SANTO DOMINGO.- Seventy percent of the people who sexually abuse and exploit and market children and adolescents are Dominican; whereas 30% are foreign, according to the second Central American study of the International Labor Convention and UNICEF.

The 2008 survey polled 8,608 adults, 95% of which affirm knowing about the crime of sexual exploitation; 37.4% of those don’t denounce it because of mistrust of the country’s judicial system, fear of retaliation and lack of interest of the problem.

Elías Dinzey, coordinator of the International Program for the Eradication of Child Labor, said that while there’s no data regarding the number of children affected by that practice, the authorities must guarantee protection for the victims.

The survey also found that poverty is one of the factors which lead parents to expose their children to sexual exploitation.  

In that regard, Unicef representative Francoise Gruloos Ackemans said around 25,000 children were exploited in the country in 1993, whereas another study will be made in the next few months to determine the current figure.

He said for being the most vulnerable, more attention is being focused on the children who live in tourism regions and poor zones. “We’re here to say that the mistreatment, abuse and the sexual exploitation against children is a real problem and of th high levels of tolerance that exist."