Most child sex offenders are Asians
The majority of child sex tourists in Southeast Asia are Asians. The Asean Economic Community, which will come into effect at the end of 2015, poses a major risk to children because border restrictions will be lifted. Myanmar is emerging as a destination for child sex as it has become easier to visit.
These are the three main conclusions of the report 'Protecting the Future: Improving the Response to Child Sex Offending in Southeast Asia' by the UN Regional Office of Drugs and Crime (UNODC), a report that has not been released, but is used in training of police personnel.
According to Jeremy Douglas, regional representative, the image that child sex tourists are Western men is incorrect. The number of Asians who indulge in child sex is higher, according to research done from 2003 to 2013 years. The vast majority are Japanese. In Thailand, 30 percent of child sex crimes are committed by the British, followed closely by men from the US and Germany.
Douglas says there is a correlation between tourism and child sexual exploitation. With the development of the region, more and more young victims are at risk. That does not bode well for the future, because the number of tourists to the Asean countries is expected to rise from 40 million this year to 112 million in 2018.
According to the UNODC, regional authorities are currently failing to exchange information and there are too many loopholes in the legal process. The UN office advocates the creation of a database of delinquents so that they can be stopped at the border.
A recent example of how things can go wrong was the Canadian who was sent back to Canada after several years in prison in Thailand, although he was wanted in Cambodia for child sex.
Child sex, Douglas argues, is facilitated by corruption at every level as the perpetrators bribe the police and poor families. This is evident from workshops that the UNODC has given to police officers in the region. The officers admit that corruption is the reason why investigations fail.
So far, the UNODC has trained XNUMX police officers. Another XNUMX are on the waiting list. But it is a drop in the ocean compared to the millions of police officers working in the region, said Margaret Akullo, UNODC Program Coordinator, who sees the training as only the beginning of an effective approach to the issue.
(Source: Bangkok Post, October 11, 2014)