THE OTHER SIDE OF THE COIN: “The scourge of child prostitution during the World Cup Brazil 2014”
Behind the cheering of the thousands of people that arrive to Brazil to support their soccer teams and to enjoy a unique world celebration, is hidden in the deepest silence, the other side of the coin: the submission to prostitution of thousands of children.
Due to the fact that child prostitution is an illegal activity, the information is not exact. However, Brazilian police reports show that there are more than 250 thousand children who are being sexually exploited (most of them are girls). Nonetheless, this figure is increasing during this World Cup and will increase even more for the Olympic Games Rio 2016 because of the arrival of foreign visitors.
Besides these scary numbers, the unbelievable thing is the way in which these criminal networks “steal” the innocence of thousands of children: they go into the slums and look for girls who live in extreme poverty. They take advantage of their destitute families and they get the girls on the basis of the false promise that they will have a better life. A medicine as awful as the same poverty.
This is how these little girls, who dream of being princesses and falling in love with a prince, end up wandering in the street corners dressed up and wearing make up to look like they are older. They do this in order to get clients who abuse them and pay them very little money. Besides, most of that money is taken by the procurer, the real tormentor.
What are the consequences? Children raped and abused fall into a vicious cycle of sexually transmitted diseases, alcoholism and drug abuse. A clear example of this are the words of a 13-year-old girl who expressed on the Daily Mirror: “Sniffing the blue makes me feel dizzy and numb and it stops me feeling hungry so I don’t need to eat. It helps me cope with the violence and danger on the streets.” This is how children become drug-addicted and sell themselves for sex in order to raise money for drugs.
All these are the reasons why child prostitution is a dirty business that takes its victims’ childhood away and turn children into slaves of an illicit activity. The result is even worse than poverty itself: they lose their condition as human beings, they forget they are loved and they start feeling used, finally, they get convinced that their only future is the prostitution.
To sum up, it may be extremely difficult to end this kind of torture to children. However, it is necessary for humanity to understand the importance of this message: “Not only paying for child sex is a crime, but also it means to finance the slavery of millions of children from all over the world”
About The Contributor
