Child prostitution is a troubling issue that is increasingly causing concern among the various organisations in Belgium that are tasked with tackling the problem. They include Child Focus, the Belgian centre for missing and sexually exploited young people which, this year, celebrates its 21st anniversary.
The Brussels-based NGO says it does not know whether there is more visibility and attention for the phenomenon or whether there is a real increase of cases.
However, the organization has seen a rise in cases reported to it. It focuses on the phenomenon of teenage pimps as one of its priorities, not because of the rise but because it says victims need protection and support adapted to their needs. The perpetrators are the ones to blame. There is a lack of sufficient places and a lack of variety in professional care and guidance, adapted to the needs of the victims of teenage pimps. In β the most recently available data β the charity handled 39 new cases of sexual exploitation of minors.
A lot of victims reside in youth care institutions, each one of them confronted with their own specific background and problems. As such they are more vulnerable and therefore the ideal target for teenage pimps. However, not all victims fit into this profile. Another 38 cases which came to light prior to , are still open. But it is also possible that they have to traffic drugs or commit a theft. Victims of teenage pimps correspond to all the characteristics of victims of human trafficking, where the perpetrator treats the victim as an economic product: the pimp sells sex with a minor to his customers.
After a while they may tell the girl that sleeping with a friend or a stranger is just a one-time thing to help pay a debt β otherwise their sweetheart will end up in jail. However, social media makes it much more easy for pimps to lure girls into prostitution more quickly. There are pimps who operate individually. There are pimps who are part of a sort of hierarchy. Sometimes they exchange girls. The business, however, is the same: selling sex. The pimp knows exactly what he or she is doing.
