Well done Kabir.
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Matarr


>From: Amadu Kabir Njie <[log in to unmask]>
>Reply-To: The Gambia and related-issues mailing list
><[log in to unmask]>
>To: [log in to unmask]
>Subject: Fw: Child sex tourists hunt for new grounds
>Date: Wed, 24 Mar 2004 09:26:07 -0500
>
>---------------------- Information from the mail header
>-----------------------
>Sender:       The Gambia and related-issues mailing list
>               <[log in to unmask]>
>Poster:       Amadu Kabir Njie <[log in to unmask]>
>Subject:      Fw: Child sex tourists hunt for new grounds
>-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>Hi Jabou,
>
>I just finished doing this translation about an hour ago and mailed it to
>the journalist who wrote it. She read through it and mailed back to say
>that she is quite happy with it.
>
>Regards,
>
>Kabir.
>
>----------------------------------------
>
>Child sex tourists hunt for new grounds
>
>Child sex tourists hunt for new grounds where they can molest children
>with impunity. Thailand has become too dangerous. Gambia is the new target
>of paedophiles. Also Norwegian men who help poor families are suspected of
>abusing small girls in The Gambia.
>
>Inger Anne Olsen
>Gambia
>
>Risky work
>
>Isa is 11 years and Sofie is 12. The two girls sell fruits and nuts at the
>tourist beach in Gambia. Their objective is to become friends with as many
>tourists as possible, get regular customers so as to get their bananas and
>peanuts sold.
>
>Isa and Sofie say that almost all the tourists are nice. But some want to
>buy more than just fruits and nuts. Some want for example, to take
>pictures of the two =96 in a compromising situation.
>
>=93We let them do it, if they promise not to make postcards or such from
>the=
>
>photos=94 says Sofie.
>
>=93Are there some who do things that you don=92t like?=94
>
>=93Most of them are quite nice. But some are nasty,=94 says the 12 year
>old.=
>
>She then drags her friend with her along the beach.
>
>According to the Gambian police it is the young fruit sellers who are most
>vulnerable to sexual abuse by Europeans on holidays. The Gambia does not
>have child prostitution as can be seen in other countries. But the country
>has many poor families. The U.N. reports that 69 percent of the population
>live under the poverty line.  During some hectic winter months, the
>country=92s 1.5 million inhabitants are host to some 95 000 European
>charter=
>
>tourists. They flock on some stretch of kilometres of sparkling sandy
>beach.
>
>The fruit sellers =96 boys and girls in school going age =96 appear alone
>on=
>
>the beach. For them a couple of two hundred Norwegian crones is a wealth
>and they stretch themselves long in order to secure money for the family.
>
>According to the report =93Gambia, the smiling coast,=94 written by The
>Gambian organisation Child Protection Alliance (CPA) and Dutch Terre des
>Hommes, many sexual abuses against children occur inside the family=92s
>belly, so to speak. The report states that most of the abusers who are
>observed in The Gambia are European men over 45. They prefer girls between
>the ages of nine and sixteen.
>
>It is in this report that an experienced child-protection worker (social
>worker) expresses her fear about what Norwegian men actually do in the
>country.  The social worker who works at the =93Children=92s center=94 told
>=
>CPA
>about two families that receive economic assistance, each from Norwegian
>men. The men pay school fees for the children and are sexual partners with
>the mothers. But over time the behaviour of the children in the family has
>changed in such a way that the social worker has fears that the children
>are being abused sexually by the Norwegians.
>
>Neither Kripos (Norwegian criminal police) nor The Gambian police have
>received any reports about the two Norwegians. But police sergeant Havard
>Aksnes of Kripos is not surprised:
>
>=93We know that paedophiles always move to places where the risk of being
>apprehended is minimal, where the price is lowest and access to children
>is best. Now it is away from Asia and over to Africa, Eastern Europe and
>South America=94 according to Aksnes.
>
>For the mean time, the police in Europe know very little about what goes
>on in African countries.
>
>=93We stumble on child pornography pictures and films that are made in
>Africa but we don=92t even know which countries they come from=94 says
>Aksne=
>s.
>
>He says the paedophiles use the same methods everywhere: They are men who
>come back to the country year after year, some as tourists, some under the
>guise of being aid workers, some as businessmen.
>
>=93For us to be able to do something about Norwegians abroad we are
>dependent on the country involved to also do something itself=94 says
>Aksnes=
>.
>
>Even though Norwegian Wing cut out Gambia as a charter resort in 1994,
>some Norwegians still travel to the small country. Many of them travel
>year after year and many eventually get Gambian friends and support poor
>families economically. Most of the tourists do not break the law. But it
>is in this tourists group that both Kripos and UNICEF are convinced one
>should search for abusers.
>
>Already in 2001 UNICEF warned that Gambia is vulnerable to child sex
>tourism. In the report =93The Situation of Children and Women in The
>Gambia=94=
>
>UNICEF warned specifically against paedophiles who exploit poor families
>and who offer to adapt or foster the families=92 children.
>
>John Staale Stamnes is Crime Intelligence Officer at Interpol=92s general
>secretariat in Lyon. He is worried about what happens in poor countries as
>it becomes too dangerous for child abusers in the West:
>
>=93The focus that child abuse has had in the Western world has resulted in
>those committing child abuses travelling to poor countries in stead. If we
>don=92t focus on this problem we will be guilty of adding weight to the
>already heavy burden of the children in these countries=94 says Stamnes.
