Abstract

OSSA-ESTRADA, Diego Alejandro  and  MUNOZ-ECHEVERRI, Iván Felipe. Commercial sexual exploitation of children: Meanings and practices of people who work and reside in downtown Medellin (Colombia), 2015. Salud colect. [online]. 2017, vol.13, n.1, pp.19-34. ISSN 1669-2381.  http://dx.doi.org/10.18294/sc.2017.1107.

The commercial sexual exploitation of children is a public health problem and a serious violation of the rights of children and adolescents. The response to this problem has been affected by the meanings and practices of the actors involved. In order to contribute to a better understanding of the problem, a qualitative social study using a grounded theory approach was carried out between 2014 and 2015. The aim was to understand the meanings and practices regarding this issue of people who spend time in an area of the city center with a high presence of commercial sexual exploitation of children and adolescents. The techniques used were participant observation and semi-structured interviews. We found that the predominate conceptions lead to practices that aggravate and perpetuate rights violations. Although practices of protection towards victims were identified, these were limited to critical aspects of the context. Actions to eradicate commercial sexual exploitation should work with the community and the meanings within the community regarding sexual exploitation so as to potentiate the victim protection practices carried out and reduce barriers to such practices.

Keywords : Child Abuse, Sexual; Human Rights Abuses; Child Abuse; Child Advocacy; Qualitative Research; Colombia.

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