Tourism and child prostitution:

Protect me

In Sri Lanka more than 40,000 children are reportedly working as prostitutes. The majority are boys engaging in homosexual and heterosexual acts with foreigners. A few years back Sri Lanka was, like Thailand and Cambodia, becoming a sex-tourism destination. But according to latest reports this picture is gradually fading.

Suraj A. Bandara

Growth rate of child prostitution in Sri Lanka has declined though tourism has bounced back tremendously after the war, National Child Protection Authority (NCPA) sources said. Mainly due to awareness programs and high literacy rates the situation has changed. Most children addicted to prostitution for either money or pleasure have been convinced that they are prone to sexually transmitted diseases which could even cause death. Therefore, they seem to be reluctant to engage in this trade, researcher Ven. Kudaweve Somananda Thera, an investigator of the Peradeniya University said.

“Tourism in Sri Lanka is reviving and there is a significant growth in tourist arrivals. Some visit the island only for pleasure which could be through sex with children,” he said.

Earlier child prostitution was rampant in the Southern coastal belt. But now they frequent the Northern and the Eastern beaches as well.

“Beach boys also got used to deal with tourists. But we found a few incidents of them becoming child prostitutes,” the Thera said.

According to NCPA statistics, nearly 20 percent of boys and 10 percent of girls get sexually abused in their own homes and schools at the hands of parents, teachers or someone known to them.

“Many children are sexually abused during their childhood, and a majority were abused by either a relative or a neighbour or even by a priest.

In some cases parents have sold their children. One parent told us that they were not worried because their boys would not get pregnant,” the Thera said.

A growing number of boys engaged in this trade are not only from poor families. For them it is more of a part time activity, whilst attending school, without parent’s knowledge they engage in this.

The NCPA educates children and their parents on doing away with child prostitution in the coastal belt through documentaries, lecturers and posters.

A NCPA spokesman said educating children involved in prostitution and their parents were not successful as predicted because they were not willing to take part in awareness raising programs and hardly participate in them.

The Penal Code (Amendment) Act No. 22 of 1995, seeks to protect children from sexual exploitation. However, it is concerned that existing legislation is not effectively enforced and that child victims of sexual exploitation do not always receive adequate recovery assistance.

A distinct characteristic of sexual exploitation of children in Sri Lanka is the relatively high presence of boys among victims of such crimes when compared to other South Asian countries. In this regard, studies indicate that sexual exploitation of boys is largely organized and connected with tourism, where there is a high demand for child sex.