US Servas | Key Person Workshop Report

UN Reports |

Summer 2002

Sex Tourism

By Sharon L. Wallenberg, Main US Servas UN Rep

ECPAT-USA Testifies Before the U S Senate

“I’m here to tell you something about the problem of child sex tourism, how it intersects with the larger crime of trafficking in persons, and what can be done to stop it.” Thus began Carol Smolenski, of ECPAT-USA (End Child Prostitution, Child Pornography and Trafficking of Children for Sexual Purposes) in her testimony before the United States Senate.

Testimony continued. “One reason that people travel abroad is to experience something of the local cultures, to experience the exotic; to live, if ever so briefly, outside the confines of their every day life. Some of these people are called sex tourists. They are people who go on vacation in order to have repeated sexual contact with the local population. In the same way that some people go on skiing holidays, or experience local culture through visits to museums or theaters, sex tourists travel to have sex. They go to a place where they are unknown and can behave in a way friends and neighbors back home would find unacceptable. Child sex tourists seek out sex with children.

Child sex tourists are not just pedophiles, though pedophiles do abuse many children. There are other sex tourists who are not pedophiles. These are people, I should say men, because men are by far the majority of child sex abusers, these are men who wish to experiment by having children as sexual partners when they are in a situation where they believe this is acceptable behavior, for example, in a foreign country, with a racial group different from their own. Or, they have sex with children because they simply do not care whether their sex partner is 12, 18, or 25 as long as that partner meets certain physical requirements that the man considers attractive. Since so many societies and cultures consider an attractive “woman” to be one who is slender, fit, youthful and young looking, it is very likely that a man will seek out a young girl for a sex partner.

Men who travel with Sex Tours say they believe that it is culturally acceptable and legal to have sex with children in other countries. They even convince themselves that they are helping the children in these poor countries because they give them money. Sex tour destinations increase the demand for more bodies in the brothels. People are ‘trafficked’ to sex tour destinations to meet the demand. Trafficked children may have been sold by their parents to traffickers, or may have believed, as many women have, that they would find legitimate work at their destination.

As we speak, children are being forced into the sex business and American men are eagerly joining the ranks of those who seek out their bodies. The U.S. must stop the contribution that American men make to this abhorrent practice. The U.S. trafficking bill successfully focuses on the supply side. This is a market in children bodies. It is time to stop the demand!”

In September 2000, Servas sponsored the U.N. weekly briefing to NGOs with a presentation on Travel at which Ms. Smolenski was a member of our panel. Servas Hosts and Travelers hold the right and priviledge of Travel in the highest regard. As members you are invited to demonstrate this responsibility. ECPAT-USA has produced a brochure and poster targeted to the Travel Industry on how they can help to end child sex tourism. For copies, please contact the Servas office in New York or you may contact ECPAT directly at (212) 717-2530, ecpatusa@hotmail.com or http://www.ecpatusa.org/.

CASA ALIANZA, a Central American NGO

CASA ALIANZA, a Central American NGO, is actively involved in the cause of sex tourism. They have obtained two special rapporteurs from the United Nations which have contacted the Guatemalan government concerned that foreign trafficked girls used for sexual exploitation in Guatemala are immediately jailed when rescued from brothels.

The UN Special Rapporteur on Abritrary Detention and the UN Special Rapporteur on the Sale of Children, Child Prostitution and Child Pornography have sent urgent faxes to the Guatemalan Minister of Foreign Affairs and to Guatemala’s Permanent Mission to the United Nations in Geneva expressing their concerns over the detention of seven children from El Salvator who were rescued by the police. Instead of the children being sent to an adequate home for trafficked victims, the six girls – as young as 14 and one of them pregnant – were sent to the Gorriones Juvenile Detention Center for Girls, and the boy was sent to a center for deliquent boys.

The UN is concerned about the application of the antiquated 1969 Children’s Code in Guatemala that allows judges to lock up children ‘for their own protection’. The seven children were discovered in the Club Ejecutivo Internacional following a complaint by an adult worker. They had been duped into leaving El Salvador to work in ‘legitimate’ work places only to find themselves forced into prostitution.

Two men have been arrested in connection with the trafficking of the children but the UN is highly concerned that the victims are also being treated as criminals. The girls were later transferred to a home run by the Secretary of Social Welfare in Antigua, Guatemala. “Trafficked children are victims, not criminals”, explained Bruce Harris, the Regional Director of Latin American programs for Casa Alianza. “The children should be given the necessary emotional support rather that be further traumatised and locked up.”

Additionally, an investigation by Casa Alianza in Costa Rica, with the help of both Interpol, Chile and Channel 13 TV, has resulted in the detention of four Chileans and three Americans. The program about the cruel world of child sexual exploitation, transmitted by Channel 13 in Chile, aired on Tuesday, July 2 at 10 p.m. EST in the United States.

United States Servas members interested in further information, or to find out how you can help, can contact Casa Alianza at owner-rapid-response@casa-alianza.org.

For more information about US Servas' UN activities or to get involved, contact the main US Servas UN Rep, Sharon Wallenberg at sharonw77@hotmail.com.


