Introduction
The issue of child-sex tourism and violent activities is crucial in modern society. Hundreds of thousands of individuals around the world are actively involved in these vices. The cases of child-sex tourism have been reported in almost all countries around the world. However, evil practices are characteristic of developing countries. There is a number of reasons why child-sex tourism offenders are involved in illegal activities. While some individuals may do it for fun, others inveigle into these acts to make money. These are the individuals who produce sexually explicit materials in which young children pose as porn stars. It is a common case with pedophiles, for example. Thus, it is highly important to prevent this immorality. In order to achieve this, the officials should focus on dealing with child sex tourism offenders in the illegal business. This paper is aimed at answering the question: why child sex tourism can be prevented if law enforcers focus on this issue in the industry, rather than punishing offenders only.
The Fight Against Child-Sex Tourism
There have always been child-sex tourists. They live among us and roam from state to state looking for young children who can be sexually abused, both willingly and unwillingly. It is impossible to tell whether one is a child sex tourism offender until he or she is caught during the very act or with apparent evidence of this action. Some of these offenders also have more than one passport to hide their real identities (Ennew, 1986). Due to the reasons mentioned earlier in the paper, it is almost impossible to prevent child-sex tourism by merely tracing those individuals, and “locking them behind bars”. Even if those offenders are arrested, chances of recidivism are high once they are released (Baizerman and Stanford-White, 1979). It is especially the case of preferential child-sex tourism. The only option left is to deal with certain people that provide a market for child-sex tourism.
Many child-sex tourists are gone scot-free even after having been accused of child-sex tourism. There is a number of reasons why this injustice is being done repeatedly. The main reason is the cases that involve foreign countries are time-consuming and may take several months, and even years, before the offender reaches his/her verdict. Law enforcers would rather prefer spending this time doing other activities. The second reason is the price of the cases. In the majority of cases, the prices are high because of the transport expenses involved. Lack of commitment by law enforcers makes them forego justice and prefer saving money. Finally, most child-sex tourists are rich individuals who will give anything to evade justice (Constantine and Martinson, 1981). They, therefore, bribe some law enforcers who, as a consequence, drop charges against them. It is evident from this discussion that child-sex tourism can only be prevented if those in the industry are targeted.
Furthermore, a far more serious case is when the victims of child-sex tourism accept bribes from the offenders. The bribe may be a fairly large amount that will certainly convince the victim not to use against the child-sex tourist (Douglas, 1994). It becomes possible, considering the fact that a significant percentage of victims hail from third-world countries. The probability that the victims engage in this activity to allay their utter penury is high. The author of this paper was a witness to this when being on a holiday on the coastal beaches of Kenya. The writer witnessed as young children were brought to the beach by their parents in order to be engaged in child-sex tourism to provide for their families. Such cases indicate that this vice of child-sex tourism can only be prevented if law enforcers deal with those in the industry.
While dealing with child-sex tourism, it is also important to look at the reason why young children are caught in this immorality. As it has been discussed earlier in this paper, some of them do this to earn a living. The only way to stop further indulgence of these children in child-sex tourism is to take lawful measures against their parents. However, there are children who do this for fun. According to Christiane (1981), there are even those who run away from their homes to delve into this detestable activity. In this case, arresting children is the only way to get rid of child-sex tourists. The detention of such children will also help reduce the number of situational child-sex tourists.
Conclusion
In conclusion, from the discussion provided above it is clear that child-sex tourism has become a common case for many countries, especially for the developing ones. It can also be noticed that the efforts taken to alleviate this illegal practices while arresting the offenders was useless. Therefore, the only effective way of dealing with this problem is to take lawful actions against those involved in child-sex tourism. These can be parents, guardians or even children involved in the vice.
Reference List
Baizerman, M. and Stanford-White, K. (1979). Adolescent prostitution. Children Today, 8 (5), 20-24.
Christiane, F. (1981). Autobiography of a child prostitute and heroin addict. London: Corgi.
Constantine L., and Martinson, F.M. (1981). Children and sex: New findings, new perspectives. Boston: Little, Brown and Company.
Douglas, M. (1994). Purity and danger. Routledge: London.
Ennew, J. (1986). The sexual exploitation of children. Cambridge: Polity.