JOHANNESBURG, Nov. 14 (Xinhua) -- South Africa has radically stepped up its efforts to combat the sexual exploitation of children as the country prepares to host the 2010 FIFA Soccer World Cup, South African Deputy Minister of Home Affairs Malusi Gigaba said at a conference in Pretoria on Saturday.

Measures include tough new legislation to fight the scourge, and Africa's first internationally recognized hotline for reporting sexual abuse of minors.

During previous World Cup events, such as the game hosted in Germany in 2006, an exceptional growth in the demand for sexual services was experienced, which included the sexual exploitation of children, Gigaba said.

"It is estimated that the 2010 FIFA World Cup will create conditions that will increase the vulnerability of children and provide opportunities for abusers, exploiters, traffickers, collectors of child pornography and paedophiles to fulfill their ignoble business whilst pretending to be soccer fans," said the official.

"We have been busy in this regard, working together with the police, the Local Organizing Committee (LOC), business, and other non-governmental organizations, developing strategies to be ready for paedophiles when the 2010 FIFA World Cup takes place," Gigaba said.

The expected economic gain will fuel and increase the demand and supply factors that place children risk to provide cheap and exploitative labor, sexual and other services.

The deputy minister said South Africa has joined the rest of the world in acknowledging the importance of adopting a proactive approach to fighting child pornography and all forms of child abuse.

"To this end, we have adopted laws that protect children from all forms of abuse, such as the Films and Publications Act, the Children's Act and the Sexual Offences Act. All these Acts constitute a battery of legislation aimed at protecting our children from all forms of abuse."

The Films and Publications Amendment Act, among others, establishes the Films and Publication Board which is mandated to monitor and classify images that would portray children involved in sexual acts.

Gigaba said, "Child abuse has become a global pervasive crime, and information and communications technology has aggravated it, ensuring that this crime transcends national borders and defies time and other limitations, it is important that strategic partnerships beyond any single national border be forged to protect all children without regard to where they are and who they are."

When South Africa established the Films and Publications Board, the country was "thinking globally and acting locally, and when we sought the membership of INHOPE we were then thinking locally and acting globally. In today's world, there is almost no dividing line between the local and the global; one can tread both spheres with a single step," the official said.

"One of the least known and spoken about crimes of child abuse is that of child pornography. Unlike other crimes it exists where it cannot be easily detected. However, we have all along been of the view that the fact that a person or groups of people do not know about it does not mean it is not happening," Gigaba added.

The official said South Africa in 2008 launched an internet hotline that "both enables reporting and also informs the public and the users about this challenge, as well as educates the public about how to combat this crime and protect children."

In the build up to the FIFA 2010 World Cup, the official said, "it is also feared that the expected economic gain will increase rural child migration and trafficking, as well as homeless children all at tremendous risk of sexual and other forms of exploitation."