australia4

Imagine if half of Australia’s entire population was forced into the sex industry?
It’s hard to imagine, yet around 10 million children – mainly girls – are subject to forms of
sexual exploitation worldwide. (1) That’s equivalent to half of Australia’s entire population. A
further one million children enter the commercial sex trade each year. (2)
Sexual exploitation of children is one of the darkest abuses in our world. Some children are
directly involved in commercial sexual activity, while others are subject to abuse while
working as domestic servants or in other forms of labour.
It is devastating, but not inevitable. Strong measures are beginning to bring positive
outcomes for vulnerable children worldwide.
Child sex tourism
In many countries there is a large domestic market for commercial sexual exploitation of
children. In most areas the largest demand comes from locals.
Sadly there is also an international market for the sexual services of children, where visitors
from richer countries visit poorer countries to exploit children. (3) This is known as child sex
tourism.
More than 250,000 sex tourists visit Asia each year, with 25 percent coming from the United
States, 16 percent from Germany and 13 percent from both Australia and the United
Kingdom. (4)

Both girls and boys are exploited, though girls are more often victims. Most offenders are
men, although women can be involved.
Tourism doesn’t cause child sexual exploitation, but it does increase opportunities for it to
happen. It’s easy for tourists to dismiss sex with children as a ‘bit of fun’ while on vacation.

Often travellers feel they exist outside the rules of their own country as well as those of the
one that they’re visiting. But what they are doing is exploiting vulnerable children.

These three Vietnamese girls have been trafficked into Cambodia from Vietnam for sexual
exploitation. They are working as prostitutes in a brothel.

Why does it happen?

Poverty plays a huge role in this fuelling sexual exploitation of children. When families are
struggling to find enough to eat, children or their parents may be lured by the promise of
cash or the opportunity of a job.

Children may also be victims of family breakdown or homelessness, drawn into the sex
industry as a means of economic survival.

Children are generally more vulnerable to commercial sexual exploitation in poorer
countries. Their rights are not adequately protected and laws preventing their exploitation
are often not enforced.

Well-organised child sex industries exist in the poorer nations in Asia, Africa and Central
and South America. More recently industries have also emerged in Eastern Europe and the
Pacific. (5)
Unfortunately, as authorities crack down on abuse in one country, sexual exploitation
including child sex tourism often moves to another with fewer legal measures against it.

The rights of children
The commercial sexual exploitation of children is universally condemned as an abuse of
human rights, banned under international conventions including the Convention on the
Rights of the Child.

Sexual exploitation violates children’s rights to protection, development and even survival –
for example in cases where children contract a disease like HIV/AIDS.

Children suffer both from the consequences of forced and unsafe sex, and associated
harms like threats and beatings, confinement, and a lack of healthcare or education.

Australia’s involvement and response

It’s shocking to realise how many Australians are involved in child sex tourism. It’s also a
reminder of our need to take responsibility for the issue.

In 1994, a law was passed making it illegal for Australians to have sex with children
overseas.

There have been several successful prosecutions, but it may also have made offenders act
more cautiously. However, the extensive publicity surrounding the prosecutions has raised
public awareness and sent a message that child sex tourism is not tolerated. (6)

There are also organisations working hard on the issue. World Vision is running public
awareness campaigns in countries such as Cambodia, Thailand and Costa Rica aimed at
potential child sex tourists visiting those countries.

Child Wise is another Australian organisation working at home and overseas to end child
sexual exploitation and abuse. (7)

How can individuals help stop it?

Gradually, child sex tourism is being tackled by the tourism industry, governments and
independent organisations devoted to ending the practice. The World Tourism
Organisation has a clear code of conduct against child sexual exploitation. (8)

But individuals also have a part to play.

People can ask their local travel agent if they’re aware of the issue and have trained their
staff to deal with approaches from potential offenders.