New Zealand has a growing problem with child prostitution, trafficking and pornography, according to a NZ Justice Ministry report.

This follows reports in 1999 that girls as young as 11 were selling sex on Auckland streets, and a warning by a family court lawyer in January that child pornography was reaching alarming levels.

The ministry report says that in the five years to 2001, the Internal Affairs Department investigated 380 cases of New Zealanders distributing and trading objectionable material, most of which is child pornography.

The number has since grown to 420, with 70 successful prosecutions, and about 30 cases awaiting hearings.

Because of the clandestine nature of child prostitution and trafficking in New Zealand, it is hard to gauge numbers involved but research suggests it is a growing problem, the report says. Police estimate that there are more than 500 Thai women in Auckland's sex industry alone.

Though it was hard to determine how many were aged under 18, the Human Rights Commission had received calls from health staff reporting incidents of Thai girls, aged under 18, who had been subjected to sexual violence and who were seeking medical attention.

The report says that by the time police became involved it was discovered the addresses given by the girls were false or they had been moved on.
Child trafficking was extremely lucrative and hard for police to investigate because trafficked people were returned to their own country as soon as possible.

"As a result many victims will not agree to provide evidence, for fear of the repercussions from the traffickers that they, or their family, will experience," the report says.

"Law enforcement authorities must take all practicable steps to bring to trial any New Zealanders involved in trafficking."

There was also evidence that New Zealanders were part of the child sex tourism industry, with New Zealand men in India and Fiji being charged with sex offences.
The Government is working with other organizations to help people trapped in sexual slavery in New Zealand.

The Department of Child, Youth and Family Services is reviewing funding and support for community agencies in Auckland and Christchurch to deal with underage prostitution.

Denise Ritchie, national coordinator of End Child Prostitution, Child Pornography, and Trafficking of children for sexual purposes, said there had been a big increase in the number of children trafficked and in prostitution around the world because of the demand from men. New Zealand was vigilant about Internet pornography but needed to be tougher on Kiwi sex tourists in places like India and Thailand.