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Article Excerpt
I. INTRODUCTION
The commercial sexual exploitation of minors by international tourists is a humanitarian tragedy carried out on a grand scale with virtually no repercussions for the criminal perpetrators. (1) According to End Child Prostitution in Asian Tourism (ECPAT), an international child advocacy organization based in Bangkok, child prostitution in developing countries is a culturally embedded problem that is significantly exacerbated by foreign tourists. (2) The United States is one of the "sending countries" that enables the international child sex market to flourish by providing a wealthy and willing customer base. (3)
Although exact figures of the number of American tourists who travel abroad for the purpose of engaging in sex with minors are difficult to obtain, arrest/detention records of popular travel destinations in the developing world, such as Southeast Asian countries, reveal a significant U.S. presence. (4) These records, however, are limited in their ability to provide an accurate assessment of the overall magnitude of the problem, because most sex tourists evade arrest in the countries in which they commit their crimes. (5) According to the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on the Judiciary, "[s]ex tourists often escape prosecution in the host countries" because of factors "ranging from ineffective law enforcement, lack of resources, corruption, and immature legal systems." (6) Most developing nations have little incentive for domestic enforcement because tourism is one of the main driving forces behind their economies. (7)
Over the past decade, the U.S. has publicly recognized the severity of the problem of child sexual exploitation on a global level and has undertaken measures designed to help solve the problem. (8) In 1994, President Clinton signed into law the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994, better known as the Crime Bill. (9) The legislation included a provision, referred to as the Child Sexual Abuse Prevention Act, which made it a criminal offense to travel abroad for the purpose of engaging in sexual activity with a minor. (10) In June 2002, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the Sex Tourism Prohibition Improvement Act of 2002, declaring the bill would "close significant loopholes" in the existing law. (11) Certain provisions included in this bill became law in April 2003, when President George W. Bush signed the PROTECT Act. (12) In addition, in December 2002, the U.S. became the forty-second country to ratify the Optional Protocol to the United Nations (U.N.) Convention on the Rights of the Child on the Sale of Children, Child Prostitution, and Child Pornography. (13) Adopted by the U.N. General Assembly in 2000, the Optional Protocol is the first instrument of international law to provide a framework for the criminalization of the actions of child sex abusers on a global level. (14)
Through its legislative efforts and support for the Optional Protocol, the U.S. has taken steps to acknowledge the gravity of the global problem of child sexual exploitation, as well as the complicity of U.S. citizens in its perpetuation. However, recognition of the severity of the problem, although an important development, is only the first step in the process of addressing child sexual exploitation in a meaningful and effective way. Since its passage in 1994, the Child Sexual Abuse Prevention Act has resulted in few actual prosecutions of U.S. nationals who traveled abroad for the purpose of committing sex crimes against minors. (15) Other "sending" countries, some with comparable extra-territorial legislation and some with more comprehensive laws, have also encountered low levels of enforcement. (16)
Part II of this Comment provides background on the extent of the problem of sex tourism. Part III explores the responses of the U.S and Australia on the one hand, and "receiving" countries on the other, examining what these nations are and are not doing in the areas of law and enforcement. Part IV describes the collective diplomatic reaction of the international community, and Part V concludes with recommendations for future U.S. initiatives to combat the complicity of U.S. citizens in the commercial sexual exploitation of children on a global level.