UN Reports \| Summer 2002 Sex Tourism By Sharon L. Wallenberg, Main US Servas UN Rep ECPAT-USA Testifies Before the U S Senate “I’m here to tell you something about the problem of child sex tourism, how it intersects with the larger crime of trafficking in persons, and what can be done to stop it.” Thus began Carol Smolenski, of ECPAT-USA (End Child Prostitution, Child Pornography and Trafficking of Children for Sexual Purposes) in her testimony before the United States Senate. Testimony continued. “One reason that people travel abroad is to experience something of the local cultures, to experience the exotic; to live, if ever so briefly, outside the confines of their every day life. Some of these people are called sex tourists. They are people who go on vacation in order to have repeated sexual contact with the local population. In the same way that some people go on skiing holidays, or experience local culture through visits to museums or theaters, sex tourists travel to have sex. They go to a place where they are unknown and can behave in a way friends and neighbors back home would find unacceptable. Child sex tourists seek out sex with children. Child sex tourists are not just pedophiles, though pedophiles do abuse many children. There are other sex tourists who are not pedophiles. These are people, I should say men, because men are by far the majority of child sex abusers, these are men who wish to experiment by having children as sexual partners when they are in a situation where they believe this is acceptable behavior, for example, in a foreign country, with a racial group different from their own. Or, they have sex with children because they simply do not care whether their sex partner is 12, 18, or 25 as long as that partner meets certain physical requirements that the man considers attractive. Since so many societies and cultures consider an attractive “woman” to be one who is slender, fit, youthful and young looking, it is very likely that a man will seek out a young girl for a sex partner. Men who travel with Sex Tours say they believe that it is culturally acceptable and legal to have sex with children in other countries. They even convince themselves that they are helping the children in these poor countries because they give them money. Sex tour destinations increase the demand for more bodies in the brothels. People are ‘trafficked’ to sex tour destinations to meet the demand. Trafficked children may have been sold by their parents to traffickers, or may have believed, as many women have, that they would find legitimate work at their destination. As we speak, children are being forced into the sex business and American men are eagerly joining the ranks of those who seek out their bodies. The U.S. must stop the contribution that American men make to this abhorrent practice. The U.S. trafficking bill successfully focuses on the supply side. This is a market in children bodies. It is time to stop the demand!” In September 2000, Servas sponsored the U.N. weekly briefing to NGOs with a presentation on Travel at which Ms. Smolenski was a member of our panel. Servas Hosts and Travelers hold the right and priviledge of Travel in the highest regard. As members you are invited to demonstrate this responsibility. ECPAT-USA has produced a brochure and poster targeted to the Travel Industry on how they can help to end child sex tourism. For copies, please contact the Servas office in New York or you may contact ECPAT directly at (212) 717-2530, ecpatusa@hotmail.com or http://www.ecpatusa.org/. CASA ALIANZA, a Central American NGO CASA ALIANZA, a Central American NGO, is actively involved in the cause of sex tourism. They have obtained two special rapporteurs from the United Nations which have contacted the Guatemalan government concerned that foreign trafficked girls used for sexual exploitation in Guatemala are immediately jailed when rescued from brothels. The UN Special Rapporteur on Abritrary Detention and the UN Special Rapporteur on the Sale of Children, Child Prostitution and Child Pornography have sent urgent faxes to the Guatemalan Minister of Foreign Affairs and to Guatemala’s Permanent Mission to the United Nations in Geneva expressing their concerns over the detention of seven children from El Salvator who were rescued by the police. Instead of the children being sent to an adequate home for trafficked victims, the six girls – as young as 14 and one of them pregnant – were sent to the Gorriones Juvenile Detention Center for Girls, and the boy was sent to a center for deliquent boys. The UN is concerned about the application of the antiquated 1969 Children’s Code in Guatemala that allows judges to lock up children ‘for their own protection’. The seven children were discovered in the Club Ejecutivo Internacional following a complaint by an adult worker. They had been duped into leaving El Salvador to work in ‘legitimate’ work places only to find themselves forced into prostitution. Two men have been arrested in connection with the trafficking of the children but the UN is highly concerned that the victims are also being treated as criminals. The girls were later transferred to a home run by the Secretary of Social Welfare in Antigua, Guatemala. “Trafficked children are victims, not criminals”, explained Bruce Harris, the Regional Director of Latin American programs for Casa Alianza. “The children should be given the necessary emotional support rather that be further traumatised and locked up.” Additionally, an investigation by Casa Alianza in Costa Rica, with the help of both Interpol, Chile and Channel 13 TV, has resulted in the detention of four Chileans and three Americans. The program about the cruel world of child sexual exploitation, transmitted by Channel 13 in Chile, aired on Tuesday, July 2 at 10 p.m. EST in the United States. United States Servas members interested in further information, or to find out how you can help, can contact Casa Alianza at owner-rapid-response@casa-alianza.org. For more information about US Servas' UN activities or to get involved, contact the main US Servas UN Rep, Sharon Wallenberg at sharonw77@hotmail.com.
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