Violence against children, including sexual
exploitation and abuse, is estimated to affect millions of children worldwide and no country or region is ‘immune’. Child sexual exploitation and abuse happens to children in all socio-economic groups, of all educational levels, across all ethnic and cultural groups, and in all countries around the world. In recent years, there has been an increasing awareness of the gap in the global understanding of how boys are impacted by sexual exploitation. While data about sexual exploitation of all children is generally lacking, this is even more so when looking at boys specifically. For example, in the rare cases that countries collect prevalence data on sexual exploitation and abuse of children, samples are often limited to adolescent girls, obscuring any understanding of the unique experiences and vulnerabilities of boys. Yet, the limited evidence that is available about boys suggests that in certain contexts, boys are just as heavily impacted as girls, and in some contexts, maybe even more. Boys – regardless of whether they are heterosexual or of diverse sexual orientation – may even face legal consequences when they are victimised by a male offender in countries where homosexuality is criminalised.