The expression "the dark side of globalisation" comes to mind when one considers the growth in the sexual exploitation of children both geographically and in terms of variety over recent years.
An Irish woman is one of the leaders of the campaign to stamp it out. Muireann O Briain is executive director of ECPAT International, based in Bangkok. The acronym originally stood for "End Child Prostitution in Asian Tourism". ECPAT it remains, but the full title of the organisation now is "End Child Prostitution, Child Pornography and Trafficking of Children for Sexual Purposes".
At a world congress in Stockholm in 1996 an agenda was drawn up to end the commercial sexual exploitation of children. ECPAT was given the task of monitoring the implementation of the agenda internationally.
As a senior counsel who practised for 25 years, Ms O Briain brings formidable skills to the task. She initially worked from Dublin as a legal consultant to the campaign but moved to Bangkok 2 1/2 years ago.
Until a few years ago, Bangkok was a byword in the tabloid press for child prostitution but Ms O Briain praises the steps taken by the Thai government. She says the situation is worse in countries such as the Philippines, Sri Lanka, Taiwan, India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Nepal but stresses that this is "a world problem, not just Asia".
The AIDS pandemic has meant an increase in demand for younger sexual partners because a 14- or 15-year-old is presumed to be free of HIV-AIDS.
Although the endemic poverty in many Asian, African and South American countries makes children vulnerable to sexual exploitation, developing countries have by no means avoided the plague either.
She mentions Switzerland, Australia and Canada and cites a US Department of Justice report that between 1.5 million and 3 million children in the US were being prostituted. Cases of child prostitution have been reported in Dublin and elsewhere in Ireland. Ms O Briain notes that the scale of it here is probably small; "the risk is that it will increase".
The problem may have gone beyond the sphere of tourism, but this is still a major contributory factor. Although strong measures have been taken by the Chinese government, for example, Chinese men still go to Cambodia for child sex.
There has been a reduction in the number of abusers going to southern Asia from Australia, New Zealand, the US and Europe. Even when abusers escape the reach of the law in, say, Thailand, they may well be prosecuted under legislation in their own countries.
Ms O Briain recalled that Ireland brought in legislation against child-trafficking in 1998 but no case had been prosecuted as yet. Boys as well as girls are at risk and she describes the situation in, for example, Sri Lanka as "appalling".
The Internet has given a whole new dimension to the problem. Ms O Briain and her colleagues seek to raise awareness of the dangers posed by the increasing sophistication of modern communications technology which is being exploited by groups of paedophiles in different countries.
ECPAT is a partner organisation of Trocaire, the Irish-based aid and development organisation. Trocaire is the Irish word for "mercy"; all the indications are that the mission of mercy led by Ms O Briain and her colleagues will need many more years before it can have any hope of a successful conclusion.