prostitution6

A FILIPINO girl, at the tender age of three, was forced to perform oral sex on
strangers. What's
worse is that her pimp is her own mother, a drug addict.
The girl's plight is shocking but not unique, said Dr Jean D'Cunha from the United
Nations
Development Fund for Women (Unifem).
Children of increasingly young ages are being forced into prostitution to fuel the
billion-dollar
tourism trade in child sex, said international experts on prostitution and human
trafficking at a
conference here.
Add the growing number of similarly victimised young women, and the experts
believe that 'millions'
are being trafficked worldwide for the sex trade. They are convinced the pool is
swelling, but could
not offer definitive figures due to the clandestine nature of the trade.
Another emerging trend is the increasing appetite for Internet child pornography,
said Thailand's Dr
Vitit Muntarbhorn, who added there is a 'great' link between child prostitution and
child
pornography.
About 130 delegates from 14 countries met in Singapore yesterday for a three-day
conference to
see how the demand for child sex tourism and sex trafficking in Asia can be
tackled and reduced.
The conference, said to be the first of its kind here, is organised by Unifem
(Singapore) and its
United States-based partner, the War Against the Trafficking Alliance. It was held
here because
Unifem (Singapore) felt Singapore was ready to take the lead in the region in
tackling the issue,
said its spokesman.
The US says more than a million children are exploited each year in the global sex
trade. Its
government has spent about US$295 million (S$488 million) supporting
anti-trafficking programmes
in 120 countries since 2001.
In the region, Asean leaders pledged last year to fight human trafficking,
especially that of women
and children. They called it an 'emerging regional problem'.
A US expert at yesterday's conference said the victims of sex tourism in
South-east Asia are usually
girls aged between 10 and 18.
Dr Mohamed Mattar of the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced
International Studies also
identified sex tourism hotspots, which include the Philippines, Thailand,
Cambodia and Vietnam.
Among the methods used to 'recruit' children are abduction, as well as false
promises of jobs
abroad.
Experts such as Dr Vitit and Dr Mattar suggested several ways of bringing the
trade to a halt. They
range from engaging hotel chains to fight trafficking, to prosecuting the
wrong-doers, including the
sex tourists.
In the US, more than a dozen Americans have been convicted of having sex with
a child while
abroad. They include an 87-year-old who was put behind bars for 20 years for
going to the
Philippines for sex with children.
At least 30 countries, such as Australia, have passed laws that prosecute their
citizens who travel
overseas for child sex.
Like many experts, Dr Mattar acknowledged that it may not be possible to totally
eliminate the
demand. 'But our goal must at least be to reduce demand,' he added.