A/HRC/22/54 32. In some cases this phenomenon may be veiled in a “culturally acceptable” practice through, for instance, child marriage. In countries where early marriage is still a common practice, money can be offered to families to marry young girls, despite the marriage only lasting for the length of the stay.22 Visitors may also take the minor back to their country, where the child will be subjected to continual sexual exploitation.23 33. Illegal “adoptions” or temporary custody obtained by foreigners through bribery of both authorities and the child’s family has also provided child sex offenders with a locally acceptable arrangement giving them full access to the child. 3. What are the root causes and risk factors? 34. In spite of the lack of detailed data on cases of CST, globalization, increasing social inequalities, vulnerability of children, the lack of a global legal framework prohibiting CST and ensuring extraterritoriality allow the expansion of CST. If abusers relied on travel agents or tour operators to arrange the logistics of their travels in the past, today they can plan and book discretely online. The ever-expanding availability of cheap travel has certainly contributed to the continuous growth of international tourism, which, despite a recession, still grew by 4.6 per cent in 2011. With international tourist arrivals predicted to reach 1.8 billion by 2030 (982 million in 2011) and emerging economies like Africa, Asia and the Pacific tipped to see the strongest growth, 24 the number of tourists with easy access to vulnerable children will certainly increase, thus expanding the risk of children being sexually exploited. 35. In addition to easier travel, advances in technology and means of communication (including social networking, video-sharing and instant messaging) have opened up new doors increasing the risks of children falling victim to sexual exploitation. Children can end up chatting online with sexual predators, which may have disastrous consequences. Recent reports from professionals in the field have highlighted the disturbing trend of “selfproduced” child pornography, i.e., explicit images produced by children themselves.25 36. Another contributing factor is the sheer profit made by these criminal activities. It is estimated that CSEC is worth 20 billion USD a year, according to ECPAT. Child abuse images were estimated being worth $3 billion annually in 2006. In 2009, they were estimated to be worth around $20 billion, showing thus a very worrying escalation. 26 Case studies have also illustrated how some travelling child sex offenders have funded themselves through the sales of their photos and videos.27 37. Numerous risk factors determine the occurrence of CST and can be in relation to the child, the families or the local and national environment. Children who are most at risk are the most vulnerable ones: they may already be victims of abuse, exploited in brothels, in street situations, out-of-school, orphans, victims of sale and trafficking, without papers, from a minority group or working children. Their age may be a determining factor for children exploited in the sex industry: the younger they are, the easier it is to control them 22 23 24 25 26 27 Law enforcement authorities in Hyderabad, for example, estimate that there may be 35 marriages of this kind taking place every month (ECPAT International, Combating Child Sex Tourism, p. 23) This has been noted in South Asia and the Middle East, but also observed in countries in South America (ECPAT International, ibid., p. 23). World Tourism Organization, Annual Report 2011 (Madrid, 2012). Aiken, M. Moran, and M.J. Berry, “Child abuse material and the Internet: Cyberpsychology of online child related sex offending”, paper prepared for the 29th Meeting of the INTERPOL Specialist Group on Crimes against Children, Lyon, France, September 2011, p. 1. Aiken et al., “Child abuse”, p. 2. See ECPAT Netherlands, Offenders Beware! Child Sex Tourism Case Studies (Amsterdam, 2009). 9