In Socitey Ključ – center for the fight against human trafficking, among the people we work with we most often meet those who have experience of prostitution. The persons are users of the programs Care for victims of human trafficking – placement in a safe place, (Re)integration of victims of human trafficking and, from the beginning of 2020, also the program Support for persons in and out of prostitution.
We have been working in the field of preventing and combating human trafficking since 2001, and during this time we provided various forms of help and support to over 500 people, the vast majority of whom had experience of prostitution. In most cases, we worked with adults, mostly women, but we also received information about cases of children in prostitution and managed to establish contact with some of them and include them in one of the forms of support.
When working with people with experience of prostitution, it often turns out during counseling that they had their first experience in prostitution before they turned 18. The perception of this issue is roughly equally distributed between people who come from Slovenia and those who do not. Despite information received through various channels (the free phone number of the Society Ključ, messages via the social media of the Society Ključ, statements of young people at preventive workshops, information by related NGOs, etc.) it turns out that such cases almost never come to the police, or are perhaps dealt with in the context of some other prosecutable criminal acts, which can be concluded from the absence of criminal complaints and misdemeanor hearings.
The problem can also be excessive social tolerance of prostitution, which in turn is translated to the prostitution of children.
Results of the research conducted among professional workers in Slovenia
In 2022, we conducted a study among professionals working with children and youth in Slovenia to determine whether they had encountered cases of children being exploited in prostitution in the course of their work.
We sent questionnaires, along with a request for participation, to all secondary schools in Slovenia, social work centers (specifically to coordinators for violence prevention), residential care institutions, youth homes, group homes, and to non-governmental organizations working in the fields of youth work, addiction services, support for victims of violence and sexual abuse, homelessness, and mental health. In total, the questionnaire was sent to over 900 addresses.
We asked professionals whether, in the past five years, they had encountered cases in which it was possible that a minor was involved in prostitution. Approximately 10% (36 respondents) reported that they had perceived a possibility that a child had been exploited for prostitution. Most of them indicated that the children in question were between the ages of 15 and 18; however, a significant proportion (19% or 7 professionals) indicated that the children were under the age of 15.
In most cases, respondents reported encountering 1–5 cases, but other responses were statistically significant as well—around 26% (9 respondents) reported having perceived more than 5 such cases. Based on the lowest possible numbers within each reported range, the total number of children suspected to have been victims of prostitution amounted to 120 (up to 248).
94% of those who suspected that a child was a victim of prostitution responded to the question “How many cases do you estimate involved prostitution with a HIGH DEGREE OF CERTAINTY?” by selecting at least one of the options provided.
Their answers indicated a total of at least 49 children (up to 186), including 7 children under the age of 15.
Nearly half of the respondents (47%) received the information indirectly through the child’s friends or classmates. The second most common source was the children themselves (39%), followed closely by the family (36%) and other institutions (36%).
Professionals also based their suspicions on observations of the child’s behavior and relationships, visits to certain websites, or discovering that the child was in possession of large amounts of money or psychoactive substances.
The full analysis with proposed solutions is available for reading” HERE.
esults of the Study Conducted Among Youth in Slovenia
Because our ongoing prevention activities reach a wide number of young people across various regions in Slovenia, we decided to build on the 2022 study in 2023 by directly surveying children and youth — participants in our discussion sessions (children and adolescents in residential care institutions, group homes, secondary schools, grammar schools, and universities; a total of 2,352 young people). We asked about their experiences with being approached or recruited to engage in sexual activities, sharing sexually explicit content, and engaging in sexual acts in exchange for money or other benefits (such as housing, dinner, drugs, etc.). Our goal was to determine whether the exploitation of children for prostitution is present among youth in Slovenia and to validate the findings from the previous research conducted among professionals.
The study was carried out as part of the Ključna šola za mladostnike in mladostnice (Key School for Adolescents) project, co-financed by the City of Ljubljana and the Foundation for Disabled and Humanitarian Organizations.
We included young people from various regions across Slovenia. Since engaging in prostitution with a minor is a criminal offense under Slovenian law, our organization, Društvo Ključ, defined such acts as child exploitation for prostitution, emphasizing that — especially in the case of minors — it is irrelevant whether money was exchanged or whether the child was exploited in return for goods, drugs, etc.
The responses confirmed the assessments made by professionals and revealed that child exploitation for prostitution and the acquisition of sexually explicit photo and video content are widespread problems. The number of young people we encountered through our prevention activities who reported either receiving offers or actually engaging in sexually related activities in exchange for some benefit was, in our estimation, extremely alarming.
Equally disturbing were the ages at which young people reported being approached with such offers — the youngest stated age was just 8 years old. The offers most often targeted girls, but a significant number of boys also reported receiving them. In most cases, the offers came from adults, primarily men.
Despite our awareness of the problem, we were deeply shaken by some of the results. During workshops and discussion sessions, we encountered 75 children who had direct experience of being exploited for prostitution. The youngest among them was only 10 years old at the time of the abuse, and 26 of them were under the age of 15 when the abuse occurred. Only 36% had told someone about their experience, most commonly a friend. Sadly, only one person stated that they had reported the abuse to the police.
