Sex trafficking growing in SE Asia: Experts

Sex trafficking growing in SE Asia: Experts

Fayen Wong, Reuters/Singapore

Human rights activists called on Southeast Asian governments on
Tuesday to crack down on sex tourism and child trafficking,
saying the problem was becoming more rampant.

Experts and rights workers said more women and children in
Southeast Asia were being trafficked to feed the appetite of sex
tourists.

"There must be a coordinated and co-operative effort if we are
to succeed in eradicating human trafficking, especially child sex
trafficking from this region," said Vitit Muntarbhorn, former
United Nations Special Rapporteur on child prostitution.

"It is most timely for ASEAN countries to tackle the issue in
view of its recent declaration against trafficking," Muntarbhorn
told Reuters.

ASEAN, the Association of South East Asian Nations, includes
Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the
Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.

ECPAT, an international non-governmental organization working
to stop the commercial sexual exploitation of children, said
there were more than 1 million child prostitutes involved in sex
tourism in Asia, of which 300,000 were in Thailand, 100,000 in
the Philippines and Taiwan and 40,000 in Vietnam.

"Many of them are tricked into the trade, it is easy to do so
because the women and children are young, illiterate, vulnerable
and gullible," Linda Smith, founder of Shared Hope International,
a U.S.-based non-governmental organization fighting against human
trafficking, told Reuters.

The U.S. State Department estimates about 600,000 to 800,000
people -- mostly children and women -- are trafficked across
national borders annually.

Girls from the villages of Myanmar, Cambodia, Indonesia and
the Philippines are lured into cities or neighboring countries
with promises of lucrative jobs as waitresses and domestic
helpers, only to end up in massage parlors and karaoke bars.

Others are flown as far as Australia, Japan, South Africa and
the United States to be kept as slaves in brothels -- beaten,
drugged, starved or raped in the first days of their reclusion to
intimidate and prepare them for clients, the experts say.

Sex tourism is a profitable business. Data provided by the
International Labor Organization showed that 2 to 14 percent of
the gross domestic product of Indonesia, Malaysia, the
Philippines and Thailand comes from sex tourism, experts said.

"We can't just look at the supply factor. The picture would be
incomplete without recognizing that the sex market involves both
local and foreign demand," Muntarbhorn said.

"We have to address sex tourism squarely to stamp out sex
trafficking."