"Childhood Prostitution and Sex-Trafficking"
AGORA Debate/Discussion on November 6th, 2011
·
Primary Causes
o
JW: Lack of comprehension of
the opposite sex contributes to this problem
as a Confucian society, we have distorted views of the opposite sex
o
SP: 1) Personal, Family,
Friendship, School, Social Parts are contribute
personal value distorted; family environmental is unstable, society turns a
blind eye Gov’t doesn’t help support the issue
o
MS: Basic unfair relationship
between children and adult
o
DY: Children volunteer –
entrepreneurship
o
JWon: Traveling to other
countries for it – avoiding domestic laws
o
Sejin: Poverty -> supplies.
The demand for sex trade is present and poverty creates the supplies.
o
ML: Poverty ~ financial
benefits; meeting immediate needs -> developing countries.
Pocket money prostitution in developed countries. <- kids don’t get it
o
SP: Poverty is issue, but
indifferent families and inefficient support within the social groups is a
major issue.
o
YCY: Social pre-conception.
Since the issue is mostly prorogated from a male point of view, it’s a
women/children’s issue. Men aren’t getting involved to fight it. Men > women
in this power struggle
o
Suji: Poverty & existing
laws too weak
o
Sejin: Fertilitiy ratio.
Children become a surplus and are devaulued
o
Jwoo: Lack of control and lack
of proof
o
MS: Unfair relationship: male
centered view of sex.
Women = 2nd gender attached to men. No critical attitude to change
these behaviors.
o
WC: Greed of managers and pimps
o
GM: Balance of supply and
demand results in men searching for sex
ex: Czech Republic. Legal consequences focus on women who were prostitutes but
men were faceless & nameless.
o
Robin: 1) Runaway children with family problems most likely to be victims
2) Financial need.
o
Jwoo – Social network services
(Twitter, etc) for developed Countries. Lack control of SMS and other forms
social communication.
o
MS: Internet playing a big
role. Runaway need. Teenage – pocket $
o
MC: Culture of mass media
glamorizing prostitution (cheap, easy). Film industries and porn for film: film
industry supplies sex industry.
o
Ho Yeon: Parents don’t have autonomous
regulation or knowledge x tech
o
GM: Gov. protects sex
industries because of money generated by the sex trade , which pressures the
government.
o
SP: Summarize: mass media, open
culture for sex.
·
Solutions – Brainstorming
o
JWoo: Lack of comprehension
between the sexes – it’s important to have understanding between the sexes.
Solution: co-ed schools.
o
DoYeon: Education of parents in
developing counties. Psychological and physical support should be provided.
o
Sejin: Education for children;
especially women to reduce the fertility rate an income besides producing more
children and benefiting from child labor
o
MinSeo: Online – international
and national laws need backing
o
SP: There are laws, so let’s be
creative in our solutions.
o
JeWoo: Police in the
educational system, so create an SMS polics alert system
o
Suji: A few ideas: 1)
Government gives poor families a work place 2) Sex education 3) Toughen
existing laws
o
JaeWon: Sex tourism is an
issue, so the international police system should work with local police. Each
nations strengthens its laws and punishes and detains international visitors
who violate these laws.
o
DoYeon: Crack down on Sex Spam
on the internet
o
SP: Internet can help or hinder
with advertisements. There should be an international conference to set the
standard for legislation for Children’s Rights. There’s already a UN
declaration regarding this.
o
MiLang: 1) Educational
authorities should educate children in developed counties so that they know
about their rights. 2) Support for the vicitims. Housing and ensure legal
support for them. We should support all steps of awareness, prevention and
holistic care.
o
SeJin: Need to support families
who keep their children in school instead of having them enter the sex trade.
Examples include the law and effects in Brazil.
o
YoonHui: Work on male’s
perceptions of women and sex.
o
KM: Bioterrorism – it’s more
likely to spread disease with the offenders.
o
SP: Laws should protect the
victims: they should not be punished for this as a crime.
o
JeWoo: Provide jobs for
teenagers as a legal alternative.
o
MS: I agree, co-ed schools
should be part of the solution.
o
DY: Children sold into
sex-trafficking could be prevented with enhanced border laws. Also, the issue
of lust can be controlled with medications that block hormones.
o
GM: Education
o
YM: Swedish legislation reduced
prostitution by 60% and the number of customers by 80%. Foreign women
trafficked into the country was reduced to 0%. Why? Their supporting funds
social funds to help prostitutes instead of criminalizing them, ending the
problem and using funds to educate the public
o
Jwoo: Legalizing prostitution.
