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

Taxi Driver said ‘Where are you staying? ‘Do you like Goa?’Then he said, ‘Do you want Prostitute? I have girls 16 or 17 year, nice girls’.I said ‘No’ and he was very pushy. ‘Only 300 rupees’ and he could bring herto hotel, she’d spend the whole night with me. He seemed offended because Ikeep saying ‘No’. Eventually he said, ‘or you want boy? I can find you boy’.They normally have some local contacts that supply the children. Some members ofthe migrant community also serve as brokers/supply links.A suspected paedophile even gate-crashes into community events/functions like themoving around of the statue of Mother Mary among the Christian families and makeshimself at home trying to make friends with the young boys.Some run shacks, travel agencies, or get into partnership with some local to run abusiness. Some are in contact with so-called beach or massage boys, who have eitherbeen their mates or have offered sexual services and today supply the children.The tourists take full advantage of the generosity or/and obeisance of the locals whobend backward to receive their patronage and allow them a number of concessions.Some also go around projecting an image of social workers. With money flowing inabundance with them, doling out charity or gifts is no problem for them. Somepaedophiles have live-ins with youth, both boys and girls. Some of the youth areminors and here some of the tourists are women who have this live-ins on an annualbasis with their boy friends.Evidence is there to suggest that some tourists are directly involved in a type ofinformal child prostitution. Beach seller migrant children are also reported as havingbeen sold by relations and propositioned by foreign tourists. A large number of childrenfrom poor families from the nomadic Lamani tribe as well as from villages in northernKarnataka are engaged in vending wares on the beach. These children are easilyapproachable by foreign tourists visiting beaches and it is easy for a paedophile tostrike a relationship by initially providing them some eatables, and eventually urgingthem to come to their rooms or to a deserted part of the beach, or in a few cases, forrides in their car.Children of migrant spend a major part of their time on the beach. These children assisttheir parents in their trade. They often move alone or in groups that target tourists forselling their wares. These children are easy to target by paedophiles and are certainlythe most vulnerable and unprotected sections that inhabit the coastal areas.Some adults and children also offer massage services to foreigners. They usually eitheralone or with other group of children work throughout the day on the beach without anyadult supervision.A Situational Analysis of Child Sex Tourism in India (Kerala and Goa) 44