SEXUAL ABUSE AND EXPLOITATION OF BOYS IN SOUTH ASIA A ...

Many children are forced into casual prostitution for survival, though they do not rely on it for
their entire income. Typically this form of exploitation involves children working in
restaurants or on the street. 66 In other circumstances, sexual exploitation of boys through
prostitution is linked with traditional practices, such as the custom of having boys dance at
marriage processions and ceremonies in some parts of India and Pakistan. 67
1.10.2 Exploitation in travel and tourism
Research indicates that providing children for sexual services to international tourists is
prevalent in certain areas of South Asia. 68 To date, travelling sex offenders have generally
been identified as foreigners, primarily non-South Asians, linked with external tourism
industries. 69 The focus on tourists from outside the region has resulted in significant
international interventions to curtail these practices, but sexual exploitation of children by
tourists and business travellers within South Asia has received relatively less attention.
Sexual exploitation of children by foreign child sex exploiters (primarily from Western
industrialised countries, but also from the Middle East and East Asia) has taken place in Sri
Lanka and the state of Goa (India). Exploitation by international tourists has also been noted
in Nepal 70 and in Indian tourist destinations such as Agra, Delhi and Jaipur. 71 Pakistan and
Bangladesh have shown little evidence of child sexual exploitation by international tourists.
Sexual exploitation by travelling nationals and those from neighbouring South Asian
countries – whether the tourism is directly intended for sex or is an auxiliary activity – is little
recognized in South Asia. However, it appears to exist in India, Pakistan, Nepal and Sri
Lanka. Prostitution, including sexual exploitation of children, has long been noted at local
tourist destinations, including religious pilgrimage sites. Research on ‘local’ (as opposed to
international) travelling child sex offenders is lacking.
Trafficking per se is not a form of sexual exploitation, although it is routinely conflated with
prostitution. Trafficking is one mechanism by which a child may enter a situation of sexual or
other type of exploitation. Despite the dominance of this recruitment mechanism in
legislation, policy and programming, ‘trafficking’ may not be the most prevalent mechanism
by which boys become commercially sexually exploited in South Asia. Boys often enter
situations of sexual exploitation from intermediate high-risk situations, including street
living, the workplace, Internet contacts and the influence of peers, family, gangs and
community members. Research to date has emphasized children, particularly girls, entering
sexually exploitative situations through trafficking. However, there remains inadequate
66
Hussain, A., 2000, ‘Nowhere to hide’, In J. Frederick (ed.), ‘Fallen Angels: The sex workers of South Asia’.
67
Lahiri, A and Kar, S., 2006, ‘Dancing boys: Traditional prostitution of young males in India: A study report
on launda dancers’.
68
ECPAT International, 2003, ‘A situational analysis of child sex tourism in India, Nepal and Sri Lanka’; Save
the Children Alliance, 2005, ‘10 essential learning points: Listen and speak out against sexual abuse of girls and
boys’.
69
For example: O’Connell Davidson, J. and Taylor, J.S., 1995, ‘Child prostitution and sex tourism: Goa’. India
70
Child Workers in Nepal and ECPAT International, 2003, ‘A situational analysis of child sex tourism in Nepal
(Kathmandu Valley and Pokhara)’.
71
ECPAT International, 2003, ‘A situational analysis of child sex tourism in India, Nepal and Sri Lanka’.
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