Monday, February 4, 2008

New plan of action against child sex tourism adopted

The Swedish government has adopted a new plan of action to fight child sex tourism, Network Europe announced recently. The move was welcomed by non-governmental organisations such as ECPAT, short for End Child Prostitution in Asian Tourism.
Sweden, an early signatory to the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child or CRC has been at the forefront of the international campaign to stop "trafficking and commercial sexual exploitation of children and women." CRC is almost universally ratified. Related to the CRC is the Convention for the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, or CEDAW, which is also widely recognised. Despite the over-reaching protection extended by a number of international legal instruments, the problem of child sex tourism and trafficking of women remains enormous.
Ms. Mehr Khan, UNICEF Regional Director for East Asia and Pacific Region reported that in the region alone it is estimated that 14 percent of the GNP is generated by the commercial sex industry. There are major actors with strong financial interest to continue with the business of commercialising sex tourism, he added. Statistically, he estimated that "one-third of global trafficking of women and children takes place within and from Southeast Asia representing 230,000 women and children." Of these, 60 percent go to major cities in the region and 40 percent, to the rest of the world. The United Nations, on the other hand, estimated "the global total of child victims of trafficking to be around 1.2 million, which suggests perhaps 300,000 to 400,000 in the region," Khan reported.
It is all too well-known that the main root cause of the problem is poverty. Traffickers prey on the poorest families especially in countries like the Philippines, Thailand, India and even United States. Poverty is exaggerated by exposure to domestic violence and ethnic conflicts. Dysfunctional family systems also contribute to trafficking and sex tourism.
In a related UN report, it is stated that Thailand ranks third after India and USA in the number of child prostitutes. UN stated that about 400,000 women and children are believed sexually-exploited in India; between 244,00 and 325,000 in the USA; 200,000 in Thailand; 175,000 in eastern and central Europe; 100,000 in Brazil and 35,000 in West Africa. The report also stated that sex tourism accounted for 10 to 14 percent of Thailand's GNP from 1993 to 1995.
The statistics on trafficking and sexual exploitation of women and minors are overwhelming. Even if they are exaggerated, it does not reduce by any ounce the magnitude of these social issues. Every day, every hour and every minute - in several parts of the world - a woman or a child is being abused physically, sexually and commercially. After 20 years of interpreting the CRC on many national levels, the end result is still wanting. As Swedish ECPAT Director-General Helena Karlen was quoted as saying: "There will be no Volvo cars, if there were no buyers."#

1 comment:

Han CNX said...

Thank you for raising the issue on this site.

I do think this article suffers from mixing up adult consensual sex work with child abuse, as happens so often in news reports. where it says "UN stated that about 400,000 women and children are believed sexually-exploited in India; between 244,00 and 325,000 in the USA; 200,000 in Thailand".

So that's "Women and children".. I for one would like to see a distinction with consenting adults choosing sex work, and children being abducted and abused. Throwing it on one big heap really doesn't do anyone any favours.

(200,000 is the current UN figure for the total estimated number of sex workers in Thailand)

> "The report also stated that sex tourism accounted for 10 to 14
> percent of Thailand's GNP from 1993 to 1995."

That's severely unlikely because the TOTAL contribution of 'tourism' to the Thai GNP is about 5-6%. Sex tourism can only be a part of that, possibly around 0.5% or so. And again, that would be all sex tourism, by and large by consenting adults.

> "Even if they are exaggerated, it does not reduce by any ounce the magnitude of these social issues. "

True, and I agree with that. But again, for the life of me I can't see what possible benefit anyone or any NGO would have from systematic exaggeration. Surely when you want to fight a problem it would be the most effective to do so based on information that's as accurate as possible?