>
>He defied the Norwegian police to investigate abuses committed by
>Norwegians in the countries where the crime is committed. =93Norwegian
>police must be willing to allocate resources and carry out good quality
>investigation under quite different conditions than we are used to at
>home=94 say John Staale Stamnes.
>
>The sexual age limit in The Gambia is 16 years but in certain ethnic
>groups and some parts of the country it is not uncommon for a 13-year old
>girl to be married away to an adult husband. Therefore it does not
>necessarily cause uproar within the family if a tourist has a sexual
>relationship with a young girl as long as he also takes economic
>responsibility.
>
>Gambian boys are not protected by any sexual age limit and homosexuality
>is forbidden. So if a 14 year old boy is abused by an adult man the boy
>can himself be prosecuted for homosexual behaviour. Up till now few cases
>of abuse of boys have been reported. But Jalamang Camara, head of CPA,
>tells =91Aftenposten=92 that he is worried about the lack of protection for
>boys.
>
>When the UNICEF report came out in 2001 The Gambian authorities showed
>very little interest concerning child sex tourism.
>
>In CPA=92s report this is illustrated thus:
>
>A Scandinavian man lived with a young girl. The girl=92s mother got worried
>and contacted The Gambian Social Security Department. But the girl=92s
>father was satisfied with the money the family was getting. The
>authorities tried to approach the case through an acquaintant of the
>family but nobody was willing to cooperate =96 and therefore nothing more
>happened.
>
>=93Nothing happened until it became understood that it will ruin The
>Gambia=92s tourist industry if the country gets stamped as the new resort
>of=
>
>child sex tourism. But now the authorities are taking this seriously=94
>says=
>
>Jalamang Camara. He heads the umbrella organisation Child Protection
>Alliance which organises both state and private bodies with a common goal:
>To prevent commercial and sexual exploitation of children.
>
>Two years ago, The Gambian Social Security Department began registering
>visa application to Denmark, Germany, Belgium, Sweden and Norway filed by
>children under 17 in order to prevent paedophiles =91importing=92 children
>into Europe, under cover of treating them to a holiday.
>
>But it is unclear if this registration has had any effect. Presently, it
>is impossible to get a synopsis from The Gambian authorities on how many
>such applications that have been received. The Norwegian ambassador in The
>Ivory Coast, Egil Andhoey, also has The Gambia within his purview.  But
>Andhoey has no data on the number of Gambian children who have been taken
>on holidays to Norway.
>
>=93This is not a phenomenon we are preoccupied with but we will view with
>total scepticism, an application for a tourist visa filed by a minor who
>has been invited to Norway alone=94 says Andhoey.
>
>Last winter The Gambian interior minister promised that the authorities
>will take on the problem and prevent child sex tourism from having a
>foothold in the country.
>
>Even members of government have during the last months spoken out loudly
>against child sex tourism. The country=92s vice president, Isatou Njie-
>Saidy, has read out a declaration on TV in which she condemns the
>practice. Also head of crime unit Abdou Njie has used the state TV channel
>to reach out with information.
>
>And after many years with rumour that small girls were being abused at the
>small hotel, John=92s, at Fajara, The Gambian police has now taken action
>against its British owner. He is charged with having taken pornographic
>pictures and videos and with having sexual intercourse with girl minors. A
>number of Scandinavian tourists have over the years lived at John=92s,
>since=
>
>Wing, for quite a while, used it as a relief alternative.
>
>In October, the Dutch owner of another small Gambian hotel, Holland House,
>was arrested at home in The Netherlands and charged in a similar case.
>
>=93This is first and foremost about poverty,=94 say crime unit boss, Abdou
>Njie.
>
>=93Every single child that sell fruits alone on the beach or hangs around
>tourists, comes from a very poor family. Other families don=92t allow their
>children to be alone in the tourist areas=94 according to Njie.
>
>  =93Especially children who sell fruits on the beach =96 and the young
>boys
>who hang around there =96 are vulnerable. They have never in their lives
>owned 1000.00 dalasis (NOK 250.00). So a tourist comes along and gives
>them 2000.00 dalasis as a present! The children think that they have come
>into heaven, and they take the tourist home to meet the family and
>introduce him as a friend. Then the tourist has a unhindered access. In
>the few cases that we have had until now, it has been very difficult to
>get the girls to witness because they just cry. It is difficult for them
>to understand that we are on their side. Here, in this country girls are
>brought up to preserve their virginity for a husband. So therefore, this
>is a shame for them in many ways=94 says Abdou Njie.
>
>Have has never had cases in which boys have been abused.
>
>=93It certainly happens with boys too. But gay sex is harder to prove. If
>the boy denies it there is nothing to see=94 says Njie.
>
>
>Places with increasing child sex tourism:
>Europe: Romania. Moldavia Ukraine, Russia, the Baltics
>
>Africa: Gambia, Ghana, Senegal
>
>America: The while of South America and Central America
>
>Asia: Laos and Cambodia
>
>And here it still exists:
>Sir Lanka Thailand Philippines, West coast of India
>
>Source: Interpol and Kripos
>
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