SEXUAL ABUSE AND EXPLOITATION OF BOYS IN SOUTH ASIA A ...

The extent to which children are approached by predators in chat rooms or asked to expose
their bodies on webcams is not known. There is one substantiated report, by the NGO War
Against Rape, of Pakistani children being used in the production of child pornographic
materials.
7.1.5 Other forms of sexual exploitation
7.1.5.1 Prostitution
Sexual exploitation of boys through prostitution is ubiquitous and highly visible in urban
areas of Pakistan. The cultural seclusion of women and girls applies to female prostitutes as
well; thus female street prostitutes are few, and the majority of female sex workers are
secluded in brothels. The number of male and female children working in prostitution in
Pakistan’s urban areas is unknown, but the number of boys may be higher. Boys can more
easily access clients, cultural norms do not discourage men from having sex with boys, and
male prostitutes are considered cheaper than females.
The sources of boys for prostitution in Pakistan are similar to those throughout South Asia.
Few are trafficked into prostitution. Most are runaways or children living on the street who
sell sex to meet basic needs. The link between sexual abuse and sexual exploitation, unclear
in most governmental policy and planning in South Asia, is clearly indicated in a number of
studies. They indicate that the majority of boys working in prostitution in Pakistan have been
previously sexually abused. 329 The average age at entry into prostitution ranged from 12 to 15
years. 330 In urban areas, boys most frequently ply the trade at bus stands and terminals (52 per
cent) and at hotels and restaurants (23 per cent); the remainder at cinemas, video shops and
public parks. 331
A study of boys working in prostitution in Lahore and Peshawar found that most came from
poor rural and semi-urban families, in which the primary male caregivers were dead,
unemployed or underemployed. In addition to leaving home due to poverty and the quest for
employment, an estimated 80 per cent of the boys in the study had suffered emotional or
physical abuse at home. Most cited this as the primary reason for leaving. The country’s
inadequate educational system was also noted as a factor. Almost all of the boys were either
illiterate or school dropouts. Many of the latter said they dropped out because of corporal
punishment and humiliation in school. 332
While poverty, broken family safety nets, inadequate education and physical and emotional
abuse in the home make boys vulnerable, additional factors lead them into prostitution. Boys
enter commercial sex not only for food, money and lodging, but also because of violence,
329 Working Group Against Child Sexual Abuse and Exploitation, and Save the Children Sweden, 2005,
‘Commercial sexual exploitation of children: A situation analysis of Pakistan’; ECPAT International and
Pakistan Paediatrics Association, 2006, op.cit.
330 UNESCAP and NCCWD, 2001, ‘Sexually abused and sexually exploited children and youth in Pakistan: A
qualitative assessment of their health needs and available services in selected provinces’.
331 ECPAT International and Pakistan Paediatrics Association, 2006, ‘Situational analysis report on prostitution
of boys in Pakistan (Lahore and Peshawar)’.
332 Ibid.
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