Child Prostitution - in Addis Ababa

Addis Ababa City Admin Social & NGO Affairs Office (SNGOA), Save the Children Denmark (SCD) and ANNPPCAN-Ethiopian Chapter collaborated to facilitate a study on the Worst Forms of Child Labour with special focus on Child Prostitution in Addis Ababa. The study can be located by clinking on the title above or the link below the findings section. What follows is an excerpt of the report's findings:

Key Findings of the Study:
This study has identified types of child prostitution: working on the streets; working in small bars; working in local arki or alcohol houses; working in rented houses/beds and; working in rent places for chat/drugs use. Each location exposes the children to different risks and hazards.

It is difficult to give an exact figure for the prevalence of child prostitution in Addis Ababa but observation reveals that the numbers are increasing at an alarming rate in the city. Interviewing children revealed that over 50% started engaging in prostitution below 16 years of age. The majority works more than six hours per day.

The major problems that have been faced by children engaged in prostitution include: rape, beating, hunger, etc. Based on the responses of children engaged in prostitution, about 45% of them have been raped before they engaged in the activity. Among the 45% rape victim child prostitutes 48.9% of them were raped by street boys, 31.9% by adults and 19.2% by other boys who are not street boys. About 16% of the respondents reported they have been arrested by the police at least once. A quarter of the study subjects reported some health problems, including colloid, uterus problems and others. 35% have experienced pregnancy and among these 14 children have had abortions. Even among those who delivered their first child safely 54.5% of the children are no longer alive due to poor health care. The abortions were performed mainly by traditional medicine and in the street illegally. The dangers of this are numerous and include death. Only 2 children had had hospital abortions.

Most children engaged in prostitution spend the whole night by the roadside. By virtue of their age, most of the child prostitutes give birth with great risk because they are so young.

In terms of background, all the interviewed children engaged in prostitution were girls, aged between 13 to 18 years.

The major reasons for the migration of the girls to Addis Ababa include: looking for work, quarrel with parent or husband and death of mother /father.

The main reasons identified by the respondents that push them into engaging in commercial sex work are poverty, adult unemployment, lack of alternative employment, orphanage, parental death, family disintegration – socio economic vulnerability, inappropriate education opportunities, premarital sex that leads to unwanted pregnancy and cultural norms and values, etc.

Click here to read the entire study!