Child sex tourism: Expanding the scope of sexual offender legislation

Main Article Content

Ranjana Ferrao
Peter Ladis Francis
Salvatore Vitale

Abstract

Countries adopt several strategies to attract tourists in a fiercely competitive tourism market. Many travelers prefer visiting nations that offer child sexual services and have weaker legal enforcement mechanisms. This demand for children has exposed children to several risks and made them vulnerable to offences like sale of children, kidnapping, trafficking, sexual exploitation, and pornography. Some countries have legislations that make it a criminal offense to abuse children in other countries. In India, any sexual activity with a child below eighteen years of age is a punishable offense. Indian law also prohibits the buying and selling of children. To combat this type of crime, governments must collaborate with the tourism industry. This research focuses on the legal regime to punish offenders in India.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

Article Details

Section
Articles

References

D. Glaesser, J. Kester, H. Paulose, A. Alizadeh, B. Valentin, Global travel patterns: an overview, Journal of Travel Medicine, Volume 24, Issue 4, July-August 2017, tax007, https://doi.org/10.1093/jtm/tax007

D. Smolčić Jurdana, Evolution of Trends Affecting the Tourism Industry: Business Challenges in The Future, Journal of Innovations in Business and Industry, Vol. 02, No. 03 (2024) 193-204, doi: 10.61552/JIBI.2024.03.008 - http://jibi.aspur.rs

T. Mihalic, Sustainable-responsible tourism discourse e Towards ‘responsustable’ tourism, Journal of Cleaner Production, Volume 111, Part B, 16 January 2016, Pages 461-470, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2014.12.062

E. Inskeep, Tourism Planning: an Integrated and Sustainable Development Approach, John Wiley & Sons, New York. 1991

R. Butler, D. Pearce, Change in Tourism: People, Places and Processes, Routledge, New York, 1995 pp. 1-11

M.A. Camilleri, The Tourism Industry: An Overview. In: Travel Marketing, Tourism Economics and the Airline Product. Tourism, Hospitality & Event Management, Springer, 2018. Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-49849-2_1

UNODC Regional Office for Southeast Asia and the Pacific, Combating child sex offences available at www.unodc.org

E. Baş, E. Bayraktaroğlu, Crime in Tourism: A Systematic Literature Review and Bibliometric Analysis,Journal of Penal Law and Criminology, DOI :10.26650/JPLC2024-1501843

www.pib.gov.in

www.ruraltourism.gov.in

F. David, No. 156 Child Sex Tourism, trends and issues in crime and criminal justice, Business and Human Rights Resource center June 2000

Combating the sexual exploitation of children in travel and tourism. Achievements and challenges, Theo Noten Geneva, 6 March 2013 available at www.ohchr.org

K.J.Steinman, Sex Tourism and the Child: Latin America's and the United States' Failure to Prosecute Sex Tourists, 13 Hastings Women's L.J. 53 (2002)

B.Bang, P.L Baker, A.Carpinteri, V. Hasselt, Sex Tourism. In: Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children, Springer Briefs in Psychology, Springer,2014. Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-01878-2_7

WTO Statement on the Prevention of Organized Sex Tourism, 1995; Global Code of Ethics for Tourism, 1999; Framework Convention on Tourism Ethics, 2019

T.R Panko, B.P George, Child sex tourism: Exploring the issues In Criminal Justice Studies, Taylor & Francis, 2012

WTO Statement on the Prevention of Organized Sex Tourism, 1995

Ibid.

M. C. Hall, C. Ryan, Sex Tourism: Marginal People and Liminalities, Taylor and Francis Group, 2001.p.10

See Immoral Traffic Prevention Act, 1956

UN Convention on the Rights of the Child

According to the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of the Child, 1989, children must be shielded from exploitation and trafficked in any way. Bilateral and multilateral steps are mentioned in Article 34 to avoid: i. forcing a child to participate in any illegal sexual behavior ii. abusing minors for pornographic, illegal, or prostitution-related purposes. Additional rules to address the crime of sex tourism are included in the Optional Protocol for the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) and should be included in national and international legislation as well as multilateral agreements.

