Child sex tourism: A convoluted legal web
Author Identifier (ORCID)
Cecilia Anthony Das: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2593-7628
Joshua Aston: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7850-081X
Abstract
Commercial sexual exploitation is a form of forced labour and the worst form of human rights violation. The global estimates provided by the International Labour Organisation (ILO) in 2021 reveal that a staggering 6.3 million people are involved in forced commercial sexual exploitation on any given day. Of the number reported, about 1.7 million children are engaged in commercial sexual exploitation, which is roughly a quarter of the total reported (ILO, 2021). These alarming statistics underscore the severity of child sexual exploitation, which becomes even more heinous when intertwined with tourism, as reported by the ILO (ILO, 2021, p. 48). This phenomenon also leads to the sinister issue of child trafficking involving an intricate web of complex networks of criminal activity. These operations cannot be curtailed if tourism activities fuel the demand. Hence, tourism activities need to be monitored to combat modern slavery manifested in the form of commercial sexual exploitation.
Keywords
Child exploitation, sex tourism, human trafficking, modern slavery, forced labour, tourism regulation
Document Type
Book Chapter
Date of Publication
1-1-2026
Publication Title
Interdisciplinary Research Tourism, Sustainability, Law and Marketing
Publisher
Taylor & Francis
School
School of Business and Law
RAS ID
94276
Copyright
subscription content
First Page
164
Last Page
176
Comments
Das, C. A., & Aston, J. (2026). Child sex tourism: A convoluted legal web. In Interdisciplinary Research Tourism, Sustainability, Law and Marketing (pp. 164-176). Taylor & Francis. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003500230-16