WHILE Thailand, Indonesia and the Philippines struggle to combat child sex tourism, a study said it is on the rise in Myanmar, Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam, and Timor-Leste.

Children from low-income groups are particularly vulnerable, said the Global Study on Sexual Exploitation of Children in Travel and Tourism report on Southeast Asia.

Child sex offenders often travel within their own countries or the region, said Dorothy Rozga, executive director of Epcat International, a Bangkok-based global child rights network, at Novotel Kuala Lumpur today.

“In this region, men from China, Japan, Taiwan, South Korea and Vietnam, are more likely than other nationalities to sexually exploit virgins, especially girls. Western offenders are more likely to find children on the streets, and more likely to exploit boys,” she said in a keynote address during the study launch.

She said more than 3,000 tourists from Singapore and Malaysia visit Batam island for sex services every week based on Indonesian authorities’ estimate in 2009.

A third of the estimated 5,000 to 6,000 people in the sex trade in Batam are children, said Rozga.

Malaysia, Singapore and Brunei are also destination countries for trafficked children who end up in prostitution, said the study.

More qualitative and quantitative research are needed into child sex tourism in the region for authorities to effectively combat its rise, it said.

The study is based on a review of various small-scale studies conducted with child victims made to work in brothels, bars, karaokes, massage parlours in tourist destinations in the region.

“Unless it is reported, the crime goes undetected. Most child victims live in fear,” said Rozga.

Unicef Malaysia representative Marianne Clark-Hattingh, also present at the launch, hopes the study will raise more public awareness and prompt authorities to combat the crime more effectively.

“Children are not commodities, part of a holiday package,” she said. – March 27, 2018.