See Section 96 of Bharatiya Nyay Sanhita, 2023

See Section 95 of Bharatiya Nyay Sanhita, 2023

ECPAT International Report of The World Congress Iii Against Sexual Exploitation of Children & Adolescents, September 2009

Child Sexual Exploitation in Travel and Tourism: An Analysis of Domestic Legal Frameworks Cambodia, United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, Regional Office for Southeast Asia and the Pacific, Project Childhood (Protection Pillar), Bangkok, Thailand,2014available at https://www.unodc.org/roseap/uploads/archive/documents/Publications/2015/childhood/CAM_Legal_Report_2014

Freddy Peats.v. State of Goa Criminal Case No 188/OA/NI/2002/I

See Section 2(jj) Goa Children’s Act, 2003

ECPAT, Sexual exploitation of children in tourism, 2008 ECPAT International

J. Wen, A. Klarin, E. Goh, J. Aston, A systematic review of the sex trafficking-related literature: Lessons for tourism and hospitality research, Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Management, Volume 45, December 2020, Pages 370-376, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhtm.2020.06.001

S. Sen, P. M. Nair, A Report on Trafficking of Women and Children in India 2002 – 2003, Vol I, NHRC, available at https://nhrc.nic.in/sites/default/files/reportontrafficking.pdf

UNWTO, 15 years of UNWTO World Tourism Network on Child Protection: A compilation of Good Practices, 2014, World Tourism Organization. Available at 15 Years of the UNWTO World Tourism Network on Child Protection: A Compilation of Good Practices Sustainable Development Knowledge Platform

T. Birckhead, “The youngest Profession:” Consent, Autonomy and Prostituted children, Washington Law Review, Vol 88, No.5, 2011

Supra Note 32

Cycle of torture, End Slavery, 2015

Advisory on missing children Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), 2013.Also See Rule 92 of the Juvenile Justice Model Rules 2016

See Section 2 (i) who is found without any home or settled place of abode and without any ostensible means of subsistence; or (ii) who is found working in contravention of labour laws for the time being in force or is found begging, or living on the street; or (iii) who resides with a person (whether a guardian of the child or not) and such person— (a) has injured, exploited, abused or neglected the child or has violated any other law for the time being in force meant for the protection of child; or (b) has threatened to kill, injure, exploit or abuse the child and there is a reasonable likelihood of the threat being carried out; or (c) has killed, abused, neglected or exploited some other child or children and there is a reasonable likelihood of the child in question being killed, abused, exploited or neglected by that person; or (iv) who is mentally ill or mentally or physically challenged or suffering from terminal or incurable disease, having no one to support or look after or having parents or guardians unfit to take care, if found so by the Board or the Committee; or (v) who has a parent or guardian and such parent or guardian is found to be unfit or incapacitated, by the Committee or the Board, to care for and protect the safety and well-being of the child; or (vi) who does not have parents and no one is willing to take care of, or whose parents have abandoned or surrendered him; or (vii) who is missing or run away child, or whose parents cannot be found after making reasonable inquiry in such manner as may be prescribed; or (viii) who has been or is being or is likely to be abused, tortured or exploited for the purpose of sexual abuse or illegal acts; or (ix) who is found vulnerable and is likely to be inducted into drug abuse or trafficking; or (x) who is being or is likely to be abused for unconscionable gains; or (xi) who is victim of or affected by any armed conflict, civil unrest or natural calamity; or (xii) who is at imminent risk of marriage before attaining the age of marriage and whose parents, family members, guardian and any other persons are likely to be responsible for solemnisation of such marriage;

L. M. Richter, A. Norman, AIDS orphan tourism: a threat to young children in residential Care, Vulnerable Child. Youth Stud. 5, 2010. p. 217–229. doi: 10.1080/17450128.2010.487124

K. S. Rotabi, J. L Roby, K. Mccreery Bunkers, Altruistic exploitation: orphan tourism and global social work. Br. J. Soc. Work 47, 2017 p. 648–665. doi: 10.1093/bjsw/bcv147

R.Proyrungroj, Orphan volunteer tourism in Thailand: volunteer tourists' motivations and on-site experiences. J. Hosp. Tour. Res, 41, 2017 p.560–584. doi: 10.1177/1096348014525639

T. Guiney, Orphanage tourism: the need for protection and policy” in Risk, Protection, Provision and Policy. Eds. C. Freeman, P. Tranter, T. Skelton, Singapore: Springer Singapore, 2017.

M. Punaks and K. Feit, Orphanage voluntourism in Nepal and its links to the displacement and unnecessary institutionalization of children. Inst. Child, Explor. Beyond, 1, 2014 179–192. doi: 10.1177/2349301120140206

B.Avolio, E. Pardo Piñashca, Volunteer Tourism: A Systematic Literature Review, Sage, June 2024 14(2),

DOI:10.1177/21582440241260924

D. Boer, M. Buquicchio, Report of the Special Rapporteur on the Sale of Children, Child Prostitution and Child Pornography. New York, NY: United Nations, 2016.

