ECPAT Global Boys Summit Report

While children of all genders, ages, ethnicities, and socio-economic groups can be victims of sexual exploitation and abuse, boys tend to be overlooked as victims. Data on the sexual exploitation of all children is generally lacking, but this is even more poignant when looking at how boys are specifically affected. Yet, the limited evidence that is available suggests that in certain contexts, boys are just as heavily impacted as girls—maybe even more. ECPAT’s global campaign to end child sexual exploitation was launched in May 1990 when a small group of concerned individuals gathered in Chiang Mai in Northern Thailand. Organizations from across the globe heard this call to action and joined hands to provide support to combat this heinous problem. Since then, ECPAT has worked to better understand the web of child sexual exploitation through research and pushed for the critical systemic and social changes necessary to eliminate this scourge together with governments, intergovernmental institutions, the private sector, civil society and the general public, including children themselves.

In 2021, ECPAT International launched the Global Boys Initiative to examine the scale and scope of the issue and understand how boys come into these vulnerable situations. Similar findings were observed across the 10 countries where research was conducted, including: Gender stereotypes associated with ideas of masculinity prevent people from recognising boys as victims of sexual exploitation Discomfort discussing sex and sexuality are the main barriers to boys disclosing incidences of exploitation and abuse. Most countries do not offer specialized support services for boys who have been sexually exploited or abused. Using these learnings, the Global Boys Initiative is now focusing on how to respond to these issues, the challenges around this issue, and how to support boys and service providers to effectively address sexual exploitation.