Ms June Tinsley:

Thank you, Chairman. I appreciate the opportunity to address the committee on this important topic. I will be speaking about prostitution from the perspective of children and their vulnerability in being lured and exploited in this manner.

Childhood should be a precious time when innocence is protected. We have a moral and societal responsibility to ensure children are protected from those who may harm them. For children who have been exploited through prostitution, it can taint every day of their lives both now and into their future.

The reality is that child prostitution is a grotesque form of sexual exploitation. It is not something that any child chooses but is something they are coerced into by people seeking to make money, exert power over them or by circumstances. Children abused through prostitution are often not visible on the streets and this makes it easier for abusing adults to continue to exploit these children for their own gain and gratification.

The harm caused to children by sexual exploitation through prostitution is well documented and the emotional impact of that harm can show itself in a range of behaviour such as self-harm, addiction, overdosing, eating disorders and criminal activity.

Given the secretive nature of prostitution, it is hard to identify the scale on which children are involved. The use of technology, however, can make the exposure of child prostitution even harder as mobile numbers are swapped around, thus allowing the adult to keep control over the young person.

The statistics we do have-----