with organisations in The Netherlands and internationally that are active against sexual abuse and exploitation of children. ECPAT-NL is supported by stichting Kinderpostzegels Nederland, Plan Nederland ( the former Foster Parents Plan), Mensen in Nood, Cordaid and Kerk in Actie, Kinderen in de Knel.

ECPAT-NL is raising awareness on commercial sexual exploitation of children in Dutch society. ECPAT-NL is also lobbying for adequate and effective law enforcement and prevention and healthcare programmes regarding the prevention of sexual exploitation of children at governmental and societal level. Also the private sector, like internet service providers and the tourism industry are addressed to take responsibility to protect children from sexual exploitation. ECPAT-NL has played an important role in the development, execution and monitoring of the Dutch National Action Plan 'Sexual Abuse of children'.

Report by Special Rapporteur [DOC]

UN Economic and Social Council Commission on Human Rights, Fifty-ninth session, 6 January 2003

www.unhchr.ch/Huridocda/Huridoca.nsf/0/217511d4440fc9d6c1256cda003c3a00/$FILE/G0310090.doc

[accessed 26 June 2011]

[58] Sale, prostitution and pornography involving children are illegal, and children are not criminalized where they are the victims.   Particularly problematic are “loverboys” - young perpetrators in their late teens and early twenties who seduce young women into prostitution.  Trafficking involving unaccompanied minors seeking asylum is increasing.  Victims of trafficking are mainly women from non-EU countries, but Dutch women and men are also among the victims.  Very little attention is paid to boy victims of trafficking, and there is a lack of data as to the extent of all these problems.  Although legislation is reportedly good, there is a lack of technical and human capacity within the law enforcement sector to deal with increased number of reported cases.

Report by Special Rapporteur

UN Economic and Social Council Commission on Human Rights, Fifty-sixth session, 22 December 1999

www.unhchr.ch/Huridocda/Huridoca.nsf/0/eee276066375879b8025689600531c70?Opendocument

[accessed 26 June 2011]

[120] Girls are most commonly seduced into prostitution by a lover, but boys are used to get other boys involved, usually through stories of the money that can be made by such activity. The Special Rapporteur was advised that male entry into prostitution was more organized, with several individuals working to coerce the boy, whereas usually just one man would coerce a girl into these activities.

[121] Non-governmental sources reported that most of the boys have the same background of physical and sexual abuse, and many doubt their own sexuality. Virtually all are in drug-related activities.

[122] In Amsterdam and Rotterdam there are brothels for boys, with an estimated 1,000 boys under 18 involved in Amsterdam alone. Around the Central Station in Amsterdam, boys can be seen working independently; they are most commonly of eastern European origin. The boys who operate alone have more control over the prostitution than those who work in a brothel. Some brothels in Rotterdam, particularly those being serviced by boys, are reported to make pornographic movies, and there are some reports of the existence of snuff movies allegedly made in the Netherlands.

Tighter Controls To Target Sex-Trade Clients

Andrew Evans, Opinion, The Advertiser, March 12, 2003 --- p.18

www.walnet.org/csis/news/world_2003/ausadv-030312.html

[accessed 26 June 2011]

When I visited the Netherlands last year, I discovered that young women and boys from impoverished Eastern Europe are still pouring over the border despite the country's attempts to curb the number of migrant prostitutes. Prostitutes in the Netherlands do not want to be registered because registration means taxes.

Comments of CATW (Coalition Against Trafficking in Women)

Coalition Against Trafficking in Women, March 10, 2002

action.web.ca/home/catw/readingroom.shtml?x=31742

[accessed 26 June 2011]

Another argument for legalizing prostitution in the Netherlands was that it would help end child prostitution. In reality, however, child prostitution in the Netherlands has increased dramatically.

The Netherlands [PDF]

Annemieke Wolthuis & Mirjam Blaak, Defence For Children International Section The Nederlands

www.defenceforchildren.nl/images/13/137.pdf

[accessed 26 June 2011]

[page 2]  INTRODUCTION -  The object of this research is to provide a comprehensive study of and to what extent, children are trafficked for sexual purposes to The Netherlands; how they get here, what happens to them next, and what can be done to help them.

[page 5]  3. OVERVIEW OF OTHER RESEARCH -  CHILD PROSTITUTION IN THE NETHERLANDS - The research distinguished five different categories of sexual exploitation in The Netherlands: 1. Unaccompanied Minors Seeking Asylum; 2. Child sexual abuse for the child pornography industry; 3. Young boys; 4. Teenage `romance'; 5. Individual situations.

