Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Abolishing Slavery and its Contemporary Forms

Forms of Slavery
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national humanitarian law clearly establish forced prostitution as an international crime, even
though such practices have been used as a means of modern warfare with apparent impunity.
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101. In recent years the international community has tended to focus its attention on the pun-
ishment of perpetrators of acts of violence against women. The Platform for Action adopted by the
Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing includes a call on Governments to take certain
measures whose objectives include “providing better protection of the rights of women and girls
and punishing the perpetrators, through both criminal and civil measures”.
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The Commission
on Human Rights has also encouraged the introduction of practical measures by States to imple-
ment international protection against prostitution.
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2. Children and prostitution
102. While there is continuing debate about whether adult prostitution should be tolerated in
some circumstances, the Convention on the Rights of the Child clearly prohibits “all forms of sex-
ual exploitation and sexual abuse”, including “(a) the inducement or coercion of a child to engage
in any unlawful sexual activity; (b) the exploitative use of children in prostitution or other unlawful
sexual practices; (c) the exploitative use of children in pornographic performances and materi-
als”.
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103. The term “exploitative use of children in prostitution” in article 34(c) was interpreted by
some to signify that adults could legitimately pay for sex with children above the age of sexual
consent (for example aged 16 or 17), but in no circumstances was it permissible for anyone else
to profit from the money earned. In June 1999, however, the ILO’s Worst Forms of Child Labour
Convention confirmed that the “use of a child for prostitution” is classified as a “worst form of
child labour” and that international standards make it unacceptable for anyone to “use” a child in
prostitution, whether the child is under or over the age of consent.
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The Optional Protocol to
the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the sale of children, child prostitution and child por-
nography explicitly prohibits child prostitution, defining the term to mean “the use of a child in
sexual activities for remuneration or any other form of consideration”.
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