PNG children in sex work

CHILDREN are being driven into sex work in Papua New Gui­nea because of poverty, a damning report by the International Labour Organisation (ILO) said.
The report, released in the capital yesterday, says there is child trafficking involving parents and guardians who sell their children to clients.
It classes children forced into sex work as the worst form of child labour.
The report was based on findings by a joint committee comprising members of the PNG Trade Union Congress, Young Women’s Christian Association and other stakeholders.
The researchers interviewed about 400 children living in Port Moresby.
Pacific countries ILO director Da­vid Lamotte said sex work by children aged below 18 was caused by poverty.
ILO report says children in sex trade
He said there were also other means of earning money by school-aged kids who were not at school because they just had to earn money to make a living.
Lamotte said the research was conducted in Port Moresby because of the accessibility and the fact that child labour was an issue that arose in urban areas.
He said if urban areas in the city revealed serious abuse of children through child labour, “it can be said that such is experienced throughout other centres”.
The report states that about 175 sex workers interviewed were all females and two were transgender sex workers — boys who were paid by men for sex.
It says about 47 % of children interviewed on the street had never been to school.
Lamotte said the ILO was working closely with trade unions, YWCA, education department and police to draft a child labour national policy to stop child labour.
He said children often looked for worked because their parents could not afford their needs and wants or because they came from broken homes.
He said once a child started working at the early ages of 13, 14 and 15, he or she would remain poor for the rest of his life.
In a statement, Labour and Industrial Relations Minister Martin Aini said the government was now left with the challenge to prevent child labour especially with the economic boom in the country.
He said the statistics of child labour “makes it crucial to plan a way forward to address the issue”.