Applause for Glitter's Asian exit
By Marwaan Macan-Markar
BANGKOK - When a former British rock star convicted on pedophilia charges was
turned away at two Asian airports this week, it was seen by child rights
activists as an encouraging sign that regional authorities are ready to take a
stronger stand against sex tourism that exploits minors.
Gary Glitter, whose real name is Paul Francis Gadd, was turned away for a
second time on Thursday at Suvarnabhumi Airport, Bangkok's international
gateway, and ordered to take a flight back to Britain, where he arrived on
Friday.
A day earlier, the 64-year-old Glitter was declared persona non grata by Thai
authorities after he attempted to feign illness to
avoid boarding a connecting, West-bound flight to his home country. He had
managed to head east and entered Hong Kong, but the balding Glitter, who now
sports a grey goatee, was turned away by Chinese authorities who shunted him
back to Bangkok.
Glitter's current tour began earlier in the week in Vietnam, where he was asked
to leave the country after serving two years and nine months in jail for
sexually abusing two girls, aged 11 and 12, in the southern tourist resort town
of Vung Tau in 2005.
Cambodia had expelled Glitter in 2002 for allegedly seeking sex with underage
girls. He ended up in that impoverished Southeast Asian nation after slipping
out of Britain following time spent in prison in the late 1990s for keeping
hardcore child pornographic materials in his computer.
The treatment meted out to Glitter is receiving praise from child rights
activists, who have been campaigning for years to protect the region's young
girls and boys from being sexually abused by male tourists, both Western and
Eastern.
This month, a Canadian teacher, Christopher Paul Neil, was convicted in
Thailand for sexually abusing a 13-year-old boy. He was apprehended after
Interpol reconstructed digitally altered images of himself abusing children
posted on the Internet.
Southeast Asian nations like Thailand, Cambodia and the Philippines have long
been known as favorite hunting grounds for these sexual predators. But recent
laws in the US and Europe have made foreign nationals who commit sexual
offenses overseas also legally liable in their home countries.
"This is definitely a new phenomenon that we are witnessing. It shows a
commitment by these countries to take action to prevent convicted child sex
offenders from entering their borders," said Carmen Madrinan, executive
director of ECPAT International. "This is the result of information being
shared by various authorities."
The Bangkok-based ECPAT, which stands for End Child Prostitution, Child
Pornography and Trafficking of Children for Sexual Purposes, has been in the
vanguard of the global fight against child prostitution for nearly two decades.
Southeast Asia was where the organization, which now has partner groups active
in over 80 countries worldwide, launched its campaign following revelations
that child prostitution linked to tourism was on the rise. More recently, the
group has expanded into other manifestations of child sexual exploitation,
including over the Internet.
This week, a child rights expert from Australia told a conference in Bangkok
that 52 foreign men were arrested across Southeast Asia in 2006 for sexually
abusing local children. There were 17 arrests in Indonesia, 10 in Thailand,
nine in Cambodia and eight each in Myanmar and the Philippines, according to
Bernadette McMenamin, the head of Child Wise, a child rights lobby.
The offenders came from over 10 countries, including Germany, Italy and Belgium
in Europe to China, India and South Korea in Asia. Child sex tourists from
Britain and Australia were also held, according to McMenamin. "It is believed
that [Southeast Asia] attracts the highest number of traveling sex offenders
and child sex tourists."
However, the prevailing image of these sex predators as mostly white men, like
Glitter, overlooks the larger and more disturbing truth that the majority of
children abusers are local men or from other parts of Asia.
"Most of the child sex offenders are locals, although foreign exploiters are
often in the media," said Amalee McCoy, child protection consultant at the East
Asia office of the United Nations Children's Fund [UNICEF].
Few of these cases make it to local courts, she added. "Most of these cases are
settled out of court, within the communities, where there is a transfer of
funds as compensation for the family of the victims. The case is closed, but
the abuser remains free."
In the Philippines, for instance, exploitation occurs due to a children being
absorbed into the sex trade where they are exploited by local people. "It is
thought that nine out of 10 customers of child prostitutes are Filipinos," one
UNICEF study reveals.
"On the Indonesian island of Batam, Singaporean tourists underpin the demand
for underage sex. Likewise, Chinese and Thai tourists are going to the Shan
state in Myanmar to take advantage of child sex workers," another study by the
United Nations agency adds.
Tougher laws, greater public awareness and political will by governments to
protect children and target abusers are not enough to end this scourge.
Government representatives from countries are set to meet at a third World
Congress in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, this November to extend official
commitments to combat the commercial sexual exploitation of children.
"Poverty is very much a push factor, but not the only factor," said Vanessa
Griffen, head of the gender development section at the Economic and Social
Commission for Asia and the Pacific, a Bangkok-based UN regional body. "We need
to address the economic drive that is pushing this problem."
(Inter Press Service with additions by Asia Times Online.)
Head
Office: Unit B, 16/F, Li Dong Building, No. 9 Li Yuen Street East,
Central, Hong Kong Thailand Bureau:
11/13 Petchkasem Road,
Hua Hin, Prachuab Kirikhan, Thailand 77110
