"On this trip, I've had sex with a 14 year-old girl in Mexico and a 15 year-old in Colombia. I'm helping them financially. If they don't have sex with me, they may not have enough food. If someone has a problem with me doing this, let UNICEF feed them."
-Retired U.S. Schoolteacher
"Maria is . . . prostituted by her aunt. Maria is obliged to sell her body exclusively to foreign tourists in Costa Rica, she only works mornings as she has to attend school in the afternoon. Maria is in fifth grade."
The international tourism industry is booming. Since the 1960's, international travel has increased seven-fold. As tourists eagerly travel to distant lands to enjoy new landscapes and cultures, economically developing countries have welcomed the expansion of the international tourism industry as a much-needed source of income within their own nations. With the exponential rise in this industry, however, comes the growth of a darker, more clandestine phenomenon: child sex tourism.
Background
Sex tourism is a very lucrative industry that spans the globe. In 1998, the International Labour Organization reported its calculations that 2-14% of the gross domestic product of Indonesia, Malaysia, the Phillipines, and Thailand derives from sex tourism. In addition, while Asian countries, including Thailand, India, and the Phillipines, have long been prime destinations for child-sex tourists, in recent years, tourists have increasingly traveled to Mexico and Central America for their sexual exploits as well.Child sex tourists are individuals that travel to foreign countries to engage in sexual activity with children. The non-profit organization End Child Prostitution, Child Pornography, and the Trafficking of Children (ECPAT) estimates that more than one million children worldwide are drawn into the sex trade each year.
Factors Supporting the Child Sex Trade
The most significant societal factor that pushes children into prostitution is poverty. Many nations with thriving sex tourism industries are nations that suffer from widespread poverty resulting from turbulent politics and unstable economies. Poverty often correlates with illiteracy, limited employment opportunities, and bleak financial circumstances for families. Children in these families become easy targets for procurement agents in search of young children. They are lured away from broken homes by "recruiters" who promise them jobs in a city and then force the children into prostitution. Some poor families themselves prostitute their children or sell their children into the sex trade to obtain desperately needed money. Gender discrimination also works in tandem with poverty; in many countries, female children have fewer educational opportunities or prospects for substantial employment. Consequently, they must find other means of earning a living.
The Internet has also facilitated the recent rise in child sex tourism by providing a convenient marketing channel. Websites provide potential child sex tourists with pornographic accounts written by other child sex tourists. These websites detail sexual exploits with children and supply information on sex establishments and prices in various destinations, including information on how to specifically procure child prostitutes. Additionally, sex tour travel agents may publish brochures and guides on the Internet that cater to child sex tourists. In 1995, there were over twenty-five businesses in the United States that offered and arranged sex tours. One particular website promised nights of sex "with two young Thai girls for the price of a tank of gas." The easy availability of this information on the Internet generates interest in child sex tourism and facilitates child sex abusers in making their travel plans.
Finally, actions by foreign governments may directly or indirectly encourage child sex tourism. National governments in countries which are struggling economically have become increasingly tourist-oriented in their search for profitable sources of income. These governments sometimes turn a blind eye to the sex tourism industry, thus allowing the industry to perpetuate sexual exploitation upon children in order to encourage tourism in their country in general.
Victims of Child Sex Tourism
Child sex tourism makes its profits from the exploitation of child prostitutes in developing countries. Many children are trafficked into the sex trade. In Thailand, for example, Burmese girls as young as thirteen are illegally trafficked across the border by recruiters and sold to brothel owners.
The lives of child prostitutes are almost too appalling to confront. Studies indicate that child prostitutes serve between two and thirty clients per week, leading to a shocking estimated base of anywhere between 100 to 1500 clients per year, per child. Younger children, many below the age of 10, have been increasingly drawn into serving tourists.
Child prostitutes live in constant fear; they live in fear of sadistic acts by clients, fear of being beaten by pimps who control the sex trade, and fear of being apprehended by the police. It comes as no surprise that victims often suffer from depression, low self-esteem, and feelings of hopelessness.
Many victims of child sexual exploitation also suffer from physical ailments, including tuberculosis, exhaustion, infections, and physical injuries resulting from violence inflicted upon them. Venereal diseases run rampant among these children and they rarely receive medical treatment until they are seriously or terminally ill. Living conditions are poor and meals are inadequate and irregular. Many children that fail to earn enough money are punished severely, often through beatings and starvation. Sadly, drug use and suicide are all too common for victims of child sexual exploitation.
Child Sex Tourists
Child sex tourists are typically males and come from all income brackets. Perpetrators usually hail from nations in Western European nations and North America.
While some tourists are pedophiles that preferentially seek out children for sexual relationships, many child sex tourists are "situational abusers." These are individuals who do not consistently seek out children as sexual partners, but who do occasionally engage in sexual acts with children when the opportunity presents itself.
The distorted and disheartening rationales for child sex tourism are numerous. Some perpetrators rationalize their sexual encounters with children with the idea that they are helping the children financially better themselves and their families. Paying a child for his or her services allows a tourist to avoid guilt by convincing himself he is helping the child and the child's family to escape economic hardship. Others try to justify their behavior by believing that children in foreign countries are less "sexually inhibited" and by believing their destination country does not have the same social taboos against having sex with children. Still other perpetrators are drawn towards child sex while abroad because they enjoy the anonymity that comes with being in a foreign land. This anonymity provides the child sex tourist with freedom from the moral restraints that govern behavior in his home country. Consequently, some tourists feel that they can discard their moral values when traveling and avoid accountability for their behavior and its consequences. Finally, some sex tourists are fueled by racism and view the welfare of children of third world countries as unimportant.
you know its been said time and time again,
where there is no love there is no gain.
