Since 2021, the Equality Authority has been tasked with strengthening work against sexual exploitation of children, prostitution and human trafficking.
In the final report presented today, the authority highlights how gang members sexually exploit girls and women.
It concerns both women who are already in prostitution and young girls with no previous experience. They are lured into the sex trade by gang members who pretend to be in a romantic relationship with the women who they then exploit, according to the report.
Vulnerable girls do not dare to seek help
– Exploitation can take many different forms. It can happen both digitally and through physical sexual abuse. They are used to collect money through prostitution but also as payment for debts or in the drug trade, says Sofie Kindahl.
The gang members often have a great capital of violence and young girls who have been brought up in an honorable context where sexuality is a big taboo are particularly vulnerable because they have difficulty daring to seek support and talk about their vulnerability.
“Going under the radar”
The Equality Authority does not have exact figures for how extensive the phenomenon is, but says that they receive indications from professionals that this type of sexual exploitation occurs in several places in the country.
– It is incredibly worrying. This is a group that often goes under the radar because we are very bad at asking routine questions about sexual exploitation in meetings with children and young people, says Sofie Kindahl.
In the Equality Authority’s municipal survey last year, a fifth of the municipalities state that they never come into contact with young people who have experience of being sexually exploited.
– Not because they don’t exist, but because you lack the knowledge and methods to discover them, says Sofie Kindahl.