|
CAUTION: The following links
and accompanying text have been culled from the web to illuminate the
situation in New Zealand. 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.
***
FEATURED ARTICLE ***
Police warn parents of teens' safety
ONE News/Newstalk
ZB, January 25, 2008
tvnz.co.nz/view/page/1557046
[accessed 26 June 2011]
Police who led a
crackdown on underage prostitution in South Auckland
want parents and caregivers of young teenagers to take greater responsibility
for the safety of their children.
Counties Manukau Police arrested 25 people
during an operation focussed on under-aged
prostitution in South Auckland. Sixteen children - some as young as 13 - were
taken off the streets by police and either returned to their families or
placed in the care of Child Youth and Family.
But during the operation, police discovered some of the same girls
working back on the streets within days of initially being removed. They want caregivers to take a greater
interest in their children's wellbeing.
"A strong starting point would be parents and caregivers taking
more interest in the safety and wellbeing of their children before it is too
late for these young persons lives to be ruined by this criminal
activity" Detective Senior Sergeant Pizzini
says. He says many of the teenagers
were being solicited by gangs, and were being given methamphetamine in return
for sexual favours.
***
ARCHIVES ***
Runaways
- Where To Turn For Help Before You Are Homeless
– 0800 376-633
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 New Zealand,
call 0800 376-633
ECPAT Global Monitoring Report on the
status of action against commercial exploitation of children - NEW ZEALAND [PDF]
ECPAT International, 2006
www.ecpat.net/A4A_2005/PDF/EAP/Global_Monitoring_Report-NEWZEALAND.pdf
[accessed 26 June 2011]
The exact scale and
nature of the prostitution of children in New Zealand remains unclear due
to a lack of comprehensive research. According to the New Zealand Human
Rights Commission, a “small but significant” number of children are being
commercially sexually exploited in the country. A survey of police, health
and social workers, undertaken to provide a baseline snapshot of prostitution
before the law reform in 2003, estimated about 200 children under 18 to be
involved, predominantly in the street sector of large urban centres. The New Zealand Prostitutes Collective, however,
believes this figure to be inflated. An ECPAT New Zealand survey of 47
individuals aged 15 to 47, involved in prostitution, found that the average
age for first receiving payment for sexual acts was 14.5 years old. The
survey also found that children entered prostitution for a variety of
reasons: homelessness, family breakdown, pressure from friends already
involved in prostitution, sexual abuse, poverty, drug and alcohol misuse,
educational underachievement or unemployment. The prostitution of children is
reported throughout the country, in rural districts and towns, as well as in
cities.
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
www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/hrrpt/2005/61621.htm
[accessed 23 February 2011]
TRAFFICKING
IN PERSONS
– Commercial sexual exploitation of children was a problem. Under the
Prostitution Reform Act, it is illegal to use a person under 18 years of age
in prostitution. A study by the PLRC completed in April 2004 estimated that
approximately 200 young persons under the age of 18 were working as
prostitutes. During the year 3 brothel operators and 1 client were prosecuted
for the use of persons under age 18 in prostitution. The client and two of
the brothel operators were convicted, and one operator was awaiting trial at
year's end. The government worked with nongovernmental organizations (NGOs)
to address trafficking in children and provided funding for NGO outreach
programs in Auckland and Christchurch that provided accommodations
and other support for young persons at risk for involvement in prostitution.
The government had a national plan of action against the commercial
exploitation of children developed in concert with NGOs and completed a
progress review of the plan during the year; its report on the review was
scheduled for release in 2006.
Concluding Observations of the Committee on
the Rights of the Child (CRC)
UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, 3
October 2003
www1.umn.edu/humanrts/crc/newzealand2003.html
[accessed 4 March 2011]
[51] The Committee
notes that the State party has signed but not ratified the Optional Protocol
to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the sale of children, child
prostitution and child pornography.
Police warn parents of teens' safety
ONE News/Newstalk
ZB, January 25, 2008
tvnz.co.nz/view/page/1557046
[accessed 26 June 2011]
Police who led a
crackdown on underage prostitution in South Auckland
want parents and caregivers of young teenagers to take greater responsibility
for the safety of their children.
Counties Manukau Police arrested 25 people
during an operation focussed on under-aged
prostitution in South Auckland. Sixteen children - some as young as 13 - were
taken off the streets by police and either returned to their families or
placed in the care of Child Youth and Family.
But during the operation, police discovered some of the same girls
working back on the streets within days of initially being removed. They want caregivers to take a greater
interest in their children's wellbeing.
"A strong starting point would be parents and caregivers taking
more interest in the safety and wellbeing of their children before it is too
late for these young persons lives to be ruined by this criminal
activity" Detective Senior Sergeant Pizzini
says. He says many of the teenagers
were being solicited by gangs, and were being given methamphetamine in return
for sexual favours.
Rescuing the Child Prostitute, Whose Responsibility?
Wisdom Dzidedi Donkor, Public Agenda Accra
allafrica.com/stories/200711051563.html
[partially accessed 19 September 2011 -
access restricted]
RESEARCH FINDINGS - ECPAT New Zealand
and Stop Demand Foundation have also cited in a report "The Nature and
Extent of the Sex Industry in New Zealand,"
a police survey of the New
Zealand sex industry that 210 children
under the age of 18 years were identified as selling sex, with three-quarters
being concentrated in one Police District.
