Preventing sexual exploitation: evidence summary

Introduction

The offence of human trafficking is defined in the Human Trafficking and Exploitation (Scotland) Act 2015 Act as ‘the recruitment, transportation or transfer, harboring or receiving or exchange or transfer of control of another person for the purposes of exploiting them.’ People may be trafficked for the purpose of sexual exploitation. The Scottish Government defines sexual exploitation in the following ways:

Commercial sexual exploitation is defined by the Scottish Government’s Equally Safe Strategy (2023) as a form of violence against women (VAWG) that includes, but is not limited to, prostitution, lap dancing, stripping, and pornography. Human trafficking, including for the purposes of domestic servitude, sexual exploitation and child criminal exploitation are also recognised as VAWG within Equally Safe. Commercial sexual exploitation may involve the exchange of money, accommodation, services or goods in return for sex acts.

Child sexual exploitation is defined by the National Guidance for Child Protection in Scotland (2023) as a form of child sexual abuse in which a person or persons of any age take advantage of a power imbalance to force or entice a child into engaging in sexual activity, in return for something received by the child and/or those perpetrating or facilitating the abuse.

The victim may have been sexually exploited even if the sexual activity appears consensual. Child sexual exploitation does not always involve physical contact. It can also occur through the use of technology.

One distinguishing feature of child sexual exploitation is the exchange, which may involve material goods, affection or care, or financial gain for the perpetrator.

Some child sexual exploitation involves trafficking and criminal exploitation. This is when children are recruited, transported or exchanged in order to be exploited. Travel may include short distances (e.g. taxi rides) or medium distances (e.g. across a rural/island region or into an urban centre), as well as international travel.

There is no overarching Scottish Government policy or legal definition of sexual exploitation which covers both adults and children, but related strategies such as Equally Safe, recognise the overlap between both aspects of exploitation. Sexual exploitation can take a variety of forms (Cooper et al., 2017) and victim/survivors of sexual exploitation may experience multiple forms of exploitation (NRM, 2023).