A common question, a difficult answer.

Quite honestly, we do not know. There is simply no reliable means of determining the number of children who are victims of commercial sexual exploitation in the world today.

The reasons for this vary. For example, a common methodology of estimating the number of exploited children has not been developed and definitions of what constitutes exploitation are not universal.

In the case of child pornography, the child may not even be aware of his or her own exploitation, and the crime may go unreported. Other forms of exploitation may go unreported out of fear or shame.

In some regions, such as Central Asia, Middle East and North Africa, evidence is primarily anecdotal. Until very recently there has been no serious attempt to address the issue in these areas and very little research has been conducted.

In the regions where research has been conducted, data is not disaggregated adequately enough to present a true picture. This appears to be the case with trafficking research in particular. Reports seldom distinguish between persons who have been trafficked for sexual purposes and those who have been trafficked for economic or other purposes. They seldom distinguish between the trafficking in women and the trafficking in children; and those that do rarely distinguish between a child of 10 and a child of 17, or between a female child and a male child.

It is far easier to estimate the number of sexually exploited children in a specific country, but even that is not without difficulties. In many cases, the lack of resources, both human and financial, mean that sample sizes tend to be too small to provide accuracy.

There may be a wide variance in the numbers reported by different sources, often reflecting the vested interests of the source rather than the true nature of commercial sexual exploitation. For example, government sources may underestimate numbers, or completely deny the problem exists, in order to protect their international reputation. Some journalistic reports may tend to overestimate numbers.

Research on child prostitution tends to focus on its most visible forms, and where information is easily accessible. Such prostitution takes place in the lower class brothels or the streets and other public areas, such as around bus stations or in parks. This does not present a true picture of the nature nor the extent of child prostitution. A great deal of the exploitation is clandestine. It occurs through contacts in nightclubs or bars, or through high-end escort services where the abuse takes place in privately rented apartments. Information about this form of exploitation is more difficult to access.

Furthermore, since the commercial sexual exploitation of children is an illegal activity, researchers attempting to collect data have been harassed, intimidated, or threatened verbally or physically.

Real numbers are difficult to ascertain, as are trends. Do we know if the number of children who are being exploited is increasing or decreasing? The lack of baseline studies makes tracking increases or decreases almost impossible. Furthermore, what looks like an increase in numbers may only be a heightened awareness of the issue or an increased willingness to report incidence of commercial sexual exploitation of children.

For ECPAT, as with many other committed individuals and organisations, the exploitation of even one child is one child too many.

But we know that far more than one child is being exploited.