Bali a haven for foreign pedophiles, report says
Bali a haven for foreign pedophiles, report says
Agence France-Presse, Sydney, Australia
Pedophile rings of Australians, Europeans and Americans are
operating freely on the Indonesian island of Bali and pretend to
adopt or foster poverty-stricken children to abuse them, a new
report claimed on Tuesday.
Australian child advocacy group Child Wise said children on
Bali's streets had reported networks of thousands of foreign men
preying on them, working together and sharing the children.
The Melbourne-based group said Bali had became more vulnerable
to pedophiles following the car bombings 18 months ago which
claimed 202 lives, including 88 Australians.
"Significant child prostitution industries are created when
communities are vulnerable and we felt Bali was particularly
vulnerable," Child Wise national director Bernadette McMenamin
told AFP.
The release of the report followed the arrest in Indonesia
last month of former Australian diplomat William Brown on child
sex charges involving two Balinese boys aged 13 and 15.
About two years ago, HIV/AIDS outreach workers on the resort
island said children on the street were talking more about
foreign pedophiles, saying they were connected, they knew each
other and that they had developed lists of children to target,
McMenamin said.
She said there were also reports of pedophiles meeting in the
neighboring island of Lombok to the east of Bali, "abusing kids
and hanging out there."
The group later sent a researcher to the island to interview
children, tourists, expatriates, government and tourism officials
culminating in a report which has been given to Australian
Justice Minister Chris Ellison.
"We can sound the alarms and they must act," McMenamin said.
She said pedophiles were choosing Bali because there had been
very few arrests and unlike Bangkok and Cambodia, the child sex
industry was hidden.
"It's much more in the villages, in the community. Pedophiles
are moving into communities sponsoring or supporting poor
families and exploiting their kids. That's how they groom," she
said.
"They embed themselves in communities where they feel safe and
protected."
She said the Indonesian government had acknowledged Bali was
vulnerable to pedophiles and that child sex tourism was
increasing. There is also evidence that some pedophile networks
were organizing sex tours.
McMenamin said police caught an Australian man last year who
was promoting child sex tours to Thailand.
"He received 3,000 calls within two weeks, I think this
indicates the level of demand," she said.
Child Wise said Australians were well known as child sex
abusers in southeast Asia and "conservatively estimate" that more
than 2,000 travel overseas each year to exploit children."
Last month the group launched a regional campaign, which has
United Nations approval, to educate travellers and tourism
officials about stopping the spread of child exploitation.