Commercial sexual exploitation of children and adolescents

This is a type of sexual abuse where adults use children and adolescents for their own sexual exploitation, or another person’s, in exchange for an economic or in kind payment given to the victim or to another person. The terms of the economic exchange and benefit are key in this concept, as well as its relation with organized crime, which usually profits from it.

In the First World Congress Against Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children and Adolescents, this phenomenon was classified as a manifestation of coercion and violence that is equivalent to forced labour and a modern form of slavery (Stockholm Declaration, 1996).

There is no legally binding definition of this term. However, the Convention on the Rights of the Child does refer to the broader concept of all forms of sexual exploitation and abuse. It explicitly mentions the exploitation of children in prostitution or other illegal sexual practices in performances or pornographic material.

Finally, some organizations advocate for the use of term sexual exploitation of children and adolescents.  This approach rejects the use of the word commercial. The argument is that in addition to not appearing in legally binding instruments, it does not contribute anything new. Yet, those that favour keeping the term commercial insist that it is fundamental because it sheds light on the fact that the sexual exploitation occurs in contexts of organized crime and financial transactions, and that the criminal networks benefit precisely from the commercialization of children and adolescents.