Tourism and the commercial sexual exploitation of children in Jamaica and the Dominican Republic

This report concerns the commercial sexual exploitation of children (CSEC) in Jamaica and the Dominican Republic. It presents the findings of research on sexual exploitation in the informal tourism economy in the Caribbean. The research, which covered the period between 1998 and 2000, draws attention to the range of actors who violate the rights of children in the sex trade, and the diversity of their motivations for so doing. Tourist-related prostitution in the Dominican Republic has changed quite dramatically after the time period covered by the research, partly as a consequence of shifting patterns of tourism to the country, and partly because of intense police clampdowns on female prostitution in tourist areas. The report concludes with some comments on these changes.