70,000 kids in prostitution

YOGYAKARTA, Central Java: As many as 70,000 children in Indonesia are estimated to be working as prostitutes, most due to financial hardship and lack of other work.

The Central Java representative of the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) I Made Sutama said on Thursday that commercial sexploitation of children had become increasingly prevalent in the past few years due to dire social and economic conditions in the country.

He claimed that every month some 40 Indonesian females, including children, were smuggled to other countries, especially Taiwan and Hong Kong, to be domestic servants or prostitutes.

Sutama hoped Indonesia, as one of the 124 countries that ratified the UN Convention on Anti Transnational Crime, could take action to stop the exploitation of women and children. --Antara