The Situation
Despite the fact that the UNCRC is the most widely ratified convention under the United Nations (UN) Human Rights Treaty, it remains merely a document full of ideals and promises to the millions of children around the world who are subjected to extreme inhumane conditions and treatment. No treaty or convention in itself is going to protect our children. It is not until the values and principles behind the many paragraphs take root in the hearts of people at the level of family and community that we can expect change.
Stairway Foundation works at the heart of a child rights crisis. We are based in the Philippines and the core of our advocacy work is Philippines focused. However, through N.G.O. partnerships and trainings our creative advocacy approach has an increasing presence throughout South- and Southeast Asia.
In the midst of the crisis, the children of this region are in need of increased collaboration. They need synergy between NGO’s at the grassroots level to share and implement successful approaches, and it is in this context that Stairway Foundation aims to contribute for change.
Statistics on Child Rights issues have improved little in the last 25 years. Yet we are enthused by the increased level of preventative awareness evident amongst the communities Stairway Foundation and our partners work with. Despite the grim trends and overwhelming figures it is reassuring to know that something can be done. That positive change is possible. The challenge before us now is the scale and character of modern Child Rights abuses and how organizations like ourselves can move with sufficient speed to end future exploitation.
Child Sexual Abuse
Sexual abuse of children is the most insidious form of child abuse. It is committed shrouded in a silence that allows children to remain hidden victims. Thus, there are no accurate statistics to account for those who are victimized and subjected to such abuse. Estimates of children worldwide who are sexually abused, sexually exploited and trafficked are placed in the millions. Boys and girls at any age are all potential victims, and offenders can be anybody, in most cases somebody well known to the child. Sexual abuse is a gross violation of the rights of a child. It impedes the healthy development of the child and undermines the very foundation of childhood itself. Sexual abuse and exploitation are not obvious problems and therefore are possible to ignore. Considering the scope of the problem and the detrimental effects the abuse has on the victims, it is one of the most under addressed issues in the context of children’s rights and child development. There are millions of children around the world who are victims of sexual abuse, and yet very little is being done to help them and to prevent more from following their path of victimization. A low level of awareness, denial and discomfort in dealing with the issue are all factors that contribute to the insufficient response by those in positions to protect our children and keep us from massive intervention.
Child sex tourism
Globalization and cheaper airfares, as well as the Internet, have contributed to the steady growth of the Philippine Tourism industry. With an increasing number of foreign and local tourists traveling to holiday destinations in the Philippines, the government enthusiastically supports the tourism industry as a means of gaining much needed income for the nation. With the industry’s growth, however, comes the rapid growth of an almost hidden phenomenon: child sex tourism. In infancy many tourism developments foresee a heaven for relaxation, good times and good food. But, as can be seen in Puerto Galera in the Philippines, Phuket in Thailand, or Bali in Indonesia, such locations soon turn into a hell for the residents and victims of trafficking, who fall prey to sex tourists. Where there is demand and dollars, the tourism industry’s most destructive transactions soon follow. “Every year thousands of European tourists travel to countries in Asia, South America and Southeast Europe to have sex with minors. Although it is illegal, hardly any of the offenders get caught.” – Terre Des Hommes
Browsing the Internet, one can readily access websites promoting “recreational tours” of the Philippines, selling the idea of meeting attractive single locals – including children. Whether it is Pedophiles who visit for under-aged sex, or “opportunistic” sex offenders, the Philippines offers these people what they are looking for and they face little retribution for their actions. “In addition to the individuals who actually buy sex, there are the traffickers, agents and intermediaries who also profit from the sale of children… there are the entrepreneurs who organize sex tours and who produce tourist brochures promoting the notion that young girls and/or boys are sexually available”. – Victoria Rialp
Children and Hazardous Work in the Philippines
Many can comfortably dismiss the phenomenon of Child Sex Tourism as being a product of poverty. Misleadingly, it has often been typified as the poor “profiteering’’ off their children. Yet the issue runs a lot deeper; reducing the issue to poverty effectively negates the manipulation tactics the sex tourist employs and public indifference to the issue’s widespread existence. A culture of silence regarding child sex tourism and the lame implementation of legislation has made the Philippines a prime global destination for child sex tourists. What’s more, until prevention information is sufficiently distributed, and increased awareness is reached, the vulnerability of children will remain and more children will likely be scarred forever by society’s failure to act.
Child Prostitution
In 1984, UNICEF reported that 7 Philippine provinces were harboring child sex rings; today a high incidence is reported in 37 of the nation’s provinces. Something has gone very wrong! Globally, the Philippines rank fourth amongst nine (9) countries with the most number of child prostitutes. Researchers place the number somewhere between 60,000 and 100,000, yet cloaked in such secrecy the true number could be disturbingly higher. Our minds lack the capacity to fathom what motivates a person to engage in sex with a child. Likewise, our minds lack the experience to really comprehend what damage such a person inflicts.
The mindset behind the demand for child prostitutes is at once fed by outdated cultural myths and weak justifications. Amongst some men in Southeast Asia there is the belief that sex with a minor/virgin will increase a man’s virility; they convince themselves that children have rejuvenating or reinvigorating qualities. On top of a political environment conducive to their offending, Western pedophiles apparently target the Asian children for their “smooth skin.” And some offenders even go so far as believing that by having sex with a minor they are immune to HIV/AIDS or other sexually transmitted diseases.
At the end of the day there is no justification. And as long as child-sex predators act under the nose of the law without fear, as long as communities are lured and deceived by false promises, and as long as law enforcement agents continue their clandestine collaboration with brothels and pimps more and more children will become entrapped.
“The experience of social workers in Asia is that few children rescued from brothels have been able to live anything like a normal life again… the wisdom of ending the prostitution of children has been confirmed” – Ron O’Grady, ECPAT
Child pornography
Child pornography is the explicit visual record of sexual acts involving children. Like the commercialization of child sex tourism, lucrative incentives and substandard legislative enforcement encourages the global expansion of child pornography activities. In order to sell child pornography and avoid detection publishers operate behind a maze of covers that consumers learn to negotiate. Furthermore, a recent and disturbing trend is the evolution of a ‘’cottage industry’’ whereby pedophiles are able to swap/trade images in virtual communities without the trace of a transaction. Whilst this makes detection difficult and enables consumers worldwide to directly participate in the sexual abuse of children, considerable progress is being made to prosecute them. Partnerships between global law enforcement and NGOs, and most recently the cooperation of corporations such as Microsoft and Google, are collectively reducing channels of distribution and consumption. We depend on the vigilance of surveillance and rescue teams, and of referral networks that support and assist victims. Moreover, after care services, legal protection, counseling and reintegration are critical in addressing child pornography. – Nicolas K. Alilpui, UNICEF
As communities in the U.S.A. and Europe become more effective in their child pornography prevention measures, increasingly producers look for their victims in countries with weak rule of law and a population vulnerable to enticement and deception. Nevertheless, we would be mistaken to confine the producer profile to westerners only. Easy access to the Internet and recording technology—such as web cameras, camcorders and cellular phone cameras—has lead to the proliferation of majority world producers and distributers also. “Pedophiles frequently admit that child pornography fuels their fantasies and played an important part in leading them to commit physical sexual offences against children. The link between viewing child pornography and offending is increasing.”
ChildWise
In countries such as the Philippines or Cambodia, the present social and political infrastructure lacks the capacity to protect all children from the re-presentation of their abuse. And while we are without statistics detailing just how many children are exploited for child pornography, there are an estimated 100,000 websites offering child pornography, and approximately 20,000 images of child pornography are posted on the Internet each week. To “do the math” is devastating.