OUR
EXPERIENCE AND THOUGHTS:
It is not a pretty thing to see children who are a part
of the sex industry and human sex-trade. It’s even
worse to see drunken men talking to the children and arranging
“dates” with them. When I was in Cambodia, I
witnessed a horrible act that I will never forget. The act
that I witnessed was an older drunk man flirting with a
young girl. I guessed the girl to be anywhere from 8 to
13 years of age and the man to be around 45. The girl was
a book seller by day and part of the sex tourism by night.
Any
reasonable, decent, honorable human being knows that sex
tourism is wrong on many levels, yet according to World
Vision, “It is estimated that two million children
are enslaved in the global commercial sex trade.”
They also state that “Sex tourists travel to countries
such as Cambodia, Thailand, Costa Rica, Mexico and Brazil,
expecting anonymity, low-cost prostitution, easily accessible
children and impunity from prosecution. World Vision says
that, “Notably, it is estimated that one-third of
the prostitutes in Cambodia are children.”
There
is hope. While in Cambodia, we saw signs that said, “Abuse
a Child in This Country, Go to Jail in Yours” and
“Stop Child Sex Tourism.” Would Vision is responsible
for these signs that are promoting their cause. It’s
a great step towards saving the children. The US State department
is also beginning to work hard to stop this crime. The US
Ambassador was instrumental in working to bring attention
to these crimes. We hope more can be done.
A friend of ours who works in Cambodia mentioned to us that
the children who are prostitutes are very likely to die
of AIDS.
Facts from World Vision:
• U.S. citizens account for an estimated 25% of child
sex tourists worldwide.
See
their video on sex-tourism prevention: http://www.worldvision.org
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