Sri Lanka-Prostitution/
FEATURE: Sex tourists in Sri Lanka make life hell for children
By Juergen Hein, dpa =
Colombo (dpa) - Niluka from Sri Lanka was just seven years old
when her childhood came to an abrupt end.
The little girl fell into the clutches of a pimp who ran a brothel
for tourists on one of the beaches near the island capital Colombo.
Even when social services workers tried to help her Niluka was too
frightened to give evidence against the vice racketeer and told
police she was not being abused.
When police questioned other child prostitutes in the area they
also denied they were part of a prostitution racket.
The children kept quiet for fear of reprisals by the people
manipulating them, said Maureen Seneviratne, chairperson of non-
governmental organization PEACE. She has just issued a harrowing
collection of case studies on child prostitution in Sri Lanka.
Niluka is one of more than an estimated 10,000 boys and girls
abused every year by sex tourists and pornographic filmmakers who
have turned the island paradise into a hell for some innocent
children.
"It hurt every time and the pain never stopped" Gamini Fernando, a
street boy "trained" for sex by a foreigner, was quoted in the report
as saying.
Another youngter whose name was given as William took a job as a
lift boy in a hotel but was quickly drawn into the sex business. At
the age of 14 he was hospitalised with syphilis. "Many of the
children have contracted sexual diseases, including AIDS," said
Seneviratne.
For Seneviratne "poverty is the main reason for the fate of these
children. Most of them come from dysfunctional homes".
Either the child's mother works abroad or the father is a drinker
or else both parents are poor and cannot cope with looking after
their offspring.
This is when pimps move in, sometimes hiring their victims from
relatives for paltry sums of money. In some cases they pick up
children on the streets and lure them into the trade.
"The families need an alternative so that things can change" said
Seneviratne.
For many tourists Sri Lanka is a paradise. South of Colombo there
are endless palm-fringed beaches and many visitors oversee the
poverty lurking in the picturesque fishing villages.
There are also no traces in this area of the brutal war in the
north between the Tamil separatist Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam
(LTTE) and the Sri Lankan army.
Yet the beauty of these locations can be deceptive. Gangs involved
in child sex rent villas and convert them into brothels. According to
Seneviratne, the sexual services of more than 600 children in Sri
Lanka are currently on offer via the Internet.
Experts say it is is hard to mobilize public opinion against the
outrage since articles drawing attention to what is going on can also
attract paedophiles.
Child abusers from abroad may hope to avoid punishment for their
proclivities while indulging in them far from home but the chances of
them being caught and punished are increasing.
PEACE is increasingly lobbying the countries where sex tourists
originate and more than 20 countries, including Germany have laws to
punish sexual offences even if the crime was not committed in their
territory. "These laws are a blessing," said Seneviratne. The law has
existed in Germany since 1993 and there have been a number of
prosecutions.
The paedophiles are also at risk from their own pimps who not only
peddle sex but are happy to pass on to the authorities information on
their clients.
PEACE is at pains to point out that local child abusers still
commit two-thirds of the crimes and that sexual exploitation of
children is a problem of the local society too.
Local laws have been tightened but experts say measures so far are
not sufficient and children continue to be haunted by the traumatic
experiences.
"They need help in order to return to normal life and for that
there are far too few therapy places in Sri Lanka," said Seneviratne.
Evelyn Kaldoja
EV omand nr 48007052748
Tabatav aadressidel
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