E/CN.15/2014/CRP.1 exploring their sexual orientation may be more liable to become involved in or to be victimized in Internet-initiated sex crimes than other children.141 With respect to harassing conduct, a recent study in the United States found that more than 50 per cent of LGBT youth reported being subjected to cyber-bullying.142 Prior abuse and family dysfunction Prior abuse and family dysfunction also elevate the risk of victimization, particularly for commercial sexual exploitation of children. A study by UNICEF in the context of the Pacific region, suggests that commercial sexual abuse may be associated with prior abuse in a non-commercial context.143 Half of the children in the study engaged in trafficking for the purposes of sexual exploitation reported previous sexual abuse.144 A meta-review of 20 relevant studies concluded that the percentage of commercial sex trafficking victims who had previously been abused as children ranged from 33 per cent to 84 per cent.145 Children who run away from or are “thrown away,”146 by their families, are twice as vulnerable to exploitation once they become homeless.147 Runaway children quickly find themselves deprived of food, shelter and security148 and some resort to “survival sex” as a means of meeting those basic needs.149 Such forays into commercial sex can have the effect of grooming children for longer term commercial sexual exploitation. In short, children who are already isolated, starving, sleep-deprived, and sometimes resigned to sexual exploitation, make easy targets for offenders. Children who suffer from prior abuse may struggle with damage to their self-esteem or a sense of stigma150 that offenders can exploit. Research undertaken in the Netherlands suggests that personal factors, such as low self-esteem or family dysfunction, heighten a child’s vulnerability to trafficking for purposes of sexual exploitation.151 Such children may not easily be reached by law enforcement or social welfare or protection services. Street children may eschew potential sources of support because they fear being returned to abusive home situations. They may also fear law enforcement and criminal justice services as a result of involvement in offences such as stealing and squatting in order to meet survival needs. __________________ 141 142 143 144 145 146 147 148 149 150 151 Online "Predators" and Their Victims: Myths, Realities, and Implications for Prevention and Treatment, Janis Wolak, PhD, David Finkelhor, PhD and Kimberley J. Mitchell, PhD Crimes Against Children Center at the University of New Hampshire and Michelle L. Ybarra, PhD, Internet Solutions for Kids, Inc., American Psychologist, Vol. 63, No.2. Available at http://www.apa.org/pubs/journals/releases/amp-632111.pdf Blumenfeld, W. J., Cooper, R. M., 2010. LGBT and Allied Youth Responses to Cyberbullying: Policy Implications. International Journal of Critical Pedagogy 3:114-133. UNICEF, 2006. Child Sexual Abuse and Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children in the Pacific Region. Available at http://www.unicef.org/eapro/Pacific_CSEC_report.pdf. Ibid. J. Raphael, 2004. Listening to Olivia: Violence, Poverty, and Prostitution. The term “throwaways” or “throwaway children” refers to children whose guardians have formally or informally ejected them from their homes and from familial support (Estes,.R. J., Weiner, N. A., 2002. The Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children in the U.S., Canada, and Mexico. University of Pennsylvania National Institute of Justice Research Publications. Pp. 110–111. Available at http://www.hawaii.edu/hivandaids/Commercial%20Sexual%20Exploitation%20of%20Children%20in%20the%20US,%20Can ada%20and%20Mexico.pdf). ECPAT International, 2008. Combatting Child Sex Tourism, Questions and Answers. Avilable at http://www.ecpat.net/ei/Publications/CST/CST_FAQ_ENG.pdf. Ibid. Ibid. UNICEF, 2006. Research in South Eastern Europe similarly found that poverty, alcoholism, family dysfunction, drug abuse, sexual abuse and domestic violence combine to escalate children’s risk of exploitation (UNDP. 2005. Trafficking in Human Beings in South Eastern Europe: 2004 - Focus on Prevention in: Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Moldova, Romania, Serbia and Montenegro, the UN Administered Province of Kosovo; see also UNICEF, 2007. Child Trafficking in Europe: A Broad Vision to Put Children First. V.14-03040 25