Given its easy accessibility to Europe, the large number of impoverished children and the taboo nature of this issue, Morocco is the perfect destination for sex tourism and child sexual exploitation. In fact, most of the times, abused children are seen as offenders rather than victims, with all the socio-legal consequences which are linked to this stereotype.
As a key transit route for victims of trafficking , a destination for sex tourists, and the origin country of many women prostituted abroad, Morocco is currently mired in several types of sexual exploitation. Separately, in Morocco, child victims of trafficking were reported between and , of which the majority were identified as trafficked for sexual exploitation Prafcke, In addition to this alarming context, the numbers and statistics related to sexual exploitation in Morocco are greatly underestimated because of the lack of data collection and victim identification in Morocco Fondation Scelles, In fact, it is difficult to know the exact scope of child sexual exploitation in Morocco because there is inadequate data collection on the issue Fondation Scelles, There is no centralized national system of data collection, and there are no agreed-upon definitions distinguishing between different types of sexual violence against children UNICEF, Sex tourism is a thriving industry in Morocco.
Due to its accessibility to Europe, and the large number of impoverished children in Morocco, it has become a known destination for foreign paedophile sex tourists Fondation Scelles, Nevertheless, the government refuses to recognise the presence of sex tourism in the kingdom, fearing that it will damage the reputation of Morocco as a cheap, safe and family-friendly destination Fondation Scelles, There are no official figures on child prostitution in Morocco and no governmental study has been carried out on this subject.
This misinformation on the part of the authorities and the lack of institutional support make it all the more difficult to combat the sexual exploitation of children Fondation Scelles, A video report released by France 24 in revealed how intertwined sexual exploitation of children is with travel and tourism in Morocco.
According to the report, the practice of tourists picking up children for sex has become normalised and some of the youth interviewed noted that this survival sex was the only means of financial income available to poverty -stricken families ECPAT, The Moroccan government has made some efforts to combat sex tourism and the sexual exploitation of children.
