“I Don’t Want Anyone to Follow My Path:” Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children in the Dominican Republic

ABSTRACT

The commercial sexual exploitation of children (CSEC) involves children in any sexual exchange with an adult for compensation – monetary or non-monetary. This article seeks to understand the impact of global economies on local realities and how these complex systems impact the everyday realities of young, impoverished children in the Dominican Republic. The findings are based on 18 interviews with children who were sexually exploited for compensation and seven interviews with eight parents of children who had been sexually exploited. The findings indicate that children firmly believed that they decided to engage in sexually exploitative encounters; however, all participants expressed, to some degree, that they did not have a choice. Similarly, parents felt powerless when it came to their children’s ‘decision’ to engage in sexually exploitative encounters. Lastly, nearly all the participants cautioned other children not to engage in sexual exchanges for compensation due to the emotional toll it had on them and their families.

KEYWORDS:

• The Dominican Republic
• trafficking of persons
• commercial sexual exploitation of children
• sex tourism
• children

Acknowledgments

We recognize and thank Mirna Carranza, Maria Elena Asuad, and the entire research team for their contributions to this study. We appreciate the time and feedback of the peer reviewers. We would like to give a special thank you to all the children and parents who shared their stories and time with us.

Disclosure Statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

¹ According to the UN Convention on the Rights of Children, “children” is defined as any human under eighteen (Article 1).

² 1,000 Dominican pesos is equivalent to approximately 17 USD (the conversion estimate was calculated via OANDA).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (861-2007-1100 and 895-2015-1014) and Global Affairs Canada (CIDA-UPCD S61268-567/1).