Universal conference – make a united front to prevent the abuse of
prostitution
o
SM: School campaign: Compulsory
sex education
o
·
Critique the Reactions & Solutions
o
SP: Police reporting crime is
good, but…
o
Jwoo: Education is effective
and good and decreases rates. Weakening lust w/ medication is not effective.
Affecting revenge for victims is too strict for criminals.
o
Wcul: Jobs for teenagers not
effective. No skills, so they’ll be fired and it will cycle.
o
Sejin: Bioterrorism – not a
good idea. If something goes wrong problem for mankind. Enhancing borders is a
good idea.
o
SM: Facilities is good – give
children a good alternative.
o
DY: Int’l conference will
result in Int’l conflict because of conflicting interest. Providing jobs for
kids can be problematic. Might keep them in the cycle as W.C. mentioned.
o
MR: Allowing children to have
jobs won’t help pockethood prostitution & those who give money to family are
already worried about money. Example: occupy wallstreet.
o
Suj: Borders – will help but makes travel hard.
o
SP: Int’l enforcement will be
helpful.
o
SP: Gov’t giving money to
children for school – should gov’t shoulder whole burden? Class discrimination
is possible
o
YM: Bioterrorism – more likely
to have multiple sexual partners. So this will spread, when after the issue.
o
MS: Make laws stricter. Even
Korea’s laws are laz. Even cutting off hands and feet might be an idea to
consider. I agree with the idea castration by medication.
o
JeWoo: International human
rights must be the same wherever people travel.
o
KM: Regulation of
advertisements and email. Putting restricting computer programs can have
issues.
o
SP: Coeducation can be a mixed
blessing and gives more opportunities for discrimination. At our school,
teachers always compare boys’ and girls’ scores.
o
DY: Mass media in international
contexts should be regulated. Giving money to poor children as a prevention
measure is too ambiguous, since then we have to define what is poor.
o
MS: Police accusing people can
endanger children’s rights of being violated in the process.
·
Best of the Solutions
o
JaeWon: One of the causes is
children participating because they lack basic needs – they come from poor
families. Government should help these families with subsidies, tax breaks,
education, medical care, etc, to ease the burden on families.
o
SP: But should just the
government shoulder the burden of prevention?
o
JaeWon: No, but they do have
more of a role than currently.
o
MS: Lowering taxes for the
families is only a short-term solution. Long term would be education and basic
infrastructure of society.
o
JaeWon: Government burden
increasing is necessary if we want to eradicate the problem. We can allocate
part of government income, or we can create foundations to raise they own money
for hotels or other infrastructure.
o
MS: I meant giving money will
only be a short-term solution. Government should help family make money
themselves or by working in an industry.
o
SP: MS said it can be a short
term solution but I think that we should use indirect & direct solutions.
o
SP: Strong support system
between family, government & int’l
organization would be ideal. Give aid to families with int’l organizations
overseas partnering with local enforcement to keep it “clean”. Government in
system should oversee education offer consultation
for families. Efficiently use private organizations to help poor & offer
incentives for private companies to take part with exact and creative standards.
o
Sejin: What incentives for companies
to stop child prostitution do you recommend?
o
SP: It’s an indirect solution
that focuses on poverty instead. Advertisement, etc.
o
DY: International organizations
and creative/strict standards?
o
SP: Policies, especially at the
local level, can be influenced or not feasible but international can help
oversee.
o
Jwoo: I recommend policies to
make families more independent rather than on support
o
SP: You think families could be
too dependent?
o
Jwoo: Yes.
o
SP: Direct & indirect
solutions. Education from government can help families be more independent.
o
MS: I disagree families can become too dependent.
