Curb Growing Child Sex Trade
Published in the Philippine Daily
Inquirer
December 18, 2001
Yokohama, Japan- Child prostitution and pornography involving minors is
steadily rising, fueled by the expansion of the Internet, delegates at the
opening session of the Second World Congress against Commercial Sexual
Exploitation of Children heard Monday.
Trafficking of children for sexual exploitation “is on the increase on
developing countries as well as developed nations, despite the efforts
implemented by governments,” which attended the first such congress in
Stockholm in 1996, said Japanese Justice Minister Mayumi Moriyama in a
keynote speech.
“The exploiters are increasingly cunning, and most worryingly, there is
huge increase in pedophile sites in the Internet,” she said.
“Five years ago,we gathered in Stockholm to bring an end to these
hateful criminal acts. Today, despite our efforts, the situation is getting
worse,” Japanese Foreign Minister Makiko Tanaka told the more than 3,300
participants at the congress in a prepared speech.
Carol Bellamy, executive director of UNICEF said every country was
concerned about the problem of sexual exploitation of children and the
congress would include a frank assessment of congress in the fight since the
Stockholm conference.
“Each year, millions of children- boys as well as girls are bought as
well as sold like fresh produce commodities in a global sex industry,” said
Bellamy.
The opening of the congress was also attended by Queen Silvia of
Sweden, the honorary president of the Stockholm Conference, who said she was
troubled by the increase in the sexual exploitation of children.
According to police sources, even if hundred of pedophile websites were
shut down everyday, they would be replaced by others almost immediately, she
said.
The four-day Congress is jointly organized by UNICEF, End Child Prostitution in Asian Tourism International and the NGO Group for the Convention on the Rights of the Child.
AFP