E. Kathryn,V. Doore,R. Nhep,Orphanage tourism and orphanage volunteering: implications for children, Front. Sustain. Tour., 15 November 2023, Sec. Social Impact of Tourism, Volume 2 – 2023, https://doi.org/10.3389/frsut.2023.1177091

Data obtained from Minister of State for Women and Child Development, Government of India.

Ibid.

A. Kaviani Johnson, Protecting Children’s Rights in Asian Tourism Reflecting on Progress and the Way Forward, International Journal of children’s rights 22, 2014 p. 581–617

(2014) 2 SCC 191

Supra Note 31

United States Department of State, Trafficking in Persons Report 2017. Washington, DC: United States of America Department of State, 2017

National Commission for Protection of Child Rights.v. Rajesh Kumar and Others (2018)16SCC 3

Ust Rights for Children Alliance & Anr. Versus S. Harish & Ors. Criminal Appeal Nos. 2161-2162 Of 2024

P.G. Sam Infant Jones v. State represented by Inspector of Police 2021 SCC OnLine Mad 2241; Nupur Ghatge v. State of Madhya Pradesh (MCRC No. 52596 of 2020),

Ajin Surendran v. State of Kerala & Anr 2022 KER 7207; Manuel Benny v. State of Kerala 2022 KER 9730

L. Ferran, G. Berardi, P. Sakulpitakphon, Protecting Children from Sexual Exploitation in Tourism: An ECPAT Training Resource Kit, ECPAT International, Thailand 2008.

See Section 98 Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023

Offence is defined under Goa Children’s Act, 2003. See Section 2

See Immoral Traffic Prevention Act, 1956

See Section 3 and 4 Protection of children from sexual offences Act, 2012

These findings are from the research conducted by the Researchers independently.

See Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012

See Section 63 Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023

Data obtained from Ministry of Law and Justice, Government of India.

Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012, (2012- 2022), 10 Year Analysis of NCRB Data on sexual crimes of children, Protsahan India Foundation.

S. 2(1)(y) Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023

See S.27 of POCSO Act

Ajay Kumar Behera v. State of Karnataka P No. 4074 of 2024

EUPCN, Dutch Policy on Prostitution and Trafficking for sexual exploitation available at Dutch Policy on Prostitution and Trafficking for sexual exploitation | EUCPN

European Commission, Report of the Experts Group on Trafficking Brussels, 22 December 2004, p. 139.

Section 176(1)

(6)(a) Proviso 2

Section 173(1)

Section 173(2)

Section 193(3)(ii)

Section 360

United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, Toolkit to Combat Trafficking in Persons, first ed., Vienna/New York, 2006, Tool 6.1, p. 271

See Article 21 of the Constitution of India

Mahender Chawla vs Union of India AIRONLINE 2018 SC 829

Section 398

Six girls aged nine to 14 in Colombia and eight in Cambodia. In R. v. Klassen (2012), 328 B.C.A.C. 238 (CA)

R. Kalaivani, Devadasi System in India and Its Legal Initiatives – An Analysis, IOSR Journal of Humanities and Social Science (IOSR-JHSS) Volume 20, Issue 2, Ver. II (Feb. 2015), PP 50-55

S Shafe , G Hutchinson, Child Sexual Abuse and Continuous Influence of Cultural Practices: A Review, West Indian Medical Journal, available at 2015 Jul 28;63(6):634–637. doi: 10.7727/wimj.2013.246 https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov › articles

ECPAT, Global Study on Sexual Exploitation of Children in Travel and Tourism 2016.

UNICEF. (n.d.). Promoting women’s economic empowerment through social protection. Lessons from the productive social safety net program in Tanzania. Retrieved from https://www.unicef-irc.org/article/1950-empowering-women-through-social-protection.html

United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child, Committee on the Rights of the Child 2021. Day of General Discussion Children's Rights and Alternative Care Outcomes Report. New York, NY: United Nations, 2021.

Nawabuddin v. State of Uttarakhand reported in 2022 INSC 162

This World Vision campaign was supported by the us Department of Immigration and Customs Enforcement,

World Vision Urges U.S. Government to Protect Children, World Vision available at ttps://www.worldvision.org ›

This Child Wise/asean campaign was supported by the afp and Australian Aid available at https://philippines.embassy.gov.au/mnla/SP070708.html