Child sexual exploitation is a type of sexual abuse. Perpetrators exploit children and youth by giving them things like gifts, drugs, money, shelter, food, status and affection in exchange for performing sexual activities. According to the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, every person below the age of eighteen has the right to be protected against sexual abuse and sexual exploitation.
Common sense is often the best guide for recognizing sexual exploitation of a child. Trust your gut feeling when you see a situation you feel is inappropriate.
Good to know
- Sexual exploitation of children takes place in every country
- A child is any person below 18 years of age
- Girls and boys can be victim of sexual exploitation
- The contact between the suspect and the minor is inappropriate, no matter the country or the culture
- Both men and women can be perpetrators
- Offenders can be convicted in the Netherlands for child abuse abroad
Suspicious situations
- An adult touches a child inappropriately at the pool, beach, restaurant, bar, club, hotel, or at another location
- An adult isolates himself/herself with a child, e.g. in a hotel room or a (private) apartment
- A child is dancing (half) naked in front of adults
- Someone offers a child or young person for sexual services
- Someone is looking for sexual services from children or young people
- A hotel or organisation allows child sexual exploitation or abuse on its premises or through other companies
- An adult talks about his/her sexual experience with a child
- An adult takes many pictures of children, especially on the beach and at the pool
- An adult shows sexual abuse images to a child
Examples of testimonials
- “There were very young looking girls scantily dressed at a bar that gave massages.”
- “A man was touching a young girl in an obscene manner in a restaurant. She said: ‘you have to wait until we are hidden’.”
- “A tourist we met was totally insinuating the fact of having an affair with a child.”
- “At the exit of a hotel I saw two elderly men hand in hand with two young women who seemed minor.”
- “Young girls on the street who ask elderly Western men to take them out for dinner. It was street prostitution.”
- “There was a man with a very young girl in a restaurant. The girl barely spoke English and the man could not keep his hands of the girl.”
- “I saw a Western looking man with a relatively young woman at breakfast in a hotel. The girl was dressed very provocatively and the relationship didn’t seem a caring one.”
Success stories
- In October 2025, a 77-year-old Dutch man was arrested in Thailand on suspicion of child human trafficking. The man is suspected of recruiting underage boys for a network of child abusers. They allegedly paid to abuse children. Several children were found and cared for at the scene. The man faces a 20-year prison sentence.
- In December 2025, a 78-year-old man from Rotterdam was arrested on suspicion of sexually abusing children in the Philippines and livestreaming the abuse. Four children were rescued from the abusive situation.
- In December 2025, a female human trafficker was sentenced to life imprisonment in the Philippines. She had offered her own daughter for sexual abuse via a live video feed in exchange for money from foreign sex offenders. The victim was eight years old when she was rescued.
Other relevant hotlines
- Child abuse and exploitation in the Netherlands: Police
- Images of child sexual abuse: Hotline Online Abuse Images
- Hotlines in other countries: Dontlookaway.report
- Telephone helpline (and chat) for anyone who is concerned about their own or other people’s sexual feelings and/or behaviour towards children: Offlimits
- Report Crimes Anonymous (0800-7000)
- Travel organization (tour operator, tour leader)
- Local National Police: Anti-Trafficking of Children’s Unit
- Local NGO (e.g. ECPAT) or at ECPAT International: protect@ecpat.net