Flawed Prostitution Law Results in Mother
‘Trading’ 16 y/o Daughter
Family First, 28 September 2007
www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PO0709/S00398.htm
[accessed 26 June 2011]
Family First is
disgusted with the actions of a mother who organised
a prostitution ‘transaction’ between her 16 year old
daughter and a man, but say that this is an expected outcome of a flawed
Act. “Politicians who voted for this
ideologically flawed bill which decriminalized prostitution should hang their
heads in shame, along with this mother,” says Bob McCoskrie,
National Director of Family First NZ.
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 – NEW ZEALAND – Although the Government of New Zealand said that
there is no significant problem of CSEC in the country, anecdotal evidence
shows that the problem exists especially in southern Auckland. In Christchurch, the
number of young girls offering sex on the streets reportedly increases during
the school holidays. ECPAT New Zealand has remarked on the increasing number
of reports of children in the country selling themselves for as little as
five dollars or a bag of glue.
Gaps In Stocktake
Of Child Exploitation
Stop Demand, 1 June 2006
www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PO0606/S00001.htm
[accessed 26 June 2011]
A Stocktake on New Zealand’s National Plan of
Action against Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children has some glaring
gaps in it, says long-time campaigner Denise Ritchie of Stop Demand
Foundation.
Sex
case deps hearing adjourned
www.newstalkzb.co.nz/newsdetail1.asp?storyID=77486
[Last access date unavailable]
The Christchurch man faces
a raft of charges after allegedly hiring a 14-year-old and 16-year-old girl
to work in his brothel.
Child
Prostitution Confirmed In Confidential Papers
The Press, Christchurch, New Zealand,
June 16 2004
freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1154050/posts
[accessed 26 June 2011]
New
Zealand children as young as 12 prostituted themselves on Christchurch streets
last year. Child Youth and Family
(CYF) knew of at least 14 children and youths involved in prostitution in May
last year; two of the underage prostitutes were enrolled at Christchurch's most elite schools – one a
private school. A group of boys – some
known to CYF – were "pimping" for girls. One 13-year-old girl tested positive for
Chlamydia.
Call
For Police To Target Child Prostitution
United Future NZ Party, 24 June 2005
www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA0506/S00591.htm
[accessed 26 June 2011]
United Future
leader Peter Dunne today called on the police in each of New Zealand's
main cities to cancel their next traffic check point operation and assign the
same number of officers for one evening to arresting men approaching child
prostitutes on the streets. “Not a
single man has been charged with this since the Prostitution Reform Act came
into being nearly two years ago, and all the evidence shows that child
prostitution has spiraled upwards," Mr. Dunne said.
The effective abolition of child labour [PDF]
International Labour Organization ILO,
1-1-2002
digitalcommons.ilr.cornell.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1002&context=child&sei-redir=1#search=%22true%20nature%20extent%20child%20prostitution%20New%20Zealand%20%22
[accessed 26 June 2011]
[p.437] As with every
other area of commercial sexual exploitation of children, estimating the true
nature and extent of child prostitution in New Zealand is very difficult due
to the clandestine nature of the activity. However, research and anecdotal
evidence suggest that child prostitution is a growing problem in New Zealand.
ECPAT NZ has recently completed the first stage of a three-stage research
project on the extent of CSEC in New Zealand. Initial findings
revealed that child prostitution is reported throughout New Zealand,
in rural districts and towns as well as cities.
Protecting Our Innocence - New Zealand's
National Plan Of Action Against The Commercial Sexual Exploitation Of
Children
Ministry of Justice, February 2002
At one time this article had been archived
and may possibly still be accessible [here]
[accessed 26 June 2011]
A comprehensive
examination of commercial sexual exploitation of children in New Zealand,
outlining the measures that government and non-government organizations are
currently implementing to prevent and respond to child exploitation through
prostitution, pornography and child trafficking. It also details further
activities, which were identified during the development of the Plan of
Action, that need to be implemented as New Zealand works toward the goal of
eliminating the exploitation and abuse of children.
The Protection
Project - New Zealand [DOC]
The Paul
H. Nitze School
of Advanced International Studies (SAIS), The Johns Hopkins University
www.protectionproject.org/human_rights_reports/report_documents/zealand.doc
[accessed 2009]
FORMS OF TRAFFICKING
-
Research and anecdotal evidence suggest that child prostitution is a growing
problem in New Zealand.
Children working in prostitution do not come from any one particular
background; likewise, they enter prostitution for a variety of reasons,
including homelessness, family breakdown, peer pressure, sexual abuse,
poverty, drug and alcohol abuse, educational underachievement, or
unemployment. Christchurch has the
reputation for being New Zealand’s child sex capital. An estimated 60 minors
in prostitution work there, and groups of up to 20 children, some as young as
12 years of age, walk the streets of the city every evening. Many suffer from
alcohol and drug addictions, and a large percentage have a background of
sexual abuse. Though exact figures are
unknown, proportionally more Maori children are likely involved in prostitution
because the risk factors that give rise to child prostitution are more common
among Maori families (i.e., family breakdown, drug and alcohol abuse,
poverty). Maori children and families are also affected by the breakdown of
traditional support structures of their society and cultural alienation
associated with historical injustice.
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 – New Zealand",
http://gvnet.com/childprostitution/NewZealand.htm, [accessed <date>]
|