Both in the cases of attempts to acquire sexually explicit materials or recruit minors for sexual activities, and in actual experiences of sexual activities in exchange for benefits, we identified a highly important finding that we believe must inform future prevention work. It should also serve as a key consideration for educational institutions and everyone working with youth:
A significant percentage of those trying to obtain content or offering something in exchange for sexual activities were themselves minors — 39% of those who requested sexual content, 30% of those who offered something in exchange for sexual activities, and 48% of those with whom young people engaged in sexual activities for compensation were also children.
While most cases still involve adult perpetrators, peer-to-peer exploitation and abuse among minors is also statistically significant and must not be overlooked.
In our view, both studies represent a critical foundation for continued research into this issue — research that must guide improvements in prevention, detection, and protection of children from sexual exploitation in Slovenia. It must also aim to answer key questions:
Who are the perpetrators exploiting young people? Where and how do they make contact? Who are the intermediaries between children and ‘clients’? Where do these abuses take place?, and so on.
“You can read the full analysis of the study HERE.
We believe it is essential that the recommendations from the 2022 study are taken seriously by the relevant authorities and that steps are taken toward their gradual implementation. The recommendations we outlined are as follows:
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Incorporate the norms and principles of children’s human rights into the design, implementation, monitoring, and evaluation of all public policies and programs.
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Recognize human trafficking for the purpose of sexual exploitation and prostitution as defined in international treaties and the Criminal Code, rather than tolerating prostitution under the assumption that individuals engage in it to support themselves financially. In practice, prostitution must be treated as a criminal offense, which in most cases is strongly gender-specific and must also be addressed as a form of violence against women, following the example of Scandinavian and certain other countries.
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Take a clear stance on prostitution in light of the current social climate in the Republic of Slovenia and address the legal ambiguity surrounding the decriminalization of prostitution, including its health, social, labor, and other impacts on both those involved in prostitution and their clients. The goal should be to adopt legislation based on the Equality Model (also known as the Nordic model or the abolitionist model), which criminalizes the purchase of sexual services and the exploitation of prostitution by third parties.
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Ensure proactive identification by professionals of victims of all forms of trafficking and sexual exploitation — especially of children — both offline and online, and strengthen child protection systems.
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Consequently, improve the responsiveness of professionals, the public, the police, and judicial authorities in identifying, addressing, reporting, investigating, and prosecuting individuals involved in human trafficking. This should include the analysis of data on the scale and patterns of child trafficking, as well as emerging trends.
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Establish national and international legal frameworks for the accountability of online platforms that host or facilitate online human trafficking and exploitation on their websites, and ensure these frameworks are effectively enforced.
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Given that the 2012 implementation of Article 19(c)(I) of the Council of Europe Convention on the Protection of Children against Sexual Exploitation and Sexual Abuse led to the criminalization of abuse of prostitution under Article 175 of the Slovenian Criminal Code (KZ-1) — which also criminalized engaging in prostitution with a minor — it is necessary to immediately amend the wording of Article 175 of KZ-1. The factual description of the offense should read:
“Whoever […] engages in prostitution with a minor […], shall be punished […].” -
To improve understanding of the term “exploitation of prostitution,” the wording of Article 175 of KZ-1, which addresses involvement in and exploitation of prostitution in the form of pimping and in brothels, should also be amended. The factual description of the offense should read:
(1) Whoever, for the purpose of exploitation, pimping, or mediation in prostitution for payment or other forms of compensation, participates in the prostitution of another person […] shall be punished […].
(2) Whoever, for the purpose of exploitation, pimping, or mediation in prostitution for payment or other forms of compensation, participates in the prostitution of a minor shall be punished […]. -
Integrate topics related to risk factors (such as online platforms, interpersonal relationships, substance abuse, etc.) into school curricula.
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Ensure adequate funding for prevention programs targeting especially vulnerable young people — with a particular focus on crisis centers, youth homes, group homes, and residential care institutions.
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Develop awareness campaigns about the long-term consequences of prostitution for children who experience it, as well as the overall harmful impact of prostitution on those who experience it and on society as a whole.
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Establish an expert group at the national level, or within the Interdepartmental Working Group for Combating Human Trafficking, appoint a specialized task force to propose the above-mentioned legislative changes and other urgently needed official documents (strategies, protocols, guidelines, directions).
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Standardize and improve the collection of statistical data and the detection of criminal offenses related to the exploitation of children in prostitution, and introduce a practice of concluding investigations in cases of missing children.
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Appoint regional contact persons to closely monitor suspected cases of children involved in prostitution.
Based on the study results, we would like to add one further recommendation:
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Improve accessibility, image, and trust in the police among young people so that they are more likely to seek help when they need it.
Both studies — like our broader publications, which are based on our own experience and that of other countries — confirm at least two things:
People who, in one way or another, end up in prostitution often lack supportive starting conditions, and many have experienced their first abuse in childhood.
We must urgently begin to change how we perceive prostitution: how deeply harmful it is to those involved, and stop blinding ourselves with misleading language — this is not work, not sexual liberation, and certainly not about buying “affection.”
In the vast majority of cases, it is exploitation — an abuse of power by those who have it over those who do not.
