Paedophiles shifting focus to Goa, Kerala: report >From Devika Sequeira
DH News Service PANAJI, Aug 29 Tourism-related paedophilia is moving out of Thailand and looking for more vulnerable targets on the beaches of Goa and Kerala, a confidential report commissioned by the British government says. It also said the children in these destinations were particularly vulnerable, because they were often the victims of the connivance of their own parents. The study was carried out by retired British police officer, Rick Wood, who specialises in child-abuse cases. Mr Wood spent two weeks here in 2001, covering beaches and speaking to those employed in the leisure industry and local NGOs. His report was handed over to the Goa Government some eight months ago, with specific recommendations to set up a special police cell and train tourism-related staff to help them identify child sex predators. But there has been no response or action on the part of the Goa Government, highly-placed British diplomatic sources said. They said they were "sorely disappointed" with this attitude, since the study was commissioned after Goa Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar complained to British Deputy High Commissioner Howard Parkinson that Goa was becoming a destination for British paedophiles. “Paedophilia is a highly emotive issue in Britain, and we would do anything to help you catch a British paedophile and keep tourism here clean,” the diplomat said. “Don’t expect anything to come of this, because the Goa police lacks the commitment to handle such cases,” a senior bureaucrat told the British team. Paedophiles were shifting focus to destinations like Goa and Kerala, after the Thai authorities began to clamp down on child sex tourism, the diplomat points out. British authorities said they were keen to fund training and the transfer of expertise in curbing child sex abuse to police and tourism services in Goa. Mr Parkinson is believed to have raised the matter when he met with Mr Parrikar on Thursday. NGOs here point out that the victims are usually street children and urchins from the neighbouring states of Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra. India's first peadophilia case surfaced in Goa with the arrest and conviction some years ago of Indo-German Freddy Peat. One of Peat's accomplices, New Zealand national Eoghan McBride was extradited in 1999 and convicted here last year. At least four other international accomplices have so far escaped the law. (ENDS) ########################################################################## # Send submissions for Goanet to [EMAIL PROTECTED] # # PLEASE remember to stay on-topic (related to Goa), and avoid top-posts # # More details on Goanet at http://joingoanet.shorturl.com/ # # Please keep your discussion/tone polite, to reflect respect to others # ##########################################################################
