Combating Child Sex Tourism in South-east Asia: Law Enforcement Cooperation and Civil Society Partnerships
Based on:
Journal Article (2014)
My research examines the legal opportunities for prosecuting foreign nationals (in countries of offence and through extra-territorial prosecution) that travel abroad to sexually exploit children. I argue for the importance of cooperation between civil society groups and law enforcement to get prosecutions to court.
Brief by:
Content
Sexual exploitation of children in the travel and tourism industry is a massive problem, and a growing phenomenon. Southeast Asia is one of the regions that have been hit hard, and the problem must be addressed by both the destination countries and the offenders’ home countries. I found that there is a substantial amount of cooperation going on between civil society advocating for children’s right of protection and local and international law enforcement.
However, there is very little in the academic and legal literature on how they cooperate. What are the benefits of that cooperation and what are the risks of it? In what kind of cooperation do they engage?
I used a case study of an actual prosecution that took place against an Australian offender against Cambodian children. The prosecution was a cooperation between Cambodian police and Australian federal police where civil society organisations also contributed. I analysed how the evidence was brought to court, what kind of evidence they used, the sentencing, and the outcome of the case.
Key findings
As NGOs are on the ground, they can play an important role passing important information to the police, and this significantly helps to bring justice for children that have experienced sexual exploitation
Proposed action
It is important to map out the current cooperation mechanisms between civil society organisations, child protection services and law enforcement
Another recommendation would be to create dialogue mechanisms between child protection NGOs and local and international law enforcement
This research could be relevant for other high profile tourist spots where child sex tourism occurs, e
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Acknowledgements
Thank you to ASEAN
These insights were made available thanks to the support of ASEAN, who are committed to the dissemination of knowledge for all.
Special thanks to Kirsti Sletten for preparation assistance
We would like to extend a special thank you to Kirsti Sletten, for their invaluable contribution in assisting the preparation of this research summary.
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Combating Child Sex Tourism in South-east Asia: Law Enforcement Cooperation and Civil Society Partnerships
Cite this brief: Curley, Melissa. 'Combating Child Sex Tourism in South-east Asia: Law Enforcement Cooperation and Civil Society Partnerships'. Acume. https://www.acume.org/r/combating-child-sex-tourism-in-south-east-asia-law-enforcement-cooperation-and-civil-society-partnerships/
Brief created by: Dr Melissa Curley | Year brief made: 2022
Original research:
- Curley, M., ‘Combating Child Sex Tourism in South-east Asia: Law Enforcement Cooperation and Civil Society Partnerships’ 42(2) (pp. 283–314) https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-6478.2014.00667.x. – https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1467-6478.2014.00667.x
Research brief:
My research examines the legal opportunities for prosecuting foreign nationals (in countries of offence and through extra-territorial prosecution) that travel abroad to sexually exploit children. I argue for the importance of cooperation between civil society groups and law enforcement to get prosecutions to court.
Sexual exploitation of children in the travel and tourism industry is a massive problem, and a growing phenomenon. Southeast Asia is one of the regions that have been hit hard, and the problem must be addressed by both the destination countries and the offenders’ home countries. I found that there is a substantial amount of cooperation going on between civil society advocating for children’s right of protection and local and international law enforcement.
However, there is very little in the academic and legal literature on how they cooperate. What are the benefits of that cooperation and what are the risks of it? In what kind of cooperation do they engage?
I used a case study of an actual prosecution that took place against an Australian offender against Cambodian children. The prosecution was a cooperation between Cambodian police and Australian federal police where civil society organisations also contributed. I analysed how the evidence was brought to court, what kind of evidence they used, the sentencing, and the outcome of the case.
Findings:
As NGOs are on the ground, they can play an important role passing important information to the police, and this significantly helps to bring justice for children that have experienced sexual exploitation
Advice:
It is important to map out the current cooperation mechanisms between civil society organisations, child protection services and law enforcement
- What are the benefits, what are the parts of best practice that are positive and what are the potential risks and negative sides of the current practice?
Another recommendation would be to create dialogue mechanisms between child protection NGOs and local and international law enforcement
- This way, the parties can swap experiences and understand where they can cooperate effectively within the context of the law to benefit child protection.
This research could be relevant for other high profile tourist spots where child sex tourism occurs, e
- g., other Southeast Asian countries, and several countries in West Africa.