Child Exploitation in Brazil

Child Sexual Exploitation in Brazil

Bernadette Canzana

PRS: Mexico

Ms. Zara Villanueva

September 23, 2010

For many, Brazil is the place to go if one is in search for sunny beaches, colorful festivities, upbeat samba dances, diverse environmental reserves, breathtaking sceneries, and competent football players. However, some would also say that it is the best place if in search for young, fresh, cheap prostitutes.

Believe it or not, that claim is true. Foreigners from all over the world go to Brazil in search for a one hour $5 worth sex session. With the increasing number of men going to Brazil, the sex tourism industry in the said country has been booming like crazy. As a matter of fact, it is already the world’s leading destination for sex tourism; overtaking Thailand which used to be the sex capital of the world. According to the data of UNICEF (United Nations Children's Fund), there were already 250,000 child prostitutes in the said country. Surely, the numbers are still climbing at the very moment.

In the BBC World and BBC New Channel, a documentary regarding child sexual exploitation was broadcasted. That documentary entitled “Our World: Brazil's Child Prostitutes” features the experience of Chris Roger in the red light districts of Brazil. In the documentary, Roger found out that girls as young as 10 years old already enters prostitution because they are left with no other means of earning money for their family. On the other hand, some are sold by their parents to sex traffickers to be able to pay off family debts (BBC News World, 2010). On the contrary, some are recruited and lured by friends or neighbors who gave them promises of easy work with good pay. In addition to that, some of them are sent to European and South American countries like Venezuela, Paraguay, and Argentina to work as dancers and models of nightclubs and pornography websites (Finger, 2003). However, people also could not totally blame them for their decision because the...