The Dark Side of Tourism Preys on the Children of Cambodia

There is growing interest in Cambodia as a vacation destination, but Cambodia also is a destination for tens of thousands of men from around the world seeking sex with children. This week, when delegates to the World Tourism Organization conference meet here, they should find ways to help protect children from tourism’s dark side.

An estimated 1 million children are believed to enter the multibillion-dollar illegal sex market each year, according to statistics from an international gathering of child activists, including the United Nations, in 1996. Once children are coerced into “the oldest profession,” they are exploited, abused and put at great risk of contracting HIV.

While organized sex tours have been driven underground, the Internet now serves as an international network for men seeking easy access to children overseas. Even when developing countries such as Thailand make progress in reducing sex tourism, opportunistic men simply travel to poorer, less-developed neighboring countries.

As one of the world’s 20 poorest countries, Cambodia is ripe for such exploitation. Its 10 million people have an average income of only $300 annually. Its social, political and legal institutions still are recovering from the brutal legacy of the Khmer Rouge, which was responsible for the deaths of one-quarter of the country’s population between 1975 and 1979. Access to health care and education is very limited. Young girls are especially prone to drop out of school to help support their families.

At the same time, tourism is on the rise. The number of American tourists nearly doubled from 1998 to 1999, with more than 30,000 U.S. citizens visiting Cambodia in 1999. Most visitors come to Cambodia for the rich heritage and natural beauty exemplified by Angkor Wat, the largest religious structure in the ancient world. The Cambodian government, which considers tourism to be a valuable part of its economic future, expects the number of foreign visitors to triple over the next three years.

Unfortunately, sex tourism also is on the rise in Cambodia. One-third of all sex workers in the country are estimated to be children, mostly ages 12 to 17, but some even younger.

Like many 15-year-olds, Lee was “sold” by her aunt to a 50-year-old American tourist who paid $400 to spend four days with the virgin. Later, Lee was forced to sleep with a 25-year-old Japanese man, who paid $50 for her services, followed by a Chinese man who paid $30. A 40-year-old Frenchman took her to his rented house for a month. When he moved on, she went to a “club” to wait for other clients.

While Lee likely will always bear psychological and probably physical scars, her story has a better ending than most: She was freed in a police raid and is receiving care to help rebuild her life. Thousands of other girls and boys will not be so fortunate. Their “careers” on the streets of Phnom Penh will lead from HIV infection to AIDS to premature death.

In a recent survey in conjunction with Cambodia’s tourism ministry and its National Council for Children, World Vision found that 45% of Cambodian travel agents said they had seen tour guides supply children to foreign visitors. More than 70% of children surveyed around Angkor Wat and nearby towns said that tourists had approached them for sex.

Delegates to this week’s meeting of the World Tourism Organization, which is on record opposing child sex tourism, should join forces with the Cambodian government and other nongovernmental organizations in supporting stiffer regulations of Cambodian hotels, 60% of which have no policies prohibiting guests from bringing unrelated children to their rooms. Some of the country’s thousands of hotel rooms are licensed through international hotel chains, which must begin to exercise greater oversight of hotels bearing their names.

Moreover, the United States can help through more vigorous enforcement of a 1994 federal law establishing fines and/or imprisonment of up to 10 years for anyone convicted of traveling abroad with the intent to engage in sex with minors. A former college professor--the first person convicted under this law--was sentenced last year to 105 years in prison for charges in relation to the abuse of a Honduran teenager.

Unless and until governments work together to put added pressure on the tourism profession--most notably on local hotel operators and their corporate officers--far too many Lees will continue to face the prospect of rising each day only to await their next “client” in the world’s oldest and cruelest exploitation of children.