Daily Mirror: Children as young as 10 are being forced to sell themselves for sex on the streets of Brazil to cash in on the waves of football fans heading to the World Cup. And as 600,000 foreign fans including Brits flood into Brazil this week, the youngsters’ plight will get worse.
FEAR for their lives after a 14-year-old prostitute was murdered and her body dumped in the street last month by a man who refused to pay for sex.
This shocking trade of young girls and boys on street corners goes on under the noses of police in the world’s seventh wealthiest economy.
As soon as you arrive at the airport, the taxi drivers waiting to pick you up offer to take you to places to buy drugs or sex.
This should be a harmless scene of innocence but many of these kids will be offering sex without a second thought.
What immediately struck me is how young these children were. Many had attempted to make themselves look older with clothes and make-up. Men will pay 10 Brazilian real, the equivalent of £2.60.
These children openly went about their business, a police car passed twice but officers did nothing.
Calliem, 14, said she first started selling her body for sex at 11.
“I have sex so many times with men and they only pay me five Brazilian real,” she said.
It is the equivalent of £1.30.
Calliem is a regular user of “cola”, cannabis and crack cocaine – acquiring the crack from a regular dealer who visits the streets.
She said: “My dad is dead, my mum lives in a shelter with my aunt and there were nine brothers and sisters.
“Three of them are now dead. One was killed in a shooting.”
Her remaining family know she lives on the streets selling herself for sex.
What was most shocking was the matter-of-fact way she described her life, as though it was perfectly normal and accepted.
Calliem told me she fears the World Cup will just attract more men wanting to have sex.
Police in the UK will be working with Brazilian authorities to stop known child sex offenders coming in.
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