Introduction
Prostitution occurs when people offer sex to their sexual counterparts for the exchange of money and other incentives. Prostitution is an old business that has been in existence for many centuries. Prostitution is most vibrant to individuals who do not spend most of their time in their homes. This includes people whose occupations are associated with traveling now and then to various destinations. Some of these victims include businesses people and tourists. On the other hand, prostitution is also associated to be mostly a business for people of low social status. This is because their poor economic status forces them to engage in prostitution to earn their daily bread. People that engage in prostitution can either be young women or men, old men, and women or small girls and boys. It has been noted that prostitution is even common to boys and girls as young as six years (Gilbert 2003).
Children prostitution is a growing phenomenon in the 21st century. This is because a survey conducted in Eastern Asia in 2006 showed that the number of children involved in prostitution is double the figure recorded in 1978. One reason for this high increase in the number of children involved in prostitution in Asian countries is the high number of tourists in these Asian countries. Many people visit Asia for a business activity or leisure. Other reasons for the high number of children prostitution in Asia are the increase of street children due to the high rate of HIV and AIDS infections in Asia making many children orphans. These children end up being forced to engage in prostitution either as beach girls or boys to earn their living. Asia is also known to be a major route for drug and child trafficking to the US. This reason also contributes to the high number of children acting as commercial sex workers as some of these children are employed in brothels where they offer sex for money, drugs or food, and housing.
Children Prostitution in Asia
Asia is among the leading countries with the highest number of children involved as commercial sex workers. Other countries with similar high cases are Southern and Central America., however, child prostitution affects all countries. A survey conducted in Colombia in 2007 confirms this because it showed that 35,000 children were working as prostitutes in Colombia. The street most affected by children prostitution in Colombia was Bogotá which recorded as high as 10,000 children being involved as commercial sex workers. The high number recorded in Bogotá is due to the high number of tourists that do visit this area and the high number of homeless children who are victims of HIV and AIDS. Other children involved in this business were established to be victims of the recent Colombian violence. In Southeast Asia, most of the counties affected are Thailand and China. Children prostitution in these areas has turned to be very insidious, with recent statistics of research conducted in 2007 showing as high as 800,000 children being involved in children prostitution in Thailand. Some of these children were found to be as young as six years (Joney 2001).
In Asia, the factors that have greatly boosted the high number of children prostitutes are the high number of tourists who visit these Asian countries, children trafficking and a large number of street children in these counties. The tourists who visit Asia are loaded with a lot of money. They use this money to entice young boys and girls to have sex with them in exchange for money and other expensive gifts. Many Asian children fall victim because of their poor economic background and poor upbringing. The tourists that offer money and other incentives to children for sex are people that are highly respected in their home counties, but they take advantage of their anonymity in these foreign countries to be involved in these abominations. There are others that fall victims due to their ignorance of the foreign cultures where they believe that Asian culture accepts sexual intercourse with minors (Joney 2001).
Children Prostitution in the Bahamas
The Bahamas is a self-governing state situated in the Atlantic Ocean, it comprises numerous islands. Its good coastline offers an ample place for visiting tourists to participate in fishing, rowing, and other water sports. The Bahamas coastline is also a good docking place for many ships on their way to America. Therefore its favorable condition makes the Bahamas receive many foreigners’ visitors who come for business or leisure by playing in its good coastline. Other people who visit the Bahamas are those on their transit to other places such as to America but decided to stop at the Bahamas as a result of its good coastline to have fun for a day or a week before proceeding to their destinations. The capital city of the Bahamas is Nassau, located on New Providence Island. It has many very good hotels that offer excellent services to its customers whose majority are foreigners. Hence these good conditions in the Bahamas make it a common destination to the majority of foreign visitors. Most of these visitors come from Great Britain, Germany, and other Asian countries such as China. The visiting tourists have been noted to use their money to entice Bahamas residents to have sex with them in exchange for their money and other gifts. Many people that fall victim to this are the young men and women who fail to secure jobs in the urban areas after their migration there.
The Bahamas is noted for its high rate of rural-urban migration due to the poor rural conditions that are characterized by high unemployment, poor infrastructures, and poor social incentives such as schools, health facilities, and banking facilities. This makes many people migrate from the rural areas to go to urban areas to enjoy its good social facilities. When these people fail to secure jobs in their new environments they are forced to engage in prostitution in order to raise money to take care of their families. Because prostitutions take a lot of their time they do not get enough time to take care of their families. They usually leave their children with either their relatives or friends who sometimes abuse them sexually. Due to their harassment from these people, most of these children run from homes and end up engaging in prostitution to earn their living. This is common mostly to teenagers and especially girls. It has been noted that the high use of the Bahamas coastline for children and drug trafficking also have facilitated the high number of prostitution in the country. This is because some of these children are employed in brothels on the Bahamas coast where they offer sex to the visiting tourists in exchange for money, housing, drug, and food (Kelly 1984).
Conclusion
From the discussion above we have seen that children prostitution is a major problem in Asia and in the particular Bahamas. Therefore to stop this problem, the Asian countries and especially the Bahamas should establish strict children policies to protect children against sexual exploitation and mostly by foreigners. The government should ensure that foreign visitors understand that Asian culture, does not allow sexual intercourse with children. The government should also protect its coastline from being a major route for drug and child trafficking to the US. The Bahamas should also use the money they receive from the tourism industry to develop the rural areas to minimize the high rate of rural-urban migration which has been noted to boost greatly children prostitution in the country. By observing these factors, the Asian countries, and in particular the Bahamas will greatly reduce the number of children involved in prostitution in the country (Sirajjakool 2000).
References
Gilbert K. (2003) Woman Child Exploitation in Asia: Prentice Hall: New York.
Joney G. (2001) Children Prostitution in Eastern Asia: Oxford University Press: London.
Kelly W. (1984) Adolescent Prostitution in Asia: Chicago University Press: Chicago.
Sirajjakool G. (2000) Child Prostitution in Thailand and Bahamas: Prentice Hall: New York.