Abstract

The purpose of this research is to study the human trafficking of children focusing on the sexual exploitation. The aim of the study is to increase the understanding of the interrelation of the human trafficking and the sexual exploitation of children from the human rights perspective and to deepen the understanding of the factors contributing on both the demand and supply side, focusing however to the demand side in term so the sexual exploitation of children. West-Africa is one of areas in African Region where the problem of human trafficking is significantly emerging and in this thesis three countries, Benin, Nigeria and Togo, were on the focus, due to the availability to the previous literature done in the area of human trafficking. The research uses qualitative method with the deductive approach. The data collection based on the secondary data from the researches done by the United Nations, ECPAT (international NGO “End Child Prostitution, Child Pornography and Trafficking of Children for Sexual Purposes”), and the other materials from the academic journals, international official publications, books and newspapers. The interrelation of the human trafficking and the sexual exploitation of children was studied from the following angles: the children’s situation and the migration patterns in the area, human trafficking situation and the scope of sexual exploitation, supply’s and demand’s contribution to the sexual exploitation of children and the possibilities of decreasing the demand. The data was analysed in the light of the theoretical framework including the theories of the relation of the migration and the human trafficking from the perspective of the historical-structuralist theories, the economic analysis of crime, relating it to the human trafficking approach and the victim’s perspective, and the contributions of the demand for sexual exploitation. According to the findings the interrelations of human trafficking and sexual exploitation of children is a multidimensional area. Demand has essential contributors that facilitate the whole business of the exploitation of the children and the demand must be seen from the wider perspective, including the cultural and traditional factors that contribute to the demand to occur. The demand must be seen influenced by the three-ways relationship, including all the actors’ demands: the victims’, the demanders’ as well as the traffickers’. The demand is different depending on the actor. The challenge is how to enable the degreasing of the demand of sexual exploitation, which seems to contribute to the crime of human trafficking to occur. Possible forms of decreasing might include wider criminalization of the sexual exploitation as well as increasing the legal possibilities for legal incomes. The deeper focus on the sexual exploitation of children is needed.

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A master thesis from Aalborg University

Demand as a contributor facilitating the sexual exploitation of children.: The Interrelation between the demand for sexual exploitation and the human trafficking of children. A case study of West Africa.