Busting the Myth: Foreigners fuels demand for child trafficking?

This blog piece was written to coincide with a series of short videos launched by the IOM X aiming to bust myths about human trafficking. The videos featured Aarti Kapoor, Embode Director, amongst other technical experts in the field. Here we look at the myth that foreigners fuel the demand child trafficking for sexual exploitation. Check out the video here.

One of the first images that likely comes to mind when speaking about child sexual abuse and trafficking is that of the foreign perpetrator – usually a Caucasian Western male – in handcuffs being led away by police. The idea that demand from ‘foreigners’ is the reason why children get trafficked into sexual exploitation is a myth that needs to be debunked. In truth, there is no established link between an offender’s nationality (or ethnicity) and their propensity to perpetrate child sexual abuse.[1] And in fact, research has suggested that a substantial number of perpetrators sexually abusing trafficked victims are either locals or nationals from the same region as their victims.[2] Why, then, are foreigners constantly seen as the primary predators of trafficked children?

Three reasons. First, and quite frankly, foreigners stand out. Where a local may be able to evade outward attention by speaking the same language as the victim or feigning to be a parent or family member, a foreigner cannot. Second, arrests and convictions of foreigners tend to attract more media attention, giving the misleading impression that more perpetrators are foreign than local. Also, and related to this, the rates of foreign arrest and conviction for child sexual exploitation are often confused for rates of perpetration of child sexual exploitation. There is no reliable data on the number of perpetrators engaging in sexual exploitation of trafficked children – only rates of arrest and conviction.And more often than not, arrest and conviction rates are higher amongst Western countries due to their proactive stance on child sexual abuse overseas, and their well-resourced criminal justice systems.[3] Third, and importantly, the culture of silence and impunity can enable child sexual abuse at the local or domestic level. When a foreigner commits child sexual abuse, it is easier for a community to react as the perpetrator is an outsider, but when the perpetrator is from within the victim’s own community, or in a position of power within the community, the issue of accountability becomes much more complicated. The problem of impunity can be further magnified where there are larger issues surrounding rule of law and corruption.

The bottom line is, anyone can sexually exploit trafficked children. Perpetrators of child sexual exploitation are from all walks of life, all demographics and represent all ethnicities.

- Sheila Varadan (Senior Associate at Embode)

Click here to check out the whole series of video launched by IOM X.

[1] Project Childhood Prevention Pillar, Sex, Abuse and Childhood, 2014, p 17, accessed at: http://www.childsafetourism.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/Sex_Abuse_Childhood-report.pdf

[2] Sex, Abuse and Childhood, 2014, 17; see also ECPAT International, ‘In Brief: Domestic and Regional Offenders’ (2016), Global Study on Sexual Exploitation of Children in Travel and Tourism, accessed at: http://www.ecpat.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/Domestic-and-regional-offenders.pdf ; see also

Niron et al (2001), Children’s Work, Adults’ Play: Child Sex Tourism – the Problem in Cambodia, World Vision and Save the Children (February 2009), Sex Offenders without Borders: An Investigation into sexual abuse and exploitation of children in Thailand, Cambodia and Burma in relation to travel and tourism.

[3] Sex, Abuse and Childhood, p 18.