Photo: Unsplash / RNZ composite
In a new report investigating child sexual exploitation in New Zealand, survivors recount being taken to destinations where multiple men were waiting for them.
One said the initial promise of alcohol in exchange for sex acts turned into threats to kill her family if she said anything.
Another said her abusers called her "jailbait" and didn't seem to fear any consequences.
Authors of the ECPAT report said interviews with survivors and frontline practitioners showed how "systemic blind spots" were allowing young people to be exploited - sometimes by multiple adults - both online and offline in New Zealand.
The report called for urgent cross-sector investment in prevention, response and visibility, particularly with digital exploitation becoming increasingly sophisticated.
Principal investigator Dr Natalie Thorburn said blaming young people for 'risky' behaviour needed to stop.
"They're being exploited following grooming that plays on normal teenage needs - like wanting to feel accepted, loved, noticed, or part of something exciting," Dr Thorburn said.
ECPAT national director Eleanor Parkes told Morning Report sexual exploitation was a more organised and systemic type of abuse, that was not necessarily secret, but a lack of data meant its prevalence was unknown.
"There might be multiple adults involved in this," Parkes said. "So, for the children involved it doesn't feel like it's just them and one quiet secret... and one adult.
"It feels like, 'how many people are in on this? How many people know about this? How do these adults all have access to me? How do they know when I'm alone?'"
She said the problem in New Zealand was not being sufficiently addressed, in large part due to a fragmented and siloed system, with no shared definitions or understanding between services in a position to intervene.
Parkes said when victims and survivors tried to disclose what was happening to them, they often encountered disbelief or were blamed for the abuse.
"We have some pretty major failures in our services that are being picked up, and also our legislative system more broadly is not at a place where it's able to address these things."
The report also focused on domestic trafficking of victims, which showed legislation needed to be fit-for-purpose in the New Zealand context, she said.
"There's a public perception that child trafficking is something that happens elsewhere, or that it's only about international movement," Parkes said.
"What this report shows is that exploitation here is often highly organised, but entirely domestic - and it's falling between the cracks because we haven't had the tools or language to name it."
She said police and other frontline workers were doing some things really well, "but we don't have the coordination we need ... and we can't say for sure how big this problem is".
Parkes said addressing the lack of data was a key part in addressing the problem and wanted police to change the way they recorded abuse that had a transactional component, inherent to sexual exploitation.
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