By Jennifer McPhee

Most people travel to exotic destinations to learn about different cultures and relax on sandy beaches. But some tourists arrive with more sinister intentions.

Every year, thousands of tourists visit countries such as Cambodia, Thailand, Costa Rica, Mexico and Brazil for the purpose of having sex with the world’s poorest children. Perpetrators often use the Internet to locate places where minors from desperate families are readily available and where police or hotel employees will look the other way. 

The multibillion-dollar child sex trade thrives in places with exploding tourism industries, which also suffer from widespread poverty and unemployment. Poor children growing up near major tourist destinations are most vulnerable.

Recruiters often lure children into the sex trade with false promises of legitimate jobs. Sometimes impoverished families sell their children, some as young as five, into prostitution because they desperately need money.

Aside from the obvious horrors of life as a sex worker, there are additional atrocities visited upon these young children. Some are smuggled across borders and never seen again. And those who are rescued often suffer from sexually transmitted diseases, along with trauma-induced emotional or psychiatric problems.

Building Awareness
Canadians are becoming more aware of this reprehensible problem because of high-profile prosecutions involving several Canadians abroad.

Campaigns aimed at educating travellers and deterring potential perpetrators are also bringing much-needed attention to these issues.

Canada is among a number of countries that have passed laws aimed at fighting the global sex trade. World Vision Canada provided input into changes to Canada’s Criminal Code, which currently allows Canadians to be prosecuted at home for sexual crimes committed against children in foreign countries.

Socially Responsible Tourism
When travelling to high-risk destinations, you can support socially responsible tourism by staying at hotels and using tourism companies that have signed the global code of conduct. The code was created in 1999 by the World Tourism Organization and Nordic tour operators, and is aimed at protecting children from sexual exploitation.

When you are travelling and witness anything suspicious, don’t ignore it. Instead, you should: 

• Report your observations to local police, your tour operator, hotel manager and nearest Canadian embassy.
• Upon returning home, tell your travel agent or tourism rep what you saw and encourage them to take action.
• It’s also important not to visit known red-light districts. Even making seemingly benign purchases in these areas could indirectly support the exploitation of children.

A Multi-faceted Response
World Vision Canada is currently funding a three-year anti-trafficking program in Asia’s Mekong Delta—which includes, Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam.

The preventative component of the project supports community-based solutions that address reasons why children become vulnerable to involvement in the sex trade, the biggest of which is poverty. Children are taught about the dangers of trafficking and given skills necessary to earn an adequate income.

The protective component of this project helps victims of child sex tourism recover by providing them with medical care, counselling and livelihood training.

Finally, the prosecutorial component involves working with national police forces to improve justice for victims of human trafficking. World Vision has helped law enforcement agencies in foreign countries enforce their own laws and has also worked with Canadian law enforcement agencies investigating crimes.

Child sponsorship is one of the best ways to prevent innocent children from being exploited. It assists them to stay in school and helps families out of desperate circumstances by giving them ways to earn an income. Click here to learn more about child sponsorship.