US points finger at NZ on under-age prostitution

The US says New Zealand has a problem with under-age prostitution.

The comment is included in a United States State Department country report on general human rights practices in 2005 released by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.

It cites a 2004 study saying about 200 people under 18 worked as prostitutes and says three brothel owners and one client were last year prosecuted for the "use of persons under 18 in prostitution".

The report said the Government was working with organisations to address trafficking on children issues and had a national action plan against the exploitation of children.

The US Embassy said yesterday that the sexual exploitation information came from a NZ select committee report into the issue.

The US report noted that a United Nations special rapporteur on human trafficking in NZ in December had raised concerns that mail-order brides, migrant workers, foreign fishermen and those in arranged marriages were at risk of becoming victims of trafficking.

Children abuse continued to be a concern for the Government.

NZ law banned discrimination against indigenous people but "there was a continuing pattern of disproportionate numbers of Maori on unemployment and welfare rolls, in prison, among school drop-outs, in infant mortality statistics and among single-parent households".

The report noted prison over-crowding but said conditions "generally met international standards".

The minimum wage "generally was adequate to provide a decent standard of living for a worker and family" and women "participated fully in political life" it continued.

Children's Commissioner Cindy Kiro was unavailable for comment yesterday, but said earlier this year that Auckland and Christchurch were two "noted areas for child prostitution" in New Zealand.

Maori party co-leader Pita Sharples said: "It is a matter of continuing shame to this country, that the world is looking at us, and reporting disproportionate societal problems for indigenous people."

The new report does not repeat a 2004 claim that NZ had a "large problem" with children being trafficked for sex.