Sex Tourism - Child Sex Tourism

Child sex tourism is tourism to engage in sex with a child prostitute. It is a criminal (in most countries) multi-billion-dollar industry believed to involve as many as 2 million children around the world. In an effort to eradicate the practice, many countries have enacted laws to allow prosecution of its citizens for child abuse that occurs outside their home country, even if it is not against the law in the country where the child abuse took place, for example, the US Protect Act.

Some people travel to other countries to engage in sex with children. Child sex tourism has been closely linked to poverty.

Thailand, Morocco,Cambodia, India, Brazil, Colombia and Mexico have been identified as countries where child sexual exploitation is prevalent. In Thailand, though the exact numbers are not known, it has been estimated that children make up 40% of prostitutes in the country. In Cambodia, it has been estimated that about a third of all prostitutes are under 18. In India, the federal police say that around 1.2 million children are believed to be involved in prostitution. Brazil is considered to have the worst child sex trafficking record, after Thailand.

UNICEF notes that sexual activity is often seen as a private matter, making communities reluctant to act and intervene in cases of sexual exploitation. These attitudes make children far more vulnerable to sexual exploitation. Most exploitation of children takes place as a result of their absorption into the adult sex trade where they are exploited by local people and sex tourists. The Internet provides an efficient global networking tool for individuals to share information on destinations and procurement.

In cases involving children, the U.S. has relatively strict domestic laws that hold accountable any American citizen or permanent resident of the U.S. who travels abroad for the purpose of engaging in illicit conduct with a minor. However, child pornography, sex tourism and human trafficking remain fast-growing industries. Rep. Chris Smith, R-NJ recently introduced H.R. 1623, the "International Megan's Law". Similar to the domestic Megan's Law, which provides for community notification when a sex offender is living in the area, H.R. 1623 would alert officials abroad when U.S. sex offenders intend to travel, and likewise encourage other countries to keep sex offender lists and to notify the U.S. when a known sex offender may be coming to the United States for sex tourism.