tourism & sexual exploitation of Children

We picture the crystal blue waters and the warm sun shining against our skin. We plan trips in the outdoors and adventures across all our favourite tourist attractions. We splurge on food and gifts to take home. We live lavish in hotels, sit by the pool for happy hour and sip on our favourite cocktails but do we plan a day for child sex tourism? For most of us no. For most of us, that's not something that's ever been heard of. But, for far too many, it is the sole reason to travel to Bali. Each year, over a million children have been exploited into child sex tourism, being prostituted with the fuel of various institutionalised oppression. One of the most heartbreaking realities is the overwhelming rate of child sex prostitution that is occurring within the walls of orphanages. A place where children are supposedly being cared for and supposedly safe. It has always been common knowledge that orphanages are not short of outrageous corruption and exploitation but child sex tourism is a concept many would have never of expected.

The ‘tourists’ who are engaging in these acts of violence and exploitation against children travel overseas, commonly to developing countries such as Bali due to the vulnerability that these countries and communities face. The law enforcement is low and the corruption is high, children are being paraded as commodities and poverty is used as leverage. Once a child has been picked up, exploiters use accommodation and tourist related services to facilitate contact with the child. The use of tourist related areas allows the exploiter to seem inconspicuous and fuels the power imbalance. An exchange often happens to a third party and includes anything ranging from cash to clothes. Child sex tourism occurs in various locations including red light districts, five star hotels and standard urban settings. In some circumstances, tours have been organised for the purpose of child sexual abuse although many independently seek out organisations / institutions that provide booking services such as orphanages.

I myself was once guilty of the narrative that people would travel overseas and snatch kids from the street, being kidnapped for the purpose of child sex tourism. It came to my chilling surprise that the majority of these children are in institutions that allow tourists to “borrow” the child for the day. Treating them like nothing more than a book borrowed from a library. Though the majority are male, exploiters can be female, high or low socioeconomic status, foreign, local and with no particular features or mannerisms. From all walks of life, exploiters can be categorised into three types; paedophile, preferential or situational. The idea of a preference, to look at a child with sexual desires is chilling.

The Australian Government implemented the Commonwealth Criminal Code Act 1995 which creates offences for individuals engaging in child sex tourism with the aim to protect children and decrease prevalence. Australia as well as other countries view this issue as a top priority in conjunction with the United Nations rights of the child although perhaps perspectives need to be shifted. Children’s rights campaigner Bernadette McMenamin stated that in a ten year span, approximately 4,000 Australians are engaged in regular sex tours in just South East Asia alone and of those, there was only 16 prosecutions. So, we can have our Commonwealth Criminal Code Act 1995 but how much impact is it actually having? How much can be prevented if the very countries where children are being exploited are being compliant. The Indonesian orphanages as well as Cambodian and various others in the South East Asian area are aware of the corruption and exploitation occurring in their orphanages. The Indonesian government has acknowledged the issue as a major problem particularly in Bali although it does not see much of an option in resolutions. It is recognised by the Indonesian Government that child sex tourism will just be moved elsewhere if shut down. That level of inactiveness seems like compliance and acceptance to children being exploited and repeatedly sexually abused as a tourist attraction. Australia has encouraged tourists to report any suspicious activity that they come across and repost these sightings to the federal police but is this enough? Indonesia and specifically Bali is Australia’s second most traveled country. Yes, child sex tourism is occurring in many countries but with high rates in Indonesia as well as Australians being more likely to travel there to engage in these acts, shouldn’t we as a nation be collectively tackling the issue with Indonesia together?

If they are silent, they are compliant and we can punish those who are involved in disgusting acts of exploitation against children but where is the accountability from Indonesia and the desire to put an end to the name being created about their tourism… where is the accountability from Thailand …. From the Philippines…. From the countries who allow the issue to continue. It's common for issues to go away with money handed to law enforcement when perpetrators have been caught, so how can we encourage an end to the issue when law enforcement are benefiting from the corruption. Yes it is illegal in Bali to to enagge in child prostitution but the loop holes are enormous and the enforcement of that law is low, creating opportunity for tourists to visit and sexually abuse children without being caught by Australia and without being stopped by Indonesia.

We need to stop the normalisation. Online travel forums will joke and the topic is mentioned as a norm with humour but it needs to be addressed. Australia holds the western privilege as the country to homes the tourists engaging in child sex trafficking. When we travel to non- western countries, the law is not above us. We hear people joke about the standards of living within countries that have high rates of children being exploited but I ask you this, if it were Australia experiencing tourists entering our country to exploit our children, would we still laugh? Would we still normalise the issue? Would we still allow it to happen?