YOU WILL BE CAUGHT
The world is slowly coming to grips with the reality of child sex tourism and finally doing something about it. Happy Schools believes it is time for the TESOL industry to do its part. Happy Schools is proud to work with The Future Group to promote the You Will be Caught program and raise awareness about child sex abuse abroad. Happy Schools includes information supplements on the problems of child sex slavery and child sex tourism in its registration packages and encourages teachers to report offenders to You Will be Caught.
By working together Happy Schools and The Future Group are mobilizing English teachers to be part of the solution to child sex tourism, not part of the problem.
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WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT WORKING OVERSEAS
- Over 35 countries have extraterritorial laws to prosecute their nationals for sexually abusing children abroad
- Child sex users face severe local punishment including: large fines, hard jail-time and public humiliation
- The highest rates of HIV/AIDS and sexually transmitted diseases in the world are found in overseas brothels
HOW YOU CAN PROTECT CHILDREN
- Report Offenders at www.youwillbecaught.com
- Learn more about these laws, convicted offenders and failed bribery attempts
- Tell others about the legal and health risks of engaging in prostitution (even once)
INTERNATIONAL LAWS AGAINST CHILD SEX ABUSE
Over 35 countries have laws to prosecute their nationals for sexually exploiting children abroad. Among others, these countries include the United States, Canada, Australia, France, Switzerland, the Netherlands, Ireland, Italy, Spain, Denmark, the UK, Sweden, Norway, Finland, Belgium, Germany, Moroco, Taiwan, Iceland, China and Japan.
Many of these countries have their own national police officers working in Embassies overseas to investigate sex offenders from their countries.
These countries assert extraterritorial jurisdiction for certain offences against children no matter where they take place. Here are just a few examples:
Australia’s Crimes (Child Sex Tourism) Amendment Act came into force in July 1994. This Act makes sexual activity with a child under 16 years committed in an overseas country by an Australian citizen or resident a criminal offence in Australia. The laws apply to individuals, companies or corporations and provide for a term of imprisonment of up to 17 years and fines of up to $500,000. Since Australia's extraterritorial laws were implemented in 1994, at least 19 Australians have been convicted.
The Australian government has posted law enforcement officers from the Australian Federal Police in overseas embassies to combat organized crime, human smuggling, and to support extraterritorial prosecution.
The United States passed stronger extraterritorial legislation, the PROTECT Act in 2003 – under the law any U.S. citizen or permanent resident that “engages in any illicit sexual conduct with another person shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than 30 years, or both.” The term “Illicit sexual contact” is defined as, among other things, “any commercial sex act with a person under 18 years of age.”
In Canada, section 7(4.1) of the Criminal Code provides a list of offences that if committed by a Canadian citizen or permanent resident abroad will be deemed to have been committed in Canada. These offences include: obtaining or communicating for the purpose of obtaining the commercial sexual services of a person under the age of eighteen [s. 212(4)] and making, distributing, selling or possessing child pornography [s. 163.1].
CONVICTED OFFENDERS
Over 100 foreigners have already been convicted when they have returned home from traveling or working abroad. Many others face hard prison time in the jails of developing countries. Here are just a few examples:
British National Jailed in Cambodia
Moments ago, rising to hear his sentence, British headmaster John Keeler was grinning from ear to ear. Now his knees are weak and a wave of nausea flows through his body. “Pedophile - guilty: Three years in a Cambodian jail.” His head spins. He picks up his chair and throws it at the judge. “Scum!” he shouts across the court as guards rush to restrain him. “I paid $5,400. I am supposed to go free. This isn't justice, this is robbery!” Then he starts to sob. He says he's going to die if they put him back in that hole.
Japanese Man Prosecuted for Overseas Sex Abuse
The Osaka District Court sentenced a 38-year-old Japanese man to two years and six months in prison for paying two underage girls for sex in Cambodia in 2000. According to the ruling, Takeshi Ozawa paid a 13-year-old Vietnamese girl $60 to have sex with him in a hotel in Phnom Penh in August 2000 and paid a 14-year-old Vietnamese girl $550 to have regular sex with him for a week in a hotel in the city in December 2000, even though he knew both girls were under 18.
American Prosecuted in U.S. for Sex Crimes Abroad
Michael Lewis Clark, a U.S. citizen, was arrested by Cambodian National Police in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, on charges of debauchery for engaging in sexual contact with two Cambodian boys. Following his expulsion from Cambodia, on September 24, 2003, Clark was indicted in Seattle with two counts under the PROTECT Act. On March 17, 2004, Clark pled guilty to those charges.
HEALTH RISKS
Tens of thousands of child sex users bring home lifelong diseases such as HIV/AIDS, Gonorrhoea, syphilis, herpes, genital warts, scabies, Chlamydia, crabs, chancroid and more.
For example, more than 51% of Cambodian sex workers currently have HIV/AIDS, in some areas the infection rate is as high as 80%. Young children are especially vulnerable to the transmission of HIV through sexual intercourse.
The continued trauma on the body of a child who is forced to have sex between ten and fifteen times a day can also lead to cervical cancer. When a sex user goes to a child prostitute, it is the medical equivalent of having slept with everyone that victim has for the last 3 months - upwards of 900 people.
REPORT OFFENDERS
Help stop child sex exploitation - Report people who exploit children for sex at www.youwillbecaught.com. All tips are forwarded to local and international law enforcement agencies for investigation. Tips can be made anonymously.
You can report suspected offenders to local authorities. If you know the nationality of a suspected offender, you can also report them to their embassy and they can face prosecution in their home country.
FOR MORE INFORMATION
- Assist and rescue victims of human trafficking and child sex trade
- Deter and prosecute offenders at home and abroad
- Raise the issue to national and international attention, advocating for positive change based on our research
The Future Group is a Canadian-based international non-governmental organization that works to:
For more information, visit: www.thefuturegroup.org