Foreword |Background |The Situation in New Zealand | Child Prostitution |Child Pornography | Child Sex Tourism | Child Trafficking | Activities to Address CSEC in General | Table of Activities
Child sex tourism is the commercial sexual exploitation of children by foreigners, including paedophiles, businessmen and tourists. It usually refers to either persons who travel from their own country to another to engage in sexual acts with children, or foreigners who engage in sexual activity with a child while overseas. Child sex tourism often involves a third party who procures a child from local communities.
The Crimes Amendment Act 1995 was introduced in August 1995 in response to international concern about the growing sexual exploitation of children by foreigners in a number of countries. The Act created a new extra-territorial offence, under section 144A of the Crimes Act 1961, which made it a crime to engage in any sexual conduct with children that, if done in New Zealand, would be an offence. The Act also created a second offence, under section 144C of the Crimes Act, which prohibits acts done in New Zealand in order to assist or encourage others to travel overseas for the purpose of having sex with children or to promote child sex tours. The provision covers such activities as booking tickets and reserving accommodation, providing transport to overseas destinations, and printing or publishing information to promote child sex tours. The offence is targeted at those who deliberately help others to travel overseas for the purpose of having sex with children.
Child Sex Tourism by New Zealanders
There is evidence to show that New Zealanders are among the child sex abusers in a number of countries. Charges of child sex abuse brought against New Zealand men in countries such as India and Fiji indicate the extent of the problem. These cases have all been against individual offenders. As in most other countries, child sex tours no longer appear to be operating out of New Zealand.
Public education initiatives about child sex tourism have included a pamphlet, developed by ECPAT New Zealand and funded by the Ministry of Justice, setting out the law relating to extra-territorial child sex offences. It requests travellers to pass on to the Police any information that suggests a New Zealander may have committed a sexual offence against a child whilst outside New Zealand.
The Police make use of the Interpol network and have an established network of contacts with other government agencies (Project Sapphire) and law enforcement agencies overseas. They also have a liaison officer located in Thailand to facilitate the flow of information regarding New Zealand offenders operating there.
Not withstanding these initiatives, there has been little direct enforcement activity as a result of the 1995 amendment and no conviction either. Organisations such as ECPAT NZ argue that unless a prosecution is made, the legislation will not deter New Zealanders from committing sexual offences against children overseas, as there will be no fear of conviction. In Australia ten prosecutions have been brought against Australians who have sexually abused children in another country. Several of these prosecutions have received substantial media coverage. This attention has sent a direct message to the public that the Australian authorities will not tolerate child sex tourism.
There are several practical limitations to bringing about a prosecution under child sex tourism legislation. Investigating an incident of child sex tourism can be very difficult when the offence takes place in another country. Some of the difficulties include the high cost of collecting evidence in another country, difficulties in locating witnesses, and the need to use interpreters during both preparation and the trial process itself. Police need to rely on the co-operation of their counterparts in other jurisdictions to gather the required evidence. It is not known whether sufficient co-operation will always be forthcoming. New Zealand needs to continue building co-operative relationships with other countries, such as Thailand, the Philippines and Fiji, where there have been reports of New Zealanders engaging in child sex tourism.
The other main difficulty relates to the trial phase. Prosecutions on child sex charges are notoriously difficult as child witnesses may retract their allegations through fear, intimidation and a desire for privacy, or they may give inconsistent accounts of the abuse because of confusion or loss of memory. These difficulties are compounded when the child is from another country and language and cultural difficulties also exist.
New Zealand government and Non-Government Organisations such as ECPAT need to continue educating and promoting awareness amongst the public of this issue. Heightened awareness may deter some people who would seek out this activity when they realise that they will not escape liability for their sexual conduct simply by travelling overseas.
New Zealand participates in a number of international and regional tourism organisations, including Pacific Asia Travel Association, International Air Transport Association, and World Tourism Organisation. These organisations have made public statements on the need for the industry to accept some corporate responsibility for child sex tourism, but so far there has been no public action by national tourism organisations. An education campaign directed at Tourism Schools, Travel Industry Associations, and Airlines on the relationship between child prostitution and tourism in other countries would be an effective way of raising awareness and understanding of the problem.