An online bilingual guide in English and Spanish for helping a girl caught in prostitution or sex trafficking. The guide includes warning signs, resources, how to get help from the justice system, what to do if the girl is arrested, what to do if the girl is found deceased and more. The guide is based on the view that mothers, grandmothers, and others close to prostituted girls have been a neglected, yet powerful resource in the fight to end sexual exploitation. The guide seeks to give them the tools they need.
Addressing Gender-based Violence: UNFPA Strategy and Framework for Action (pdf)
This report, grounded in UNFPA's overarching goal of eliminating violence against women and girls, identifies particular areas where action is most urgently needed and proposes general policy frameworks for combating gender-based violence.
Beyond Child Labour, Affirming Rights (pdf)
Beyond Child Labour shows how UNICEF and its major partners are working to end child labour, a cause of poverty.
Cambodia: Exodus to the Sex Trade? (pdf)
"This report suggests that the global financial crisis has led to an increase of women entering the sex trafficking industry in Cambodia. Women said they entered the sex trafficking industry mostly because of “difficult family circumstances,” and because they thought they could “easily earn a lot of money, in good working conditions." In order to combat this new trend, the report recommends strengthening social safety nets, linking women seeking jobs with alternative job placement assistance, targeted awareness raising and specific information outreach on accessing social services and how to utilize safer sources of loans and credit."
Child Protection Information Sheets (pdf)
"This booklet comprises 14 information sheets which highlight how child protection is crucial to the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals. Covering different forms of abuse, these sheets also outline how to build a protective environment for children and what UNICEF is doing on the ground to protect children."
"Two studies were conducted to identify the incidence (Study 1) and characteristics (Study 2) of juvenile prostitution cases known to law enforcement agencies in the United States. Findings indicate law enforcement responses to juvenile prostitution are influential in determining whether such youth are viewed as victims of commercial sexual exploitation or as delinquents."
Domestic Violence Against Women and Girls
"Highlights issues of abuse; femicide; forced prostitution; sexual abuse of children; sex-selective abortion, female infanticide and differential access to food and medical care; and, traditional and cultural practices that affect women's health and lives."
Eliminating Violence against Children (pdf)
"Jointly produced by UNICEF and the Inter-Parliamentary Union, this handbook describes measures parliamentarians can take to end violence against children: they can legislate, oversee government activities, allocate financial resources and, as leaders in their nations and communities, raise awareness of issues."
Exiting Prostitution: An Integrated Model (pdf)
"This article reviews two general models and two prostitution-specific models and their applicability to the exiting process. Barriers encountered as women attempt to leave the streets are identified. Based on the four models, the barriers, the prostitution literature, and the authors’ experience with prostituted women, a new integrated six-stage model that is comprehensive in scope and sensitive to women’s attempts to exit prostitution is offered as a foundation for continued research on the process of women leaving the streets."
Garden of Truth: The Prostitution and Trafficking of Native Women in Minnesota (pdf)
Garden of Truth is the first study detailing the personal experiences of Native women who have been prostituted and trafficked in Minnesota and is based on personal interviews and stories of 105 Native women in the Twin Cities, Duluth, and Bemidji.
This report focuses on female migrant workers from Bangladesh, Pakistan, the Philippines, and Sri Lanka, who worked in the host countries of Bahrain, Lebanon, and the United Arab Emirates. Researchers' key findings concluded that female migrant workers are vulnerable to HIV during all stages of employment abroad. They face sexual assault, sexual exploitation and being trafficked into the commercial sex industry while applying for or being recruited into employment, or during transit between home countries and host countries. Home countries' policies can also contribute to the problem as banning women from working abroad serves to push worker migration underground.
"This report provides extensive research of the mail-order bride industry in the United Kingdom. The industry is linked to the promotion of trafficking, prostitution, pornography and slavery. The report suggests that this industry not only exploits vulnerable groups of women but also reinforces racial and ethnic stereotypes. Recommendations are given on what the government can do to further protect women."
Modern-Day Comfort Women: The U.S. Military, Transnational Crime, and the Trafficking of Women (pdf)
"The U.S. military bases in South Korea were found to form a hub for the transnational trafficking of women from the Asia Pacific and Eurasia to South Korea and the United States. This study, conducted in 2002, examined three types of trafficking that were connected to U.S. military bases in South Korea: domestic trafficking of Korean women to clubs around the military bases in South Korea, transnational trafficking of women to clubs around military bases in South Korea, and transnational trafficking of women from South Korea to massage parlors in the United States."
New language, old problem: Sex trafficking of American Indian women and children
This VAWnet Applied Research Paper discusses the unique vulnerability of Native women and children for trafficking, summarizes research and other documents on sex trafficking of Native women and girls, discuss gaps in legal protections and victims support services, and concludes with implications for professionals.
