VARIOUS: Poverty and lack of legislation to protect children in Southest Asia make the region a hotbed for paedophiles

Record ID: 174191

  • Title: VARIOUS: Poverty and lack of legislation to protect children in Southest Asia make the region a hotbed for paedophiles
  • Date: 2nd December 2005
  • Summary: TAKHMEO, CAMBODIA (RECENT) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) WS/CU: EXTERIOR OF CAMBODIAN HOUSE THAT GARY GLITTER RENTED BEFORE HIS EXPULSION FROM COUNTRY (2 SHOTS)
  • Embargoed: 17th December 2005 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Topics: Crime / Law Enforcement
  • Reuters ID: LVACJK61USIQK25BB72NJTTQ1MFK
  • Story Text: The recent arrest of flamboyant British rocker Gary Glitter in Vietnam on child sex allegations has put the spotlight on foreign paedophiles in Southeast Asia, a poor region which has few effective laws in place to protect children.
    Exact figures to show the sale of the clandestine child sex industry are few. But the United Nations estimates that world wide, one million children are involved the multi-billion dollar business every year.
    The organisation says kids in impoverished Asian countries like Cambodia and Vietnam are especially at risk and many are forced into the child sex trade to support themselves and their families.
    Cambodian social workers of French-funded NGO Friends International trawl the walkways of Phnom Penh everyday, speaking to dozens of street children to make them aware of dangers and encouraging them to report suspected child sex offenders.
    Fifteen-year-old Bou Reun has been selling newspapers in Phnom Penh's affluent bar district for the past few months after dropping out of school.
    Earning just $1 a day and having to support a large family, welfare groups say Bou is exactly the kind of impoverished child paedophiles prey on.
    But Bou himself says he is determined not to fall into the same traps as many of his peers.
    "I'm afraid of getting diseases and also of not having a good future," he said.
    The Friends International campaign is trying to get community members, such as taxi drivers and people who work in the tourism industry look
    Staff train them to look out for suspected sex offenders and report them to authorities.
    The aim, says the organisation, is to destroy the cover of anonymity that foreigners often enjoy in Asia and to shame paedophiles into steering clear of the region.
    "From this training they know what kind of tourists they should give rides to and which ones they shouldn't, for example the tourists that ask for child sex. Recently, they have also reported some cases to us," said Chan Thida, a community teacher for Friends.
    Observers say regional countries have made progress in tackling the problem of child sex tourism with a string of arrests and controversies, including the expulsion of Gary Glitter from Cambodia in 2002 after he was convicted in the United Kingdom of possessing child pornography.
    While Khmer authorities did not charge Glitter with any crimes, a high profile campaign to permanently ban him from the country was successful after child rights activists and officials lobbied the government.
    Glitter was recently arrested in Vietnam on child sex charges. Authorities are considering releasing him on a $40,000 bail, but he will not be able to leave the country.
    The 1970s rock icon will be held for for at least one more month in a detention centre in the southern beach city of Vung Tau for questioning if the bail is actually granted.
    The United Nation's children's agency, UNICEF, says while governments are taking the problem seriously, tough legislation is not always enough.
    "Despite the significant progress that various governments have made in terms of bringing their legislation in line with international standards, the law enforcement remains very weak," said Ravi Cannetta, UNICEF's Child Protection and Trafficking Officer, from the organisation's regional centre in Bangkok.
    There are no travel bans placed on convicted paedophiles nor is there a way to monitor of their activities to ensure they do not commit the same crimes away from home.
    "There is a need for greater cooperation between the west and this region in terms of effectively prosecuting child sexual offenders," he said.
    Along Bangkok's bustling backpacker ghetto of Khao San Road, travelers say they are also outraged by the continual arrests of western tourists in relation to sex offences.
    They say Gary Glitter, with his long history of run-ins with the law in Britain, Cambodia and now Vietnam, is sending the wrong message to locals about foreign tourists.
    "I think he gives the green light for British men coming over to southeast Asia for sex tourism and possibly create a bad name for any middle-aged men coming over here on legitimate purposes," said 27-year-old British tourist, Katie Smith.
    "I would say that anyone that comes into a country and thinks that they can do whatever they want simply because they have the money to do it or the fame or the power, I think it's wrong. It gives everybody a bad name," said American traveler, Eric James, after traveling extensively in Thailand, Cambodia, Laos, Burma and Indonesia.
    While countries like Thailand have cracked down on foreigners seeking underage sex, UNICEF estimates that at least 95 per cent of the demand is actually coming from within Asia itself.
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