A Situational Analysis of Child Sex Tourism- 30 December 2003 ...

makers however have shown little interest fearing a backlash on the image of Goa as atourist destination. Nevertheless, extending the mandate of tourist police fromprotecting tourists to monitoring tourist behaviour is a recent area of success foractivists. Currently, Goa does not have a Children’s Act in place but the governmenthas begun a consultative process involving members of the public, NGO’s and officialsto formulate a Child Policy and a Child Rights Act is expected to be in place by the endof the winter session.4.5.8. Chairperson, State Women’s Commission, KeralaThe Chairperson said that the magnitude of child sexual exploitation cases is quite highin Kovalam as well as other parts of the State. Although the cases are not reported inthe media, the number is increasing.She stated that hotels, auto rickshaw drivers and massage parlours are involved in theracket. She recollected the efforts of State Women’s Commission on the rescue ofKarnataka girls from Kovalam a couple of years back, when she was a member of theState women’s Commission. She said that from the group of rescued girls, one was anelderly girl. The minor girls were handed over to their parents. A man who posed a asrelative of a girl came to the State Women’s Commission and pleaded to hand over thegirl to him. When the interrogation was going on, she received a chit from one of theauto driver’s from Thiruvananthapuram city stating that the person sitting in front ofher is a criminal and don’t let the girl go with him. The man withdrew from his earlierstand on further interrogation.The Chairperson said that the children disclosed that foreigners were involved inmolesting them. She also stated that many foreigners came to the Women’sCommission and shouted, “We come here in Kerala to see the beauty of the country.Child sexual exploitation by tourists should be stopped”.She explained about a case in which, two 11 th standard children from Ernakulam, whowere involved in taking nude photographs of girls staying in apartments. A big racketwas involved in this and they promised to give Rs.10000 for taking the photographs.The Chairperson mentioned that there is a need to educate community, law enforcingagencies, officials in Department of Tourism and the tourists on the issues related toCST.4.5.8. Mrs. Sugatha Kumari, Ex-State Chairperson, KeralaSugatha Kumari stated that there is an aspect of tourism which is of concern:prostitution. She stated that there are two kinds of foreigners visiting Kerala. “One whowants to learn about our culture. Two, who looks for cheap pleasure, and they are theproblem. And paedophiles are even a bigger threat”. She narrated a story. “A few yearsback when I was the chairperson of the Kerala Women’s Commission, I got acomplaint from three women- Western tourists- who said people were coming andasking them if they wanted a 8-year old girl or a 10-year old boy. We filed a case withthe police. They conducted a raid in some hotels and after repeated attempts, theyrescued 16 girls. They were all from Andhra Pradesh, and were between the ages of 8A Situational Analysis of Child Sex Tourism in India (Kerala and Goa) 36