Human Rights Watch recently interviewed 19 women and girls from Myanmar who had been trafficked into Thailand. Some 14 were found to be infected with the dreaded disease. Awareness of AIDS among potential customers has driven the Thai sex industry to seek more and more young girls from remote villages thought to be untouched by the virus. A humanitarian project working along the German-Czech border, Karo, says it works mainly with girls and young women between 12 and 18 years of age. As with trafficking in women, increased trade in children has been boosted by high demand in the tourist industry.
Child prostitution is the newest tourist attraction offered by developing countries.
When Anna was 17 years old, she answered an advertisement in her home town of Szecin, Poland, and took a domestic job at the cottage of an acquaintance, Piotr Ruso. There she met Dzem, a Turk, and his Polish girlfriend, Olympia, who tempted her away with the offer of similar work at their home in Berlin. When the three arrived in Berlin, Dzem and Olympia said they were going to visit a friend and told Anna to put on an elegant dress and some make-up. They drove her to an old house and Dzem announced that this was to be Anna's first house-visit as a prostitute. Shocked and dumbfounded, Anna thought of running away, but the door was locked behind her and she was left with a man of about 60, who stank and seemed quite drunk.