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Although there are laws against child exploitation by tourist, it is still taking place in Gambia. The sexual relationship between tourist and children is becoming harder to track, due to the fact that the issue has shifted from hotels, into the community. Most of the sex workers are under the age of 18, some as young as 12. Their clients are from all walks of life, but western male tourists are most common.
Most of the girls who are being exploited come from disadvantaged socio-economic backgrounds, have dropped out of school, or have been uprooted from rural areas and lost the protection of their extended families. They make about 2,000 Dalasi a day ($83 US). Some may receive “gifts” from the tourist such as watches or cell phones. If a tourist returns and asks for the same girl, the girls consider themselves as the tourists “girlfriend”. A lot of the girls are tricked into this industry. Tourists approach the girls and some even approach the parents, promising that they will “sponsor” the girl’s education.
The government is starting to take steps to correct the situation. In 2003 the government also passed the Tourism Offences Act, which regulates tourist behavior and in 2005 they passed the Children’s act, which provided a protective environment for children.
Despite the efforts to fix this issue, the government is some-what reluctant to emphasize child sex tourism as a problem due to the fact that they rely heavily on tourist dollars. Tourism brings in approximately 16 percent of The Gambia’s national income.
This article really upset me. I was happy to hear that Gambia was taking steps towards ending child exploitation, but then when I read that they didn’t take it as seriously because it was a good source of income, it really pissed me off. It’s awful that a country would be willing to do that just for money.
http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=81205
2 comments:
It's kind of reminiscent of the famous phrase, "money makes the world go round." It's a terrible thing, that this is used for money like it is, but in an economy that has been suffering like this, it seems as if they are exhausting every effort to combat it. Although it's a disgusting habit, it contributes to their undergroud economy, and they probably don't really want to make it go away.
Sadly, things like this continue to occur and the proper enforcement is not available to prohibit this behavior.
I think its very good they they are taking an incitive to help stop this. It is a disgrace that these innocent chilren are being taken advanatge of. Its disgusting and even more incitive needs to go in to help solve this issue.
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