No One to Turn To seeks to move the debate on and reinvigorate efforts to address the problem of the under-reporting of child sexual exploitation and abuse by aid workers and peacekeepers. Based on research with communities and international organizations, it examines the chronic under-reporting of abuse and the inadequate response to it. It provides new analysis on why this abuse persists despite international efforts to stop it, and proposes new solutions to tackle it.
Prostitution of Children and Child-Sex Tourism: An Analysis of Domestic and International Responses (pdf)
"This paper addresses both domestic and international responses to the prostitution of children within the United States and abroad. The author highlights policy and practice issues regarding the legal system and social-service responses to prostituted children."
Prostitution, Violence, and Posttraumatic Stress Disorder
"In this paper, the authors discuss a study of the violence experienced by people working as prostitutes in a city in the USA., and some of the consequent harm to physical and emotional health."
"This study of a group of women engaged in sex work at a popular truck stop in South Africa was undertaken to explore the social context that places them at high risk for HIV infection, and to assess how this context influences their ability to reduce their risk."
Report of the Special Rapporteur on the Human Rights of Migrants (pdf)
The author points out that female children are extremely vulnerable to gender-based violence during migration. Migration is often difficult and dangerous for female children due to “additional restrictions on travel” girls may face due to “male guardianships.” Female children are also vulnerable to human trafficking for sexual exploitation or forced labor during migration. The report concludes with recommendations for policy improvements on migration legislation.
Sex trading and psychological distress among women recruited from the streets of Harlem
"This study examines the relationship between sex trading and psychological distress and the implications of that relationship for prevention of human immunodeficiency virus among a sample of young women recruited from the streets of Harlem."
Sex Trafficking Needs Assessment for the State of Minnesota
This 2008 report, focuses on trafficking for commercial sex exploitation and prostitution, highlights successes in combating sex trafficking and suggests ways to improve responses to this complex problem in Minnesota.
Shattered Hearts: The Commercial Sexual Exploitation of American Indian Women and Girls in Minnesota (pdf)
A groundbreaking report released by the Minnesota Indian Women’s Resource Center (MIWRC) highlights the alarming and pervasive sex trafficking of American Indian women and girls in Minnesota. The first comprehensive report of its kind, it highlights risk factors for victims that include poverty, a disproportionate number of American Indian homeless, high incidences of overall sexual assault, Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders (FASD) and pervasive multi-generational trauma.
Social Development of Commercial Sex Workers in India: An Essential Step in HIV/AIDS Prevention
"This paper discusses HIV/AIDS prevention issues that relate to CSWs in India; issues that play a vital role in initiation, perpetuation, and expansion of economic activity of CSWs; and those factors that influence the HIV/AIDS preventive practices of CSWs."
"This publication presents a regional analysis of anti-trafficking measures relevant to children in the countries of South Asia. It assesses national legal and policy frameworks and provides a list of recommended actions for the application of a rights-based approach to child trafficking."
The National Report on Domestic Minor Sex Trafficking: America’s Prostituted Children (pdf)
The report reveals findings of three years of intensive research on the issue of child sex trafficking in America from ten locations across the U.S. The study found that at least 100,000 children are used in prostitution every year in the United States and that the average age of entry into prostitution is 13 years old.
The Sex Trade Industry's Worldwide Exploitation of Children
"This study examines the current state of international trafficking of children and other child sexual exploitation."
Trafficking and Forced Prostitution of Palestinian Women and Girls: Forms of Modern Day Slavery (pdf)
"The first, in-depth study of its kind within the region that digs deeper to unravel the layers of this type of abuse. The paper analyzes six case studies — two on fathers selling their daughters, three on traffickers and one on a woman working in prostitution. It assesses and measures the extent of women trafficking in the Palestinian region in order to call on civil society organizations and Palestinian governmental institutions to take urgent and concrete actions against this human rights violation."
Trafficking for Sexual Exploitation (pdf)
"This fact sheet provides a brief overview of sex trafficking of women and children in the Americas and explores the life-threatening health consequences of this type of human trafficking."
Trafficking in Persons Report 2010 (pdf)
"The 10th annual Trafficking in Persons Report outlines the continuing challenges across the globe, including in the United States. This year’s report highlights several key trends, including the suffering of women and children in involuntary domestic servitude, the challenges and successes in identifying and protecting victims, and the need to include anti-trafficking policies in our response to natural disasters."
Transnational Trafficking and the Rule of Law in West Africa
"A recent report that highlights the problem of trafficking of West African women to Europe for forced prostitution. Women trafficked from West Africa are generally controlled by a debt bondage system. The UNODC found that trafficking has a significant negative impact on the rule of law in West Africa. The flow of trafficked people and goods rivals the GDP of some countries in West Africa. Corruption among government officials and law enforcement increases as organized crime groups gain more power and money through trafficking."