Addressing the Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children in Brazil.

Commercial sexual exploitation of children (CSEC) is a major and widely neglected problem in Brazil. Emerging evidence indicates that increasing numbers of children are becoming victims of, or vulnerable to, this heinous criminal act as a result of Brazil's economic crisis and the COVID-19 pandemic. Yet, existing policy responses have demonstrated limited success in effectively tackling the problem, particularly in this crisis context. There is a lack of robust evidence of what works to support effective policy development, and survivor voices and perspectives have been notably absent from these processes. However, there is currently a narrow window of opportunity to address this problem comprehensively-and in a robust, evidence-based and survivor-informed manner-as a number of the key state and national plans that govern CSEC response in Brazil are due to be reformulated in the next 18 months.

Our study will help fill knowledge gaps on CSEC in Brazil by drawing on rich narrative interviews with survivors and children at-risk, as well as semi-structured interviews with key informants from organisations working in protection and enforcement. The narratives of survivors and at-risk children will provide direct insights into experiences of referral and support, identifying survivors needs, gaps in provision, and survivors and children's own perspectives on how policy and practice should be reformed. This narrative analysis (adopting an approach based on ethical storytelling) allows survivors and children to control their own participation in the research, set the priorities and agenda for the conversation, and therefore shape findings and recommendations. Interviews will focus on eliciting experiences of working with, and within, the support infrastructure that exists in Brazil, helping to identify gaps between national and state policy, and realities on the ground.

This primary data will be combined with law, policy, and structural review identifying current responses and gaps, as well as analysis of administrative and case data, for a multi-scalar interdisciplinary investigation of CSEC policy and practice. Brought together, this data will help to provide a more complete and nuanced view of the dynamics of CSEC, continued evolutions to offending patterns, and gaps in state and national responses, and their implementation. The project will provide the evidence and guidance needed for rapid, evidence-based and survivor-centred revisions to policy and safeguarding of children from CSEC in Brazil, that represent the context and integrity of lived experience, to provide the basis for more effective national and state-level CSEC responses.

Our research acknowledges that CSEC is influenced by exogenous shocks and environmental factors. COVID-19, the measures employed in response to the pandemic, and the long-term social and economic impacts have, and will likely continue to exacerbate this problem, having a huge impact on children's vulnerability to CSEC, and the general precarity of Brazil's most vulnerable communities, as well as the methods used to sexually exploit them. Brazil's economic crisis and political shifts have also substantially influenced CSEC vulnerabilities, dynamics, and responses. Yet, evidence on these changing dynamics is extremely limited. This research will therefore tackle the critical impacts of these exogenous shocks on CSEC, formulating victim assistance workflows, policy and practice guidance to help mitigate their adverse impacts and help protect Brazil's most vulnerable children.