2. THE INCIDENCE OF COMMERCIAL SEXUAL EXPLOITATION OF CHILDREN IN THE BALTIC SEA REGION
Statistical data on the issue of commercial sexual exploitation of children are lacking in every country in the Baltic Sea Region. The information below has been obtained partly from the experts of the Group and partly by the Swedish Special Group's own surveys and interviews made i. a. during travels to some of the Member States. The following compilation shows some of the data which have been possible to gather during the time available and with limited resources. Even though some Member States do not have any information about the existence of commercial sexual exploitation of children, the Expert Group has information that some perpetrators come from these states.
It is known to the Police that occasionally there are prostitutes of the age of 15 or 16 in the streets in Denmark (Danish National Police).
About 60 % of the girls who prostitute themselves in Tallinn are between 15 and 19 years old (National Aids Prevention Centre).
It is known, that in Germany there are prostitutes under the age of 16 (mainly street children and/or drug abusers).
The number of prostitutes is approximately 3 000, about 10-12 % of all the prostitutes in Latvia are juveniles. 30 % of all juvenile prostitutes are under the age of 16 .These are the most demanded in brothels. All prostitution in Latvia is said to be organised (National Report "Protection of the rights of women in the republic of Latvia").
Several social workers have confirmed that there is child prostitution at the railway station in Vilnius. Child prostitution also exists at the airport and at some hotels. The youngest girls are said to be only 11 or 12 years of age (Study made by ECPAT on Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children in some Eastern European Countries).
The number of children engaged in prostitution increases every year. In 1995 the number of girls 12 to 14 years of age engaged in prostitution was estimated to 100-150. The number had increased to 400 in 1996. Women and juveniles are being trafficked from Poland to the German borders. Police sources indicate that apart from occasional prostitution, the prostitution of minors working through specialised escort services is also growing (the Police Headquarters Criminal Bureau in Warsaw).
Girls and boys under the age of 18 working as prostitutes at the Polish-German border are kept like prisoners in barracks. There is a great demand for young pregnant girls (the Deaconess Institute in Helsinki in Finland, Umbrella Network).
Hundreds of children are working in the "sex business" in St Petersburg alone. Juvenile girls are being sold to different south European countries for $ 12 000 per person. There are 4909 teen age prostitutes registered in St Petersburg. Some young boys of the age of 13 or 14 are living at the Moscow railway station in St Petersburg. They are being picked up by pimps and brought to a shed where they are to provide sexual services (St Petersburg Child Protection Centre).
A new element in the sex business is now that the pimps are, as a result of a police raid in 1997, only 13 or 14 years old. The young pimps have to give a part of their income to the older imprisoned pimps (Article in VNE ZAKONA, no 3/96).
A dramatic increase in the number of children with sexually transmitted diseases have occurred in Kaliningrad (Aids Prevention Centre).
There is no information about prostitutes under the age
of 18. Almost all female prostitutes are providing sexual services in order to finance
their drug addiction. There is however some information which shows that young girls, over
18 years of age, are providing sexual services, simply to get "pocket money".
There is a risk that younger girls could be pulled into this kind of prostitution
(National Criminal Investigation Department).
2.1 The Task Force on organised crime in the Baltic Sea Region
The Task Force has provided the Expert Group with information about the existence of child prostitution and/or child pornography in the form of organised crime in the Member States.
The majority of the Member States have informed that child prostitution and child pornography do not exist in the form of organised crime. Norway has stated that child prostitution exists to a minor extent, but there is no evidence for calling it generally speaking a form of organised crime in Norway. Poland has stated that there have been a few cases of child prostitution in the form of organised crime. Latvia has stated that there are minor prostitutes that have been sent abroad and that this trafficking might be connected with organised crime.
Germany has stated that there may be some isolated attempts to organise child prostitution on a gang basis. Russia has underlined that the problem of commercial sexual exploitation of children is of importance and deserves consideration at an expert level within the frameworks of the WGDI.
On the issue of child pornography the Member States indicate that offenders act on their own and are not organised. Some offenders have collected large amounts of pornographic material which they exchange.