Hungarian children will most often be victims of sexual exploitation in the EU

In 2021, a Hungarian report  was published for the first time. ECPAT and the Hintalovon Foundation have jointly produced a report on the sexual exploitation of children. The situation in Hungary is dire.

The report identifies different categories that are forms of sexual exploitation of children. These categories are exploitation for prostitution, exploitation in the online space, human trafficking for sexual exploitation and the sale of children, exploitation in the field of tourism, early and forced marriage.

Most often, disadvantaged children from poor family backgrounds fall victim,

writes the report. In addition, they typically belong to marginalised social strata. Before becoming a victim, physical, emotional, and psychological violence was common in the lives of these children. Moreover, their parents often neglected the victims. The report notes that, so far, there has been little comprehensive research on the subject and little data available. However, the few surveys also show that a similar percentage of deep poverty occurs in similar tragic cases.

The report is mostly based on European Union data and statistics. 64 per cent of Hungarian victims of sex trafficking identified in the EU are children. 7.4% of child victims are under 11 years old.

There were a total of 1,310 registered victims of human trafficking, of whom 647 were of Hungarian nationality.