Sweden’s proactive obligations to protect accompanied children from commercial sexual exploitation

Abstract: This paper seeks to provide an analytical framework for designing a more effective law enforcement for the crime of commercial sexual exploitation of children. The author has chosen to focus on a group of children particularly at risk in the society due to the lack of attention, namely accompanied children in the migration process. Out of a total of 1086 asylum seeking accompanied children arriving to Sweden in 2011, as many as 706 were registered as missing by the end of the year. Hence, almost 65 per cent of the accompanied children arriving to Sweden during 2011 disappeared. A child who disappears is a child who cannot enjoy its fundamental human rights, hence a child at risk. Trafficking and other kinds of sexual exploitation of children is a crime more widespread than we wish to believe. To tackle the hard fact that it exists right here and now the society often, unknowingly chose to ignore. The ignorance of the existence of commercial sexual exploitation of children, the lack of priority and cooperation between the relevant authorities, such as the Migration Board, the Social Services and the Police creates opportunities for perpetrators who wish to exploit migrating children at risk. This paper examines the Swedish State’s proactive international obligations through the ratification of the Convention on the Rights of the Child and its Optional Protocol on the Sale of Children, Child Prostitution and Child Pornography as well as the relevant regional provisions. The paper firstly defines the crime of commercial sexual exploitation and explains the situation where accompanied children might be at risk in the migration system. The main part of the paper focuses on the legal obligations deriving from the international and regional provisions on children’s rights and discusses the main principles that Sweden has to comply with. The second half of the paper explains the national migration system and examines whether this is in line with the previously discussed international obligations. In conclusion, the paper suggests improvements in order for the State to design a more effective law enforcement to combat the crime of commercial sexual exploitation of children and to decrease the number of children who disappear in the Swedish migration system.