Child prostitution has proven to be a quick and easy way to make money, not only in Latin America but all around the globe. After Thailand, Brazil is the second country with the highest number of children involved in prostitution. Not surprisingly, Brazil is also the third country in the world with the highest record of AIDS cases.

Child prostitution usually takes place in poor neighborhoods, houses on the highways, markets, motels, boarding houses and many other places, becoming a problem beyond any control of the authorities. The potential customers range from executives, doctors, lawyers and policemen to tourists from all over the world.

What leads children to prostitute themselves?

There are several factors that have a major impact in the decision of children to become prostitutes. Some of these are to be found in the nucleus of the family while the others depend directly from the government. 

Poverty is one of these causes. In some cases, poverty is so extreme that the parents themselves sell their own daughters to get some money in change. Also many children go to work to the streets. They start with jobs like vendors of sweets, lottery tickets or newspapers and end up stealing and prostituting themselves. Although Brazil is the world’s eighth largest industrial nation, according to the UN Development program, nearly half of Brazil’s population lives in absolute poverty. Health care, sanitary facilities and food resources are inadequate for most of the population, while education is a privilege of a selected few. Given these conditions, the streets become the children's second home, where they spend most of their time while their parents (often just their single mother) are at work. Recent studies prove that "street children" count up to be around 10 million. Soon, these children may find prostitution financially attractive and also a way to ensure their survival.

Violence and family abuse also make children run away from their houses, which in turn forces them to prostitute themselves in order to financially survive away from their families. 

The lack of strong laws and resources make children an easy target to any dealer without having to worry about the punishment. Such is the case of the Yanomamis, a group of indigenous people living on Brazil’s northern border. There, a constantly increasing number of illegal gold miners give food in exchange for sexual favors. Although this area (the home of the Yanomamis) is a reservation, the lack of state resources to protect the borders has permitted easy access for everyone. 

The government has taken some action to stop the problem of child prostitution. It spends $1.7 million on rehabilitating an estimated 10 000 children previously involved in prostitution within the Amazon area. It also set a phone service to report the sexual exploitation of children and sex tourism, in addition to creating public institutions to aid "street children".

However, this doesn’t seem to be enough. If the government doesn’t take strict measures to solve this problem it could easily become the country’s next crisis. First of all, stronger laws should be designed and applied to anyone financially benefiting from child prostitution or pornography, as well as for those corrupt public officials and policemen who take part in this. Secondly, there should be an international law capable of judging every "sexual tourist" no matter where he is from or in which country the abuse was committed. Third, governments should give stronger support to the NGO’s fighting against child prostitution in Brazil. The government could also create a program or campaign to provide guidance to children in order to prevent them from such a practice. It is also important to increase awareness and concern among the people about this issue so that if anyone were to witness any children attempting to sell their bodies, or anything related, they would immediately contact the local authorities.