Report on the Sexual Exploitation of Children

Child Rights Information Network CRIN, 01/01/2001

www.crin.org/resources/infodetail.asp?id=1456

[accessed 26 June 2011]

CHILD PROSTITUTION IN THE NETHERLANDS - In the Netherlands child prostitution appears in different forms. The young prostitutes are Dutch as well as from Latin America, Asia and Africa. The number of child prostitutes in the Netherlands is estimated at more than a thousand. Most of them operate in private brothels, many of them against their will. As a result of the recent growth of the number of Eastern-European children in street prostitution the number of child prostitutes in the Netherlands is expected to increase.

ECPAT: Trafficking in Children for Sexual Purposes

ECPAT International Newsletter, Issue No : 33  1/December/2000

At one time this article had been archived and may possibly still be accessible [here]

[accessed 13 September 2011]

EASTERN EUROPE - Hungary and Poland are receiver, sender and transit countries for the trafficking of children for sexual purposes. Romania is a sender and receiver country but Bulgaria is only a sender country. Hungary and Poland receive children from Romania, Ukraine and Russia. The main destinations for children trafficked from and through Poland are Germany, The Netherlands and Belgium. Many of the victims are boys. Furthermore, in Poland students voluntarily prostitute themselves in Germany over the weekends in order to earn money.

One in 12 children forced into world's 'worst forms' of labor

Agence France-Presse AFP, London, February 21, 2005

www.worldrevolution.org/news/article1773.htm

[accessed 20 April 2012]

UNICEF UK said that 350 million children aged five to 17 worked, and that 180 million of them were "involved in the worst forms of child labour -- hazardous work, slavery, forced labor, in armed forces, commercial sexual exploitation and illicit activities".

UNICEF UK lauded the pledge of developed countries, made more than 30 years ago, of allocating 0.7 percent of gross domestic product to development aid but regretted that only five countries today fulfill that promise -- Denmark, Norway, the Netherlands, Luxembourg and Sweden.

 

*** EARLIER EDITIONS OF SOME OF THE ABOVE ***

 

ECPAT Global Monitoring Report on the status of action against commercial exploitation of children - NETHERLANDS [PDF]

ECPAT International, 2006

www.ecpat.net/A4A_2005/PDF/Europe/Global_Monitoring_Report-NETHERLANDS.pdf

[accessed 26 June 2011]

Children and young people are thus rarely exploited as street sex workers or in red light districts, as checks on such areas are usually stringent. Their sexual exploitation occurs predominantly within illegal escort services, in hotels, in parked cars, in private houses, and in illegal private clubs (mostly in towns but also in the countryside). Some of these clubs are situated within the jurisdiction of local authorities that exert weaker controls. According to interviewees from the Trafficking in Human Beings Information Unit (IEM), exploiters are using the Internet and mobile phones to gain access to children and young people for prostitution.

Little is known about the sexual exploitation of boys, but there are reports that young eastern European male prostitutes include minors. In addition, care organisations working with drug addicts indicate the involvement of boys aged between 15 and 18. Boys seem to enter prostitution at a slightly younger age than girls, i.e. between 9 and 15 years old. The prostitution of boys tends to be less visible nowadays due to the increasing use of the Internet, chatrooms, mobile phones and advertisements to establish contact.

Human Rights Reports » 2005 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices

U.S. Dept of State Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor, March 8, 2006

2009-2017.state.gov/j/drl/rls/hrrpt/2005/61666.htm

[accessed 10 February 2020]

TRAFFICKING IN PERSONS – Trafficking within the country was also a problem. Of the 405 trafficking victims registered in 2004, 51 were living in the country at the time they were seduced into prostitution by so-called lover boys, primarily young Moroccan or Turkish men and boys. The victims were young, mostly immigrant women. In January the government set up the national expertise center for youth prostitution to collect figures, background information, and the best practices in fighting youth prostitution and lover boys. Various organizations and local governments initiated specific assistance and prevention programs for potential victims of "lover boys."

Concluding Observations of the Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC) - 2004

UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, 30 January 2004

www1.umn.edu/humanrts/crc/netherlands2004.html

[accessed 23 February 2011]

[56] The Committee welcomes the State party’s efforts in the Netherlands to address the sexual exploitation of children, in particular, through training of the police. However, it is concerned that the “complaint requirement” by victims over the age of 12 and the “double criminality” requirement hamper the prosecution of cases of child sexual abuse committed in the Netherlands and abroad. In Aruba, the Committee is concerned that children are vulnerable to trafficking for the purposes of drug trafficking or sexual exploitation, including through tourism.

 

All material used herein reproduced under the fair use exception of 17 USC § 107 for noncommercial, nonprofit, and educational use.  PLEASE RESPECT COPYRIGHTS OF COMPONENT ARTICLES.  Cite this webpage as: Patt, Prof. Martin, "Child Prostitution - Netherlands", http://gvnet.com/childprostitution/Netherlands.htm, [accessed <date>]