Persistent Child Sexual Exploitation in Zanzibar: Critical analysis on Law and Practice

The true character of society is revealed in how it treats its children”- Nelson Mandela. One of the key tasks of any nation is to enact, promote and monitor the implementation of various laws, policies and institution that fight against sexual exploitation of children. As far as Zanzibar is concern, although have enacted various laws and committed itself to children protection, significant gaps exist in the implementation of protection mechanisms for children and an alarming demand for sex with children remains. This study traces the historical trend of child sexual exploitation and the role of the different treaties, legislation and institution towards preventing such tragedy. These instruments in their generality deliver a legally binding set of multi-disciplinary procedures that provide standards for identifying, referring and responding to cases of child sexual exploitations. The report presented in this study acknowledges the achievements made in Zanzibar in recent years in the fight against sexual exploitation of children, but they also clearly illustrate the challenges. It illustrates that a successive chain of child sexual exploitation begins and occurs within many contexts: under the guise of tradition or culture or incredibly, even in places where a child should feel particularly safe, such as in a shelter or in a family household, (where the pretext of being a domestic worker is in reality a nightmare of abuse and sexual exploitation for children). On the other hand, it has been observed that, it is within the capacity of relevant stakeholders to address and abolish these types of exploitation. New partnerships are also being formed and the work of the private sector in collaboration with government gives hope that any social and economic changes can take a lead role in promoting sustainable and ethical development without facilitating sexual exploitation of children