WUNRN
Czech Republic
Girls Placed in
Czech Institutional or Alternative Family Care May Experience
Prostitution Early - Study
Prague, 20.3.2008, 10:10,
(ROMEA/CTK)
About
one-fifth of girls over 15 who spent some time in the Prague diagnostic
facility for problem youth last year had some experience with prostitution, it
ensues from a study by the La Strada NGO, conducted on 269 girls from all over
the Czech Republic and released to CTK today.
The girls,
who were examined in the diagnostic institute and then placed in institutional
or alternative family care, said they offered sex for money for the fist time
at the age of 13-14 years on average.
Several
hundred girls annually pass through the Prague facility.
According
to the study, girls born in Romany families with many children living in
socially excluded localities belong to the most threatened group.
A total of
20 percent of the girls in the polled group called themselves Romanies, while
38 percent of them admitted some experience with prostitution. Among other
girls, 14 percent said they offered sex for money.
Almost
three-fourths of the Romany girls over 15 and 21 percent of non-Romany girls
did not finish primary school attendance.
The girls'
prostitution was connected rather with their family situation and institutional
care, the study shows.
The girls
who had some experience with prostitution mostly come from very large families
with many children.
However,
the assumption that most of such girls experienced sexual abuse or other
maltreatment in childhood was not confirmed. Only 7 percent of the girls who
experienced some domestic violence had experience with prostitution, while
among other girls it was 21 percent.
It was
statistically insignificant whether a girl was brought up by her own mother or
a step-mother.
The
authors originally also wanted to conduct a poll on the girls in children's
homes, but it turned out that they had minimal experience with prostitution.
In spite
of it, the authors concluded that institutional care had a negative impact on
the girls and their families.
The babies
born to underage mothers in institutions, for instance, often alone end up in
institutional care.
Eva
Vanickova, head of the government committee for the child's rights and author
of a book on commercially sexually abused children, said the problem of
prostitution does not concern exclusively girls living in institutions.
The number
of sexually abused children and those who work as prostitutes has been
dramatically rising in the Czech Republic, but it is hard to estimate the exact
figures, Vanickova said.
She added
that girls do not sell only sex, but they also offer "escort
services." They accompany a client to dinner, have a chat with him, and
sex need not follow afterwards.
Such girls
may even come from well-off families but their parents neglect them, Vanickova
said.
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