Child sex tourism

Child sex tourism is travel for the purpose of engaging in sex with children. Although the travel can be either domestic or international, the term is usually used with regard to international travel. The United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Sale of Children, Child Prostitution and Child Pornography defines CST as "tourism organised with the primary purpose of facilitating the effecting of a commercial sexual relationship with a child". What constitutes a "commercial sexual relationship" is unclear since most sexual relationships, regardless of the age of the participants, involve some exchange of money or gifts (e.g. buying someone a drink at a bar, or paying for dinner or the rent on a shared apartment).

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 prefer that their nationals be prosecuted in the country of the offense. 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 what they deem to be "exploited" children, while seeking to maintain their capacity to influence government policy.