to ensure they are complying with this law. The defence of "reasonableness" has been removed, but sex workers appearing under age may be asked by police to provide proof of age. There appears to be no law prohibiting a person under 18 from being a client of a prostitute, thus the legal age for this is presumably 16, the legal age of consent in New Zealand. Media publicity Newspapers report on concerns about underage street workers, stating that this is the commonest entry point into the trade for them and that some of them may be being pimped by gang members. Reports have cited some community workers who stated that they had found girls "as young as 10 or 11" selling sex, and one mentioned students from a West Auckland high school who "turned tricks" at lunchtime. Children as young as 13 were also removed from the streets of South Auckland. Convictions have been obtained against operators who did not check ID and hired under age workers. There have been several cases in Christchurch. Another case occurred in Whangārei. In 2005, ECPAT New Zealand and the Stop Demand Foundation (agencies which combat the sexual exploitation of children), commenting on the Ministry of Justice's report "The Nature and Extent of the Sex Industry in New Zealand", questioned the effectiveness of New Zealand's legislation in relation to underage prostitution; the agencies pointed to a police survey of the New Zealand sex industry which showed that 210 children under the age of 18 years were identified as selling sex, with three-quarters being concentrated in one Police District. In Christchurch in 2008, Salvation Army officer Major Wendy Barney from Christchurch's Street Outreach Service (SOS) said underage prostitution was "a big problem – but also a hidden one". Nevertheless, this anecdotal evidence is not supported by statement made by outreach workers from youth support agencies, including Youth and Cultural Development (YCD), who indicate that many of the young people are not working, but are "hanging out" on the streets. Despite these claims, police have continued to bring prosecutions for underage prostitution against the brothels despite relaxed oversight. US Human Rights Reports The United States Department of State Human Rights Reports from 2004–2009 comment on child prostitution cases in New Zealand. The 2008 report states that prosecutors in Christchurch applied for the first time the law banning sexual slavery, adopted in 2006 in accordance with the