Also – there is a constant demand for prostitution - men need it. After
families use government aid they won’t leave cycle.
o
SP: Government campaign can be a
solution.
o
MS: I like private company
solution – it can be helpful, but I think giving aid won’t break the cycle.
o
SP: This is not detailed – it’s
just a form I am recommending, not details.
o
Suji: I think it’s similar –
int’l funding for poor families. Should be int’l vs. national/region b/c then there’s no way to make sure $/resources
are efficient/effective
o
Jwon: Why does it have to be
int’l. Why can’t nat’l govt do it properly?
o
Suji: Politics, like in Kotrs,
make the issue less clear. They just ignore the idea of funding, maybe. Int’l
will be more informed to people & more active.
o
SP: Int’l can be good, but the
range of support is ambiguous
o
Sejin: You mentioned that local
politics can be ineffective, isn’t int’l just as difficult to get people to
approve?
o
Suji: But they can be more
effective for funding.
o
Jwoo: Int’l funding for this
will be inefficient – it’s too large. Starting regional/national might be more
efficient.
o
Suji: I think nat’l &
regional progress will not be effective – more efficient, maybe, but starting big
& getting more people behind it will help make it effective.
o
MS: I think int’l is good b/c
you get a broader audience. We can solve the problem in many places rather than
just one. Example we learned a lot from researching this. This is because countries like Sweden have
good solutions, so int’l attention via int’l funding could have good effects.
o
SP: There could be some
discrimination - $ attributes to each country could be unfair - & it’s
ambiguous.
o
Suji: Why discrimination?
o
SP: The $ distributed to countries/families
will be unequal.
o
M: I think int’l funding is a
good idea. The countries that suffer from it are usually poor & other
countries can help fund.
o
DY: Solve from bottom up. World
Vision and other NGOs. Govt should implement shelters and education for
children and parents to create solid sex culture.
o
Suji: I agree that not just
children but also parents. Lack of quality education is one of the main causes.
o
Sejin: Changing the culture is
a good idea. One of the basics is the wrong cultural assumptions: unfair
inequalities between children and adults, males and females.
o
Jaewon: what are ways to
promote sound sex cultures?
o
DY: Assemble adults in shelters
& give education about how child prostitution is bad. Get right concepts
about sex.
o
Jwon: Through mass media?
Movies? TV
o
DY: Yes, but that’s a gov’t
issue especially since poorer countries/families affected are more removed from
mass culture.
o
ML: Frequent int’l labor
reforms & conferences to enforce laws & be more active in prosecuting.
These conferences even have symbolic meaning
that puts pressure on individual governments.
o
DY: Good in long run, but
conflicting interests will be present. Ex: legalizing prostitution
o
ML: Different interests, but
dialogue is valuable.
o
Jwoo: All humans with same values,
even if countries have different traditions w/ prostitution.
o
Sujin: Direct & indirect
consequences. Direction will involve more strict punishment, maybe not cutting
off hands & feet, but chemical castration & jail time
Indirect – education school subsidies. Women’s rights, equality, fertility.
Might sound like it costs too much but it is a good long-term
solution/investment in a country’s future.
o
DY: Fertility rates.
o
Sujin: Might sound harsh: but
might devalue children in a family.
o
Yoonhui: Sweden has succeeded
in eliminating sex crimes by punishing men, protecting women, subsidizing women’s
in exist prostitution. It also has the highest level of women @ all levels of
govt. Basically: change it for men & women.
o
SH: Are we considering victims?
Campaign for students & sound conceptions of sex. Only 2 times a year do we
have sex education in Korea – but kids are bad. We need more practical &
effective education @ all levels, especially earlier in our education.
o
KM: Gov’t needs a lot of $ to
improve quality of edu. But sex industry is a major source income for countries.
o
DY: How would it be diff from
what we get now in the auditorium for school assemblies?
o
SP: I think it’s a good idea. Understanding
this source is difficult & changing culture is impossible.
o
SH: Raise w/ right concept of
sex will help them to be a right person.
o
JWOO: All humans are same.
Shouldn’t we learn we’re all the same by living & not education or a campaign.
Don’t you think that makes it more awkward?
o
KM: Restrict the harmful behavior
~ men who purchase sex are more likely to have more sexual partners. In my
opinion, they need it without a relationship. The sex industry is so lucrative
that it can pressure the government. Children enter the field from poverty and of
education – they can’t afford schooling. Lowering fertility rate – parents can
afford to educate. As % of children enrolled in school goes up, children
involved in prostitution goes down.
o
DY: Lowering fertility rate can
be contrary to religion/culture
o
KM: If that’s not possible,
than gov’t restriction is best solution.
