Child prostituion in Southeast Asia : A qualitative case study on the factors that contributes to child prostitution in Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam and The Philippines

Abstract: This study researches the issue of child prostitution in the Southeast Asia region. Child prostitution is a horrible phenomenon which is affecting millions of children worldwide and lives on despite the world’s knowledge about it and a lot of actors fighting to end it. The study is questioning which factors that contributes to child prostitution in four different countries and the conclusion will show which factors that are present in all these countries. The study is an abductive qualitative desk study with the method of structured focused comparison. The method was used by asking the same questions to the different cases for the purpose of finding similarities between them. The method by George and Bennet (2005) is especially used when the aim is to conclude a possible systematic comparison of different cases. The research is based on primary, secondary and tertiary sources, most of them being peer-reviewed texts but some sources from media is used when looking for relevant events and numbers. The findings have been analyzed by an own created analytical framework, which was formed from earlier research findings and conclusion and were later tested on the different cases. This was done to establish which factors that drives child prostitution the countries have in common. The analysis of the findings in this study suggest that there are various factors contributing to child prostitution, both cultural, political, socioeconomic and environmental. The countries problem with high corruption, norms and traditions posing women as subservient to men, widespread poverty and frequently natural disasters are all factors that contributes to child prostitution.