but i now ask where is the gain in love if all it does is hurt you?
to all its games and treacheries you're expected to subdue.
u have to worry of fidelity and sincerity and lust,
while your own heart remains in the quenching, tired dust.
kicked around by passers by, spit on , stepped on, mocked
if your love is not corresponded then u're just really fucked.
u cry and think of things that could be,
find urself in turmoil wanting to scream like a banshee.
so i ask you again what is there to gain in love?
u realise the greatness of it when push comes to shove.
amazed at how a moment of happiness can fade out the rest
how your sanity and stability was put to the test.
self torture and destruction seems to be the lovers path
how many years it takes away from us...you do the math.
the bittersweet taste seems too familiar to turn away
once its there...seems its there to stay.
i find it so sad how one kiss or one touch can impurify the purest of pure
for the pain of betrayal there is no found cure.
the pain you will carry until ur final breath leaves
its not until then my friend u will find ur release.
Child labor may well be morally repugnant but economists go beyond this and rationally argue for policies that will help children. Traditional arguments based on perfect competition are unhelpful and even suggest child labor may be a good thing. The argument is made persuasively in Krugman’s “In Praise of Cheap Labor”. Legislating higher wages for some group will quite likely reduce overall employment and make workers as a class worse off. Banning child labor may force children away from legitimate work to work that is off the books and not necessarily legal. Given that the sex trade is highly profitable and illegal it is easy to imagine this may well make children far worse off.
However, there is a tight rational argument provided by Kaushik Basu to support the moral indignation many of us feel. The key to the argument is the bond between parent and child. Parents will not necessarily do what is in their best interest because they are altruistic and put the interests of the children first. The second key to the argument is that as children are sent to school rather than work the wages of adults increase. These two create the potential for multiple equilibria. If all children work, then adult wages will be low and adults may well need to send the children to work to survive. However, if all children go to school then adult wages are higher and it may be that now the family can survive and send the children to school. If this is possible, it is what parents will choose because we assumed they are altruistic.
The next time when you are out on your shopping trip, chances you may have support a business that exploits children. It is very disturbing and heartbreaking to learn many children are chained to looms for 12 hours a day because families need to have their child bringing home a small amount of moneys. Child labor has always been a difficult subject to address, the topic have become much more complicated and prolific. Child Labor is not an isolated problem. The phenomenon of child labor is an effect of economic discrimination. In different parts of the world, at different stages of histories, laboring of child has been a part of economic life. More than 200 million children worldwide, some are as young as 4 and 5 years old, are slaves to the production line. These unfortunate children manufacture shoes, matches, clothing, rugs and countless other products that are flooding the American market and driving hard-working Americans out of jobs. These children worked long hours, were frequently beaten, and were paid a pittance.
Recently I went to see a docu drama done by a bunch of students at MPSJ, my little sister participated in it, for Free The Children. I should have written this the very same night I saw it considering the impact it made on me and I'm sure the majority of the people sitting in that auditorium. My next few posts will be dedicated to those that have no voice, no rights, no say about their futures, their lives, their destiny.
Some of the images and facts that I will post will be disturbing but it's the cruel reality. I feel like I need to explain why I am doing this. It might seem hypocritical for some because me writing these posts doesnt necessarily mean that I am giving the $1/day to feed a child, or that I am volunteering my time to go and lay down a foundation to build a new school or new health centre. Dont get me wrong...I would love nothing more....and as stupid as it seems saying this, especially after seeing some of the things I've seen, I can't. We are so accustomed to our way of life that we are not willing to sacrifice some of what we have for someone that needs it more.
In writing these posts I am hoping to inspire even if it is ONE person to go out and do something meaningful and possibly life altering for someone else and for themselves. We forget the selfish self satisfaction we feel after performing good deeds. It would be nice if we could do a selfless act of kindness and not get gassed by the kudos and praises you will receive for what you've done.
Free The Children was founded by 12-year-old Craig Kielburger in 1995 when he gathered 11 school friends to begin fighting child labour.
In April 1995, looking for the comics section of his local newspaper, 12-year-old Craig Kielburger came across an article which forever changed his life. The piece featured the photo of a boy in a bright red vest, his fist clenched defiantly in the air, Intrigued, Craig read the story of Iqbal Masih, a young boy from Pakistan, who was sold into slavery to work in a carpet factory.
Iqbal worked 12 hours a day, six days a week, tying tiny knots to make hand-made carpets for export. Through luck and bravery, he managed to escape from his life of captivity and began speaking out about children's rights; educating eager listeners about child labour. Tragically, after reuniting with his family, Iqbal was shot and killed by those who wished to silence him. Iqbal lost his life for defending the rights of children.
Before he read Iqbal's story, Craig had never heard of child labour. He wasn't even certain where Pakistan was, but the differences between his life and that of Iqbal shocked him. Craig knew that he had to help. He gathered together a small group of his Grade 7 classmates and Free The Children was born.
The following year, in an attempt to focus the world's attention on the epidemic of global child rights abuses, Craig embarked on an ambitious fact-finding mission to South Asia. In a press conference held in Delhi, India, Craig challenged the world to take notice of the stories and voices of child labourers everywhere. The media buzz that ensued brought the issue of child labour to the forefront of global debate. Craig's journey, sparked by Iqbal's heroic tale, proved that young people have the power to make a difference in the world.
Today, Free The Children is a children's charity unlike any other in the world. It is an organization funded and driven by the energy of young leaders and adult supporters. In a cooperative effort, we are changing the world.
So you see, it took one life to change over a million. So like the day that Craig looked for the funnies in the paper maybe someone will stumble on this and make a difference in this shitty world we live in.
