The Sexual Exploitation Of Children Canada Essay

The Sexual Exploitation Of Children (Canada) Essay, Research Paper

The topic I chose to do my paper on is the sexual abuse of children. I plan to look at the trends of sexual abuse in Canada and the ways in which children could be abused or exploited. I also will give some opinions on the things I think could be changed to help stop the sexual abuse of children.

According to the U.N. Convention sexual abuse or exploitation is the inducement or coercion of a child to engage in any unlawful sexual activity, the exploitative use of children in prostitution or other unlawful sexual practices, and the exploitative use of children in pornographic performances and materials.1 Therefore by ratifying the U.N. Convention Canada has the responsibility to uphold any laws set forth in the convention.

I first would like to talk about the trends of sexual abuse in Canada and some of the ways in which victims can be harmed by being sexually abused. According to a study conducted from July 1980 to April 1984 there were three hundred and fifty-two cases of sexual abuse reported. 301 of these cases were of women and the other 51 cases were men. The age in which there was the most reports of sexual abuse was between three to five years old and the relationship the victim had with the offender was most often that of a family friend.2 By the mid nineties the frequency of childhood sexual abuse ranges widely from one study to another. The range was from six percent to sixty two percent of all adult women and from three to sixteen percent of all adult men who say they were sexually abused as a child.3 A table shown on the next page shows the statistics of sexual abuse against children in 1994 compared to other types of crimes against children:4

Children most at risk of sexual offences

Children were at greater risk of some form of sexual offence in 1994 than either youths or adults.

Table: Types of violent incident by age group of victims

1994

___________________________________________________________________

Age group of victims

_______________________________________________

Under 12 12 to 19 20 and over

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%

_______________________________________________

Violent incidents,

Total 100 100 100

Homicide and attempted

murder 0.4 0.5 1

Assault 46 66 73

Sexual assault/other

sexual offences 43 16 4

Robbery 3 12 10

Other violent

offences(1) 7 5 12

___________________________________________________________________

In 1996 police data shows that children under 18 years of age were the victims in 22% of all assaults reported to a sample of police agencies. They represented a much larger proportion of sexual assault victims (60%) than physical assault victims (18%). While the majority of assaults against children were committed by non-family members, family members were accused in 24% of all assaults against children. Very young children are more likely to be assaulted by family members than by non-family members. Almost 70% of victims under the age of three were assaulted by family members. Girls were more frequently the victims of assaults by family members than were boys. Girls represented 56% of the victims of physical assault incidents, and almost 80% of the victims of sexual assault in which a family member was the perpetrator. Fathers made up a large majority (80%) of parents accused of assaulting their children, accounting for 98% of parents accused of sexual assault and 73% of parents accused of physical assault.5 By looking at these numbers it would seem to me that while crime in general is on the decline, the number of sexual abuse cases in Canada against children is on the rise or at least not declining.

Sexual abuse can happen in a number of ways one of which is the inducement

or coercion of a child into any type of sexual activity. This could consist of incest,

sexual interference, invitation, sexual exploitation or procuring. These are the most

reported types of sexual abuse against children.

Another form of sexual abuse against children is child prostitution. Child prostitution consists of soliciting, living of the avails of child prostitution, operating a body house, and providing children to people for the service of prostitution. Child prostitution continues to be a problem in Canada and as recently as this year the province of Alberta implemented a new law to try and stop child prostitution. This law gives the police in Alberta the power to place child prostitutes in custody and detain them in a halfway house for up to seventy-two hours in the hopes that this will help them to gain self confidence and break the ties with the people who got them involved with prostitution. The police also hope to break any ties or relationships that the child may have with a pimp. By putting the child in a halfway house it allows the child at least a chance at leaving prostitution and going home, or if that option is not available, then to a foster or an adoptive home where the child can be properly taken care of.

Also another law that was put into place was the amendment to law on child sex tourism in nineteen ninety-six. This amendment states t

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