II. THE EXTENT OF THE PROBLEM
"Tourism and the [sex] industry are mutually reinforcing." (17)
Tourism is one of the largest, most lucrative industries worldwide. (18) For many vacationers, particularly those traveling from industrialized nations to developing countries, paying for sex with a male or female in their destination country is an integral part of the travel experience. (19) Each year foreign travelers from predominantly Western countries pump billions of dollars into the economies of developing nations when they purchase sexual services. (20) This practice, commonly referred to as "sex tourism," although more often than not illegal in both the host country and the country of the traveler's origination, has become widely acknowledged. In fact, it is so common that the New Oxford Dictionary added the phrase "sex tourism" to its publication in 1998. (21)
Whether by preference or circumstance, children are frequently targeted by travelers for commercial sexual exploitation. (22) The U.N. has defined child sex tourism as "tourism organized with the primary purpose of facilitating the effecting of a commercial-sexual relationship with a child." (23) Child advocacy groups identify three major categories of sexual exploitation of minors for monetary gain: prostitution, pornography and trafficking for sexual purposes. (24)
The commercial sexual abuse of minors is not a new phenomenon. (25) It is a culturally embedded, global problem that has existed throughout history, with locals traditionally providing the largest customer base. (26) However, the technological advances that have facilitated global travel in the twentieth and twenty-first century have enabled a much broader, international range of consumers to travel long distances to obtain sex with minors. (27)
Although foreign demand for commercial sex in developing countries is significantly outweighed by local demand, the presence of international consumers and the financial resources that accompany them are significant factors in the perpetuation of the sex industry worldwide. (28) Additionally, the dramatic financial disparity between customers from industrialized "sending" countries and those who service them in the "receiving countries" results in a heightened imbalance of power that increases tourists' access to children and presents disincentives for local governments to criminally prosecute the perpetrators. (29)
A. THE EXPLOITED
Due to the covert nature of child sexual exploitation and the lack of a comprehensive methodology for tracking the levels of involvement of children in the sex industry, both governmental agencies and youth advocacy organizations are hesitant to assign concrete figures to the numbers of minors involved. (30) Reliable estimates are exceedingly difficult to obtain, as much of the evidence of child exploitation is anecdotal. (31) Consequently, figures vary. (32) Nevertheless, most organizations are in agreement that the commercial sexual abuse of children occurs at an alarming rate. (33) UNICEF has estimated that there are more than one million child prostitutes in Asia alone. (34) While child commercial sexual exploitation has customarily been associated with Asian countries such as Thailand, the Philippines, Sri Lanka and Taiwan, it has become a significant social problem in Africa and Latin America, and the trafficking of youth into the sex industry is on the rise in Eastern Europe. (35)
Part of the difficulty in obtaining accurate empirical data is the lack of a universal definition of what constitutes a child. (36) While the U.N. Convention on the Rights of the Child defines children as "every human being below the age of eighteen years," the age of majority for the purpose of consent varies from country to country. (37)
Although the breadth of the child sex industry is difficult to measure, reasons why children are drawn into it are more easily discernable. Money is almost always at the root of the problem. (38) Most children who are coerced or lured into the sex industry come from extremely poor, rural areas, where one daughter's earnings as a prostitute could support an entire family. (39) Some children are knowingly sold into prostitution by their parents, while others are duped into separating from their families based on the false promises of recruiters who offer aid in securing legitimate employment for the child only to market that child into the sex industry for personal profit. (40)
Many children who suffer psychological or physical abuse from their families take to the streets and become casualties of the sex industry due to financial necessity. (41) Additionally, significant numbers of women and children are abducted either forcibly or based on false promises, trafficked across national lines, and coerced into engaging in sexual activity for the profit of others. (42)
B. THE PERPETRATORS
A common misperception about child sex abusers is that they are all pedophiles. (43) Although it is true that pedophiles contribute to the problem, the majority of customers who pay money to sexually exploit children are first and foremost prostitute users. (44) They may or may not actively seek out underage victims, and their use of sex workers may be habitual or situational. (45) Moreover, they come from all walks of life. (46) They are predominantly male and predominantly from wealthy, industrialized nations like the U.S., Germany, the U.K., Australia, France and Japan. (47)
Children may be sought out as the victims of sexual exploitation for a variety of reasons. In many countries a premium is placed on purchasing sex with virgins, who are prized not only for their youth, but also for their purity and expected lack of sexually transmitted diseases. (48) This expectation of purity is often mistakenly extended to all children. (49) Some abusers prize the innocence of children while others correlate youth with beauty or attractiveness. (50) Some tourists' choice of minors as the objects of their sexual attention is rooted in a racist ideology that views children from other cultures as more highly sexualized than those in the West and perceives sex with children in foreign cultures as being "natural." (51) Others justify their actions as being financially beneficial for destitute children. (52) Some sex tourists do not claim to choose youth at all, generally denying that the person they were sexually involved with was underage and renouncing any kind of moral complicity for the perpetuation of the child sex industry. (53)
C. IMPACT ON CHILDREN
