Sexual Exploitation of Children Rises in Gambia, Government And UNICEF Say

UN News Service (New York)
NEWS
May 6, 2004
Posted to the web May 7, 2004


Sexual abuse and exploitation of children in Gambia is rising because of
sex tourism from Britain and Northern Europe and "sugar daddy"
relationships with adult nationals of the West African country, according
to a report from the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) and the
Gambian Government.

Last year as many as 100,000 tourists, mainly from Britain, Sweden, Norway,
Denmark, Finland, the Netherlands and Germany, visited Gambia, the report
says. Africa's smallest country, and one of the world's least developed
(LDC), has an estimated population of about 1.5 million with a gross
national income (GNI) of $330 per capita.

"The Gambia is a vulnerable target for unscrupulous visitors such as
suspected or convicted paedophiles who enter the country in search of a low-
profile location to commit their crimes against children silently and with
impunity," the report quotes a previous UNICEF study as saying.

Giving details of the exploitation of girls from anecdotal evidence, the
report says sex tourism prostitution has engendered consumerism, with girls
saying that being a sex worker "means having access to lots of cash to buy
jeans, shoes, to go to beauty salons for hair and nail care to show off at
beach parties and nightclubs."

The child prostitutes did not "consider themselves as children and do not
understand that they require special protection because of their age," it
says.

Gambia passed a Tourism Offences Act last year which says, "A person who
makes an unlawful sexual advance to a child commits an offence and is
liable on conviction to a fine of 20,000 Dalasis (about $688) or
imprisonment for a term not exceeding two years, or to both the fine and
imprisonment."

Meanwhile, "sugar daddies" - adult Gambian men, including teachers and
other trusted adults - exploit local girls in exchange for money and gifts,
the study says.

The report notes that by moving to urban areas, "many families have been
uprooted from rural surroundings where the extended family and kinship
network had served not only as a system of safety net, but also as a system
of collective watch and responsibility for children in every respect."

Parents in the 90 per cent Muslim country complained that children's ideas
about Western values and lifestyles, as well as the increasing clamour over
children's rights, were making it difficult for them to have control over
their children.

Many community leaders also expressed the fear that offering sex education
in schools "was a Western notion that simply encouraged children to engage
in immoral behaviour."

Related links:
Child sex tourism and exploitation increasing in The Gambia
http://www.unicef.org/media/media_20825.html

Related documents
Study: Sexual Abuse and Exploitation of Children in The Gambia
http://www.unicef.org/media/files/gambia_report.doc

Press Summary: Sexual Abuse and Exploitation of Children in The Gambia
http://www.unicef.org/media/files/gambia_summary.doc

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
To Search in the Gambia-L archives, go to: http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/CGI/wa.exe?S1=gambia-l
To contact the List Management, please send an e-mail to:
[log in to unmask]

To unsubscribe/subscribe or view archives of postings, go to the Gambia-L Web interface
at: http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/gambia-l.html

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~