A program funded by the United States government is using aid money to normalize commercial sexual exploitation of young people in the developing world.

Under the guise of providing health services to “young people who sell sex,” critics charge the Interagency Youth Working Group with working to normalize the commercial sexual exploitation of young people.

The program, which is funded by the US Agency for International Development, focuses on developing “interventions to reduce health risks” faced by young people involved in “commercial sex work.”

Describing various threats to the well being of young prostitutes, the program lists discrimination, and urges changes in societal norms and public policy rather than the behavior of the “sex workers.”