Although many tourists seek out children believing them to be free of sexually transmitted diseases such as AIDS, children are actually at a greater risk of contracting infections because their body tissue is more fragile than that of adults. (54) Additionally, young prostitutes are less likely to be in a position to enforce the practice of safe sex with uncooperative customers. (55) The U.N. estimates that more than fifty percent of new HIV infections worldwide are occurring in people between the ages of fifteen to twenty-four, and ten percent of infections are being transmitted to children under the age of fifteen. (56) Furthermore, prostituted children experience high rates of other sexually transmitted diseases, such as herpes, chlamydia, crabs, gonorrhea and syphilis. (57)
For many sexually exploited children, life is a battleground that involves constant physical and psychological abuse (58) They are targets for rape, assault, torture, abuse and murder by traffickers, pimps, and customers. (59) They are, more often than not, poorly fed, inadequately sheltered and prime candidates for malnutrition. (60) Not surprisingly, researchers report that children who are subjected to inappropriate sexual attention at an early age experience acute psychological harm, often resulting in symptoms such as depression, lack of self esteem and posttraumatic stress disorder. (61) Suicide is a common escape for sexually exploited children. (62)
D. THE FACILITATORS
A broad network of adults enables and facilitates the commercial sexual exploitation of children. (63) On a micro-level, family members or recruiters (often former sex workers themselves) may be responsible for a child's initial entry into the sex industry. (64) On a broader level, community leaders may be complicit in the cycle of exploitation when they accept money to stay quiet or simply look the other way as children from their village are trafficked. (65) Corrupt law enforcement officials may accept bribes or even sexual services in return for not arresting pimps or brothel owners. (66) And recent trends indicate that organized criminal networks have recognized the lucrative nature of the child sex trade and are increasingly becoming involved in the system to share in the profits. (67)
E. ROLE OF "SEX TOUR" OPERATORS
The modern business of child sexual exploitation is both highly organized and aggressively marketed. (68) As of 1996, over twenty-five companies in the U.S. were known to offer "sex tour"--package deals for travel to either Southeast Asia or other developing countries, including round trip airfare, accommodations, ground transportation, a local guide, and thinly-veiled promises of facilitated sexual encounters with local girls. (69) Sex tour operators in the U.S. often market their access to child prostitutes using euphemistic language such as "fresh young ladies" and "beautiful, unspoiled girls." (70) One U.S.-based sex tour operator promises customers that they will "never sleep alone on this tour," and could potentially have sex with a different girl every day, "two if you can handle it." (71) There is no doubt that sex tour operators encourage and enable a group of customers who might not have the audacity on their own to sexually exploit women and children in developing countries. (72) However, it is unlikely that those who participate in organized sex tours constitute a majority of child sex abusers. (73) Rather, a good number of abusers are independent travelers, whether in the host country on vacation or for business purposes. (74) They are willing and able to engage in sexual acts with minors in large part because they are not afraid of being caught or criminally prosecuted for their acts. (75)
III. LAW & ENFORCEMENT
A. RECEIVING COUNTRIES
International child sex tourists face little fear of repercussion for their acts because there is a relatively low risk of prosecution in the countries where they commit their crimes. (76) This is true despite the fact that most child sex tourism destination countries have laws against prostitution. (77) In many host countries, there appears to be a glaring disconnect between the prostitution laws on the books and the actions taken by government officials to enforce those laws. (78)
In Thailand, for example, prostitution was outlawed in 1960. (79) Although the Thai Penal Code recognizes prostitution as a crime, Thai business law (80) treats it as a "personal" or "special" service, which is generally left alone by Thai police. (81) Costa Rica, an increasingly popular sex tourist destination, has specific laws that enable the government to criminally prosecute child sex offenders. (82) While these laws are relatively stringent, they are rarely enforced. (83)
A major obstacle to effective enforcement of anti-prostitution laws is corruption among police officers and public officials. (84) In Cambodia, for example, Dr. Kek Galabru, president of Licadho, a human rights group, asserts that public officials profit greatly from protection of the child sex trade and are themselves frequent patrons of brothels where children are sold. (85) This serves to discourage enforcement by police. (86) In addition, in some host countries, the police are willing to accept protection fees from brothel owners or bribes from customers. (87) In certain countries, allowing the sexual exploitation of women and children to take place is regarded as a necessary component of maintaining local order. (88)
Additionally, many developing countries simply do not have adequate resources to invest in proper training and law enforcement. (89) Funding necessary to support effective prosecution of child sexual exploiters is either impossible to provide or stymied by the incredibly lucrative nature of the tourism industry. (90) A report by the Judiciary Committee of the U.S. House of Representatives asserts that "[b]ecause poor countries are often under economic pressure to develop tourism, those governments often turn a blind eye toward this devastating problem [of commercial sexual exploitation of children] because of the income it produces." (91)
Moreover, when host countries do apply laws against the sexual exploitation of children, the application of the laws may be misguided. (92) Frequently the victims, rather than the offenders, are punished. (93) Law enforcement officials are more likely to crack down on and imprison child sex-workers than their adult clients. (94)
B. LAW AND ENFORCEMENT IN THE UNITED STATES
i. A History of Complicity
Historically, there has been a disconnect between U.S. domestic policies on prostitution and...
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