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| Saturday, 3 July 2004 |
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Lanka cracks down on Child Sex Tourism by Chandani Jayatilleke
Sri Lanka's travel and tourism industry stakeholders are in the process of exploring new strategies to crack down on Child Sex Tourism (CST) and are making it more clear internationally that the island's punishments for such crimes would be severe. At the same time, the Government says that it would not tolerate anyone in the industry here, promoting Child Sex Tourism and warns that such stakeholders will have to face severe penalties including the cancellation of licences of hotels and guesthouses. This effort by Government and industry stakeholders is fully endorsed and supported by several local and international organisations working for children's welfare in the country including UNICEF. Bearing this in mind, the tourism industry representatives and government officials lengthily discussed the issue at a recent workshop on commercial sexual exploitation of children in tourism in Sri Lanka. It was organised by the Bangkok-based ECPAT International (End Child Prostitution, Child Pornography and the Trafficking of Children for Sexual Purposes) and UNICEF, Colombo. The participants discussed what role the tourism industry could play in combating child sex tourism and how they could implement a code of conduct for the industry. The presentations highlighted the current situation of CST, the preparation of the Code of Conduct and focused on learning from successful projects already launched in other countries. South Asia Partnership (SAP) International, an NGO which conducts research on serious regional issues presented a situational analysis of child sex tourism in Sri Lanka. The participants also made certain recommendations as a first step towards combating child sex tourism. They include disseminating messages and posters throughout the industry beginning with airports, airlines, and aircraft to hotels, highlighting the country's laws on child sex offences and the accompanying severe punishments. These messages will clearly highlight that CST is banned in Sri Lanka and the island would only entertain tourists with good morals, Geoffrey Keele, Communication Officer, UNICEF told the Daily News. He said such projects are in operation in several other countries and, for instance, Lufthansa flights to the African continent carry this message on board. Tourist industry officials said that Sri Lanka is also aiming to launch such projects in the near future. For this, industry representatives plan to meet and discuss ways and means on a regular basis. Although there are no reliable figures to determine the number of children who are victims of sex tourism, authorities estimate that there are nearly 40,000 child prostitutes in the country. Whether this figure is right or wrong, the exploitation of children is a serious crime as it violates a child's right to enjoy his childhood and to lead a productive, rewarding and dignified life, Keele said. Commercial sexual exploitation can result in serious, lifelong, even life threatening consequences for the physical, psychological, spiritual, moral and social development of the children. Keele said poverty is usually the cause of child sex exploitation. Confirming this, the SAP report said unemployment is rampant in the areas where CST prevails and on most occasions the parents of these children have no means of survival. They work as daily labourers and their income is unpredictable. Most beach-front areas are now packed with tourist hotels. As a result, the livelihood of the neighbouring villagers is connected in some way or the other to tourism. This means an increase of CST. Poverty also leads to illiteracy. Many parents in these families fail to send their children to school due to lack of money. Then the children are compelled to stay at home and to support their parents by way of an income. Thus children end up in falling prey to sex tourism. This trend is much apparent in Sri Lanka's main tourism areas such as Hikkaduwa, Bentota, Beruwala and Negombo. However, Keele said the emerging tourism destination, the eastern coast, specially Trincomalee is also catching the CST menace. Following the ceasefire agreement between the Government and the LTTE, more tourists opted to visit 'new tourism locations' in the North and in the East and numbers visiting Trincomalee were huge. "Again, Trinco is also a poverty-stricken area and the people living in the adjoining villages have little option in finding a decent income source. Thus tourism is an easy source of income for them," Keele said. According to the SAP study, the alarming unemployment rate which has risen from last year could contribute to the increase in CST in Sri Lanka. The parents who earn a daily wage are forced to look into other possibilities of making an income and the prostitution of their children to tourists is a convenient alternative method. The study said: In the coastal areas of Sri Lanka majority of offenders were foreign and not local tourists. They are mature men in most cases who reside in Sri Lanka for a substantially longer period of time. Most often the offenders originated from Eastern and Western Europe. They are regular travellers to Sri Lanka and have established contact with children and adults in the trade. It was seen that it is mostly the individual or groups of small travellers who are the most likely exploiters. Tourists who visit the areas on Tour Buses and through reputed local tour operators are unlikely offenders. As they follow a set itinerary they do not on most occasions have the necessary time and resources to establish that rapport with the children. Local tourists, unlike most foreigners, are interested only in females over the legal age. Their only requirements being that the victims are not experienced. Virginity is given importance even in the case of local tourists. On most occasions, it was even found that these girls refuse to divulge their age as local tourists are unlikely to ask for youngsters, SAP report said. Child sex offenders come from all walks of life and social backgrounds. They can be found in any profession and in any nation. They may be heterosexual or homosexual and although the majority of child sex offenders are male, they may also be female. Keele said the offenders can be divided into two categories: situational and preferential. The situational child sex offender does not have a true sexual preference for children, but engages in sex with children because he or she is morally and /or sexually indiscriminate and wishes to 'experiment' with young sex partners. Such offenders may also exploit children because they have entered into situations in which a child is easily accessible to them and sexual exploitation of children may be a 'once in a lifetime' act while on a holiday, or it may develop into a long-term pattern of abuse. Preferential child sex offenders have a definite sexual preference for children. They are smaller in numbers than situational offenders, but potentially can abuse a larger number of children. |
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