Beaches, Temples and Sex—Will Burmese Tourism Follow the Thai Model? – The Irrawaddy, March 23, 2012
…“The lessons to learn are pretty straightforward,” said Andrea Valentin of NGO Tourism Transparency. “If Burma wants to have more prostitutes than monks in the country, then they should follow Thailand’s tourism development approach. Hopefully, Burma will want to avoid Cambodia’s 30,000 children involved in sex tourism, some of who are as young as five. In 2009, Terre des Hommes estimated that more than 70,000 children across Asia are being used by sex tourists, mainly in Cambodia, Indonesia, the Philippines and Thailand. In Cambodia, a sex tourist can rent two 8-year-old children for three days and pay not more than $30. Most of these children are born into poverty”…
-
- A tale of two newspapers: Black May 13 years later
- Slain Italian Photographer’s Last Photos Unveiled
- Part V – Ian Neumegen
- 21 Years Ago: Black May
- Big Brother Shocks Thailand
- Politics in the Age of Thaksin
- Directions to Bangkok’s 24-hour casinos
- Gem Scam: 463/9-12, Look-Luang Rd
- Let’s Make Bangkok’s Central Park!
- 2Bangkok Situation Update: Divining the Plan
- Red Protests – May 19, 2010
30,000 kids in the sex trade in Cambodia. Then it says a pair of 8 year-olds can be rented for $30.
I doubt most of the kids being involved are 8. Most are probably teenage girls around 16.
Charge a $5 fee on a tourist visa that goes to schooling…and somehow avoid corruption that diverts the money elsewhere.
I find it particularly sad that people from developed countries are traveling to an impoverished country like Cambodia to prey on children. Cambodians generally look up to foreigners, particularly Westerners, as role models for fairness, benevolence, freedom and justice. The acts of the sex tourists are threatening to undermine the good deeds of those foreigners who are in Cambodia to do good.