Research

The Saint Nicholas Children’s Trust (The Trust) highlights and sources up-to-date academic and non-academic research on various aspects of child sexual exploitation, in particular, sex trafficking.

This research includes the prevalence of sex trafficking, approaches to prevention and strategies for action, in order to increase knowledge and awareness of this issue. Research articles are sourced from national and international publications.

New Zealand Research

University of Otago:

Project Starfish
Margot Taylor speaks to students from the University of Otago who have volunteered for Project Starfish. This is a project directed towards helping vulnerable children (including those vulnerable to child trafficking) in Southeast Asia.

University of Auckland:

Consent, coercion and autonomy: Underage sex work in Aotearoa NZ
This is a  thesis that explores the complex and nuanced experiences of minors involved in sex work in New Zealand. The research focuses on issues of consent, coercion, and autonomy, highlighting the legal, social, and moral implications of underage sex work in the country.

You can't see it if you’re not looking: Sex trafficking in Aotearoa NZ
This report highlights how sex trafficking in NZ is often overlooked due to limited awareness, cultural biases, and inadequate recognition of its presence in the country. Thorburn, the author, examines the social, legal, and systemic factors that contribute to this invisibility, including insufficient data collection, gaps in law enforcement training, and a lack of services for victims. Thorburn stresses the need for improved victim support, better identification measures, and increased public awareness to bring the hidden realities of sex trafficking to light in Aotearoa NZ.

Domestic Sex Trafficking in Aotearoa NZ: Law Enforcement Experiences and Identification
This thesis examines how sex trafficking is understood and addressed by law enforcement in New Zealand. The author, Haines explores challenges in identifying domestic sex trafficking victims and the complexities of distinguishing it from other forms of sexual exploitation or voluntary sex work. Haines calls for improved training, better inter-agency cooperation, and a more nuanced understanding of sex trafficking within the decriminalized context. She advocates for enhanced victim identification strategies and a more victim-centred approach by law enforcement agencies.

Massey University:

Human trafficking in Mindanao : personal narratives and local perspectives
This thesis presents an in-depth exploration of human trafficking in Mindanao, Philippines. Through ethnographic research, Townsend, the writer, highlights both the resilience of survivors and the gaps in policy and law enforcement that hinder effective prevention and rehabilitation. This study contributes to broader discussions on human trafficking by offering localised perspectives, showing how global issues manifest at the grassroots level, and how local people and institutions are navigating these challenges.

Protesting sex slavery: the textile doll as activism
This thesis examines the use of textile dolls as a form of activism to protest against sex slavery, particularly the exploitation of women and children in the global sex trade. The study explores how these handmade, symbolic objects serve as powerful visual tools for raising awareness and engaging the public in conversations about human trafficking and sexual exploitation.

 Empowering sex workers to quit India's largest red-light district
An article explaining Pip Rea’s work within India’s largest red-light district.

NZ Government:

This report reveals widespread and systemic abuse in state and faith-based care in New Zealand from 1950 to 2019. Of the estimated 655,000 individuals placed in care during this period, approximately 200,000 are believed to have been abused, with the true extent potentially even greater due to lost or destroyed records. The report condemns this as a "national disgrace" and highlights the need for comprehensive redress to address the intergenerational harm caused.

International Research

Article 1 - Current Trends in Sex Trafficking Research
Synopsis
The purpose of this study is  to review the current trends in sex trafficking, in order to provide recommendations for future research and policy work.

Findings in recent years indicate a research focus on understanding sex trafficking and how it can be prevented. Specifically, recent studies have explored:

  • characteristics of sex trafficking cases
  • risk factors for experiencing sex trafficking
  • recruitment and maintenance processes
  • identification and intervention techniques
  • treatment approaches.

The research highlighted that while there has been considerable progress to better understand sex trafficking across the globe, additional research is needed with those who have experienced sex trafficking to better understand the following challenges:

Article 2 - A public health approach to global child sex trafficking
Synopsis
Child sexual exploitation and child sex trafficking, in particular, are global public health issues with widespread, lasting impacts on children, families, and communities.

Traditionally, human trafficking has been treated as a law enforcement problem with an emphasis on the arrest and prosecution of traffickers. However, use of a public health approach focuses efforts on those impacted by exploitation, including:

  • trafficked persons
  • their families
  • and the population at large.

It promotes strategies to build a solid scientific evidence base that allows:

  • development, implementation, and evaluation of prevention and intervention efforts
  • informs policy and program development
  • guides international efforts at eradication.

This article uses the public health approach to address child sex trafficking. Recommendations are made for public health professionals to contribute to anti-trafficking efforts globally.

Article 3 – A global systematic scoping review of literature on the sexual exploitation of boys
Synopsis

Sexual Exploitation of Children (SEC) is a widespread crime which impacts the child victim across developmental, health and well-being domains. As victims, boys have received much less clinical and research attention than girls. Under-recognised gender norms can deny boys' vulnerability. Professional failures to recognise and respond adequately to boys' sexual exploitation may prevent their access to support.

This scoping review updates and broadens a previous review of literature addressing:

  • prevalence
  • victim/offender/facilitator characteristics
  • control mechanisms
  • health correlates and outcomes regarding sexual exploitation of boys.

This review included:

  • International peer-reviewed literature from 38 countries in 14 languages
  • Studies from the years 2000 to 2022 that included samples of boys under age 18, or sex-disaggregated data for children under 18, were included
  • A total of 254,744 boys were represented across 81 studies.

The results indicated:

  • General prevalence of sexual exploitation of boys was reported at up to 5 %, with higher rates noted in specifically vulnerable sub-populations (e.g., 10 %, trans youth; 26 %, street-connected youth)
  • The literature indicates that sexual exploitation of boys is reported as occurring primarily between 12 and 18 years old
  • Multi-level factors are linked to SEC, including individual (e.g. disability status), relationship (e.g., child maltreatment, dating violence), community (e.g., community violence), and societal domains (e.g., discriminatorybeliefs)
  • SEC victimisation is linked with youth mental and physical health concerns, particularly sexual health
  • Post-traumatic stress symptomatology or disorder was rarely evaluated.

Conclusion: The sexual exploitation of boys is a prevalent public health, child rights, and clinical issue. Ongoing surveillance of all forms of violence against children, with gender disaggregation, is essential for practice and policy advancement.