Prostitution by minors is on the rise in Papua New Guinea's National Capital District, with the high cost of living in Port Moresby blamed for a growing number of students working in nightclubs.
The Post Courier newspaper reports that non-governmental organisations dealing with the city's child sex trade cite a 30 percent increase this year in prostitution by young girls compared to a 2010 report on the issue.
Those organisations attribute the increase both to a rise in nightclubs with no proper monitoring control mechanisms and the city's high cost of living.
The paper reports that the NGOs are calling on the national government to enact tougher regulation for nightclubs as the local government has not been able to enforce laws against those encouraging child sex or prostitution.
One survey reports about 52 percent of young sex workers as being between the ages of 13 and 16 years.
It also says while some parents are not aware of their daughters' involvement in the industry, others force their children into it.
