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Child Sex Tourism in Sri Lanka and Future Child
By: U.A.J.Manawasinghe ourism is a fast growing industry, which is Sri Lanka's fourth largest foreign exchange earner; it is highly contribute to the country's economic growth. Therefore the growth of the economy will offer employment opportunities to the people and it will help to enhance their living condition. Apart from that, tourism is negatively affected to the society too, for an example child abuse in tourism is concerned. Child Sex Tourism (CST) victimizes approximately 2 million children around the world. Especially Asian countries like Thailand, India, Malaysia and Sri Lanka. Child sex tourism (CST) in the sense "the sexual exploitation of children by a person or persons who travel from their home district, home geographical region, or home country and have sexual contact with children". Child sex tourists can be domestic travelers or they can be international tourists (Sexual Exploitation in Travel and Tourism is included End Child Prostitution, Child Pornography, Trafficking of Children for sexual purposes) CST is a global crisis, and according to UNICEF about two million children are abused in the multi-billion dollar commercial sex industry that includes CST. Sri Lanka has witnessed an increase in CST over the past twenty years. According to the statistical reports, Six hundred advertisements for Sri Lankan children appeared on the internet in October 1997. This phenomenon is badly affected to our children. Most children who are sexually abused or exploited by tourists are from poor communities. Poverty is the main thing, which leads these children into CST. Those community's children have found CST as novel and easy method of making money and supporting their families. Some parents are also trying to send their children (especially boys) to pedophiles. Due to their poverty clothes, food, money and even the opportunity to travel overseas are affected to draw children into CST. Compared to other South Asian countries where exploitation of girls is a problem, in Sri Lanka it is boys who are vulnerable than girls. It's estimated that approximately 5000 to 36,000 boy child victims of prostitution in some coastal districts of Sri Lanka.it is caused to unawareness of parents about danger. Apart from poverty, globalization, migration, civil
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unrest, social and gender discrimination, irresponsible male sexual behavior, weak legislative and judicial systems, inadequate and non-child-friendly policies are some of the other factors that have led to the increased number of CST cases. CST has become a big issue because it entails long term physical, psychological and social consequences. Those impacts can be divided as a social and individual impact. Social impacts : o Health risks - especially HIV/AIDS and STD affect local community o Social and cultural damage: loss of cultural identity and dependency on tourist dollars o Damage to image of destination and tourism industry extremely difficult to shed image of sex tourism o Undermines sustainable tourism development - unstable investment prospects Individual impacts: o Long-term psychological (and possibly physical) traumatisation o Health risks - especially HIV/AIDS and STD o Stigmatization by family and close community o Economic difficulties resulting from marginalisation - vicious circle leading back to prostitution o Loss of self-esteem These children who are a victim of sexual abuse may suffer serious, lifelong or even life-threatening consequences, Therefore it is crucial that CST should be eliminated from our society. It is everyone's responsibility to protect children from this violence. And also, It must be stressed that "children are not a tourists' attraction". Like Government, community leaders, journalists, hoteliers, families and children and adolescent, these every party should take steps to make child sex tourism free environment. Children are innocent like flowers. They make the world a beautiful place and they are the future of our country. Therefore, Everyone has responsibility to save our future generation from child sex tourism.