Child sex tourism

Child sex tourism is travel, either internationally or domestically, for the purpose of engaging in sex with children. The number of U.S. citizens arrested for child sex tourism has dramatically increased since 2003, when the PROTECT Act was implemented. The U.S. ICE has arrested over sixty-seven individuals under the new legislation. Countries in Asia, Africa, Central and South America host major CST destinations while North Americans constitute the main customer segment.

Enforcement of laws against child sex tourism

It is both expensive and time-consuming (generally several years) to investigate and prosecute child sex tourists. Agents are faced with a myriad of investigative challenges. Some of these challenges include: difficulty maintaining contact with the children; child sex tourists bribing children or their families to remain silent; unstructured or uncooperative local authorities; cultural barriers; and language barriers. Another challenge involves determining the chronological ages of the victims. Many children have no available birth records. There is also currently no reliable mechanism to estimate the ages of children in certain parts of the world.

These children are often difficult to track, as they frequently move locations and may be unidentified by local governments. Many children would have trouble describing specific child sex tourists after encountering incredible numbers of such tourists each year.

Some states, including Australia and the United Kingdom, continue to privilege territorial competence as the basis of criminal jurisdiction. However, many destination countries for CST in Southeast Asia lack the capacity to support CST prosecutions. Therefore, it is sometimes proposed that there be partnerships between local and international law enforcement agencies and NGOs to facilitate prosecution in the jurisdiction of the destination country. Such partnership arrangements would provide the resources and integration required to enable CST by foreigners to be prosecuted. NGOs undertake complex strategies to address what they consider the immediate needs of exploited children, while seeking to maintain their capacity to influence government policy.