ABOUT CHILD SEX TOURISM

Comprehending Child Sex Tourism

To many governments around the world, international tourism provides an answer to economic growth and development. As tourism begins to overtake traditional sources of employment, children and young people are encouraged to migrate to tourist areas, in hopes they can earn an income for themselves and their families. The commercial sexual exploitation of children parallels the growth of tourism in many parts of the world. Tourism is not the cause of child sexual exploitation, but it does provide easy access to vulnerable children. In some instances, the marketing of certain destinations, particularly within Asia, portrays an image of women and children who are passive, submissive and exotic. These false images reinforce many of the beliefs of sex tourists. Tourism also brings consumerism to many parts of the world previously denied access to luxury commodities and services. The lure of this easy money has caused many young people, including children, to trade their bodies in exchange for T-shirts, walkmans, bikes and even air tickets out of the country. In other situations, children are trafficked into the brothels on the margins of the tourist area and sold into sexual slavery, very rarely earning the money to escape.

Profiles: Sex tourists may be solo travelers or part of an arranged group. They may be Preferential Abusers, who have clear and definite sexual preferences for children or Situational Abusers, offenders who may not have planned to have commercial child sex while abroad, but took the opportunity when it presented itself. They use the "why not" approach and might consider it a bit of holiday "fun" not considering adolescents as children, even though many of the bar girls and boys are under 16 years of age. While the majority of child sex offenders are male, it is also known that women are involved, and in some cases, male and female offenders travel as a couple to avoid discovery. Child sex tourist persuade themselves that in another country, normal social and moral restraints can be discarded, along with the belief that one will not be held responsible for his or her behavior. It is within these circumstances that child sexual exploitation thrives. The fact that most organized international child sex abuse occurs in developing countries indicates that child sex offenders exploit the economic hardships which many families endure. Offenders prefer to believe that the children they abuse are professional prostitutes, which allow the perpetrators to feel exonerated or justified in their actions. The fear of contracting AIDS through unprotected sex with older prostitutes has increased the demand for virgins and young children.

WHY IS THIS HAPPENING TO WOMEN AND CHILDREN?

SUPPLY

• Devaluation of the girl child and discriminatory practices

• Perceived responsibility of women and children to support families

• Lack of educational, employment and vocational opportunities

• Fragmentation of families: death of parent/s, husband, increases homeless women and children

• Economic conditions, especially rural poverty, fueled by economic development policies and the erosion of agricultural sectors

• Rural to urban migration and the growth of urban industrial centers

• Move from subsistence to cash based economy and increased consumerism

• Lack of laws and law enforcement

DEMAND

• Criminal networks who organize the sex industry and recruit the children

• Law enforcement /governmental complicity in the sex trade

• Demands of foreign sex industries creating international trade in girls and women

• Fear of AIDS, leading customers to demand younger girls

• Early marriage and child marriage

• Traditional and cultural practices, including the demand for virgins, the cultural practice of men patronizing prostitutes, inter-generational patterns of girls entering prostitution

• Employers using the debt-bond (slavery)system, forced labor and child labor

• Demand of sex tourists, pedophiles and the migrant labor force

• International promotion of the sex industry through information technology

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