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Australia in sex-tourism campaign

Page last updated at 5:36 GMT, Monday, 7 June 2010 6:36 UK
E-mail this to a friend Printable version By Phil Mercer
BBC News, Sydney

Charities say Australians travel far and wide to indulge "abhorrent behaviour" Australia has launched an advertising campaign to accompany tough new laws on sex tourism.

Adverts have been placed in national newspapers that warn offenders they can be prosecuted in Australia even if their crimes are committed elsewhere.

The measures include jail terms of up to 25 years for Australians found guilty of sex crimes against children in foreign countries.

Charities in Australia have welcomed the tougher stance.

Hetty Johnston from the Queensland-based child protection charity, Bravehearts, says sex tourists should have no place to hide.

"What we know is that it is increasingly difficult for sex offenders to get away with their crimes in Australia because of the increased level of awareness," she said.

"So it is an option - and a very attractive option - for child-sex offenders to actually travel overseas to places where children are not so protected.

"Anything at all that we can do to stop that - we are all for. We just don't believe persons convicted of child sex offences should be allowed to leave the country without reason."

Charities have alleged that Australians have travelled far and wide to abuse children.

They blame organised criminal gangs in Asia, the Pacific, South America and Eastern Europe as well as China for facilitating such "abhorrent behaviour".

The Australian government has promised to fight the sexual exploitation of children wherever it occurs.

Officials say they want to combat the "increasingly depraved and corrupt activities" of child-sex tourists.

Over the weekend, a 72-year-old man was extradited from Portugal to face a court in Sydney on child sex charges that date back more than a decade.

They are targeting sex crimes, such as sex with underaged persons, not regular sex with consenting adults. Many countries have these laws- you get caught crossing the line, you go to prison in your home country. But this is still tough to prosecute because these people need to be arrested by authorities in that country or the Interpol or during some sting operation. If they bribe local officials, they can still get away with it. And they often do. Local cops know they can squeeze out big money from these and they just take the bribe in most cases. Same goes for trafficking. This is why all this goes on.

momopi wrote:Australia in sex-tourism campaign

Page last updated at 5:36 GMT, Monday, 7 June 2010 6:36 UK
E-mail this to a friend Printable version By Phil Mercer
BBC News, Sydney

Charities say Australians travel far and wide to indulge "abhorrent behaviour" Australia has launched an advertising campaign to accompany tough new laws on sex tourism.

Adverts have been placed in national newspapers that warn offenders they can be prosecuted in Australia even if their crimes are committed elsewhere.

The measures include jail terms of up to 25 years for Australians found guilty of sex crimes against children in foreign countries.

Charities in Australia have welcomed the tougher stance.

Hetty Johnston from the Queensland-based child protection charity, Bravehearts, says sex tourists should have no place to hide.

"What we know is that it is increasingly difficult for sex offenders to get away with their crimes in Australia because of the increased level of awareness," she said.

"So it is an option - and a very attractive option - for child-sex offenders to actually travel overseas to places where children are not so protected.

"Anything at all that we can do to stop that we are all for. We just don't believe persons convicted of child sex offences should be allowed to leave the country without reason."

Charities have alleged that Australians have travelled far and wide to abuse children.

They blame organised criminal gangs in Asia, the Pacific, South America and Eastern Europe as well as China for facilitating such "abhorrent behaviour".

The Australian government has promised to fight the sexual exploitation of children wherever it occurs.

Officials say they want to combat the "increasingly depraved and corrupt activities" of child-sex tourists.

Over the weekend, a 72-year-old man was extradited from Portugal to face a court in Sydney on child sex charges that date back more than a decade.

Sex tourism is a big problem in South America, and should be brought to the attention of developed countries, as it is very bad for the local economies. I hope there is more work done in the future to curb sex tourism. People should support vacation places like a California Vacation that do not allow sex tourism.

barrymorgan88 wrote:

momopi wrote:Australia in sex-tourism campaign

Sex tourism is a big problem in South America, and should be brought to the attention of developed countries, as it is very bad for the local economies. I hope there is more work done in the future to curb sex tourism. People should support vacation places like a California Vacation that do not allow sex tourism.

Sex tourism bad for local economies?

No not for the economies....perhaps for the people involved in the sex business...

How about we stop all the gays and fat white women going to the Greek Islands or Bali for their sex tourist holidays first....

Or is stopping sex tourism all about denying middle age men from western countries any opportunity for sex.?

These laws sound good, but don't make much difference as how will you prosecute anyone in Australia without bringing children and their familes to Australia for months while the Court case progresses? All that will happen is Australian men will be falsely convicted in corrupt countries e.g. Indonesia and serve 25 years in Australia - so it sounds like a waste of time to me. Why not have a law that Gravity doesn't work?