Policy proposals

In Sweden, there are just over 36,000 children and young people who have been subjected to commercial sexual exploitation. Nationally, this corresponds to approximately 1-2 pupils in each class in year nine and in upper secondary school. As with other forms of child sexual abuse, commercial sexual exploitation can have serious consequences for the victim in the form of PTSD, anxiety and mental illness.

Today, there are major shortcomings in the work to prevent and combat commercial sexual exploitation of children. This is particularly evident in our report “Everyone looked but no one saw”, which shows that vulnerable children, many of whom are girls, can be in contact with the healthcare system for many years without being identified or receiving the right support to stop the exploitation. Very few children also receive redress in court. In 2022, there were 234 reports of child exploitation through the purchase of a sexual act – only 11 perpetrators were convicted and none received a prison sentence.

Against this background, ChildX has identified five areas where policy action is needed. These include prevention, identification and response to victims, access to protection, support and trauma treatment, and strengthening criminal justice protection.

1. Develop the identification and outreach of children exposed to commercial sexual exploitation. In order to identify more, it is necessary that the competent authorities are tasked with developing routine questions about commercial sexual exploitation for student health services, social services and child and adolescent psychiatry. The police authority should also be tasked with developing methodological support for its outreach work and broadening the outreach work to include more digital platforms.
2. Implement a national awareness raising on commercial sexual exploitation of children involving the professionals who deal with the target group. The awareness raising should include information on the rights of vulnerable children, how to deal with the target group, the causes and consequences of exploitation and the actions needed to prevent and stop exploitation.
3. Develop national regulations, general advice and guidelines for the target group. The National Board of Health and Welfare should be tasked with developing recommendations on interventions that combine protection with rehabilitation. The assignment should include the development of regulations for the target group, including recommendations on reporting to the police and an obligation for social services to initiate an investigation if they suspect that a child is being subjected to commercial sexual exploitation. It should also be investigated whether exposure to commercial sexual exploitation is a reasonable basis for placement in special youth homes.
4. Introduce rapid and accessible trauma treatment for vulnerable children. For this, regions need to allocate targeted resources to child and adolescent psychiatry, especially those regions where access to treatment is lowest. Barnafrid should also be tasked with developing guidelines for the treatment of trauma in combination with ongoing vulnerability.
5. All children up to the age of 18 must have the same criminal law protection against sexual violence. At present, the perpetrator’s liability is reduced when the child reaches the age of 15, which is not in line with the rights of the child. Legislation needs to be amended to harmonize all commercial sexual exploitation of children aged 15-17 with sexual offences against children under 15. Strict liability must also be introduced, placing the responsibility for verifying the age on the perpetrator, so that the child’s protection is not affected by the perpetrator’s perception of the child’s age.