Is child sex tourism on the rise in Goa, India?
A research report, Walking the tightrope: Exploitation of migrant children in Tourism in Goa, says tourism has contributed to “an increase in the exploitation of children, which often assumes intolerable forms”.
Compiled by a joint team of non-government organisations (NGOs), including Bengaluru-based Equations and Goa-based Children’s Rights in Goa, Jan Ugahi, and the Centre for Responsible Tourism, the reports claims that convictions are few, even in cases involving serial offenders.
The report tries to dispel the myth that most paedophiles are foreign:
“It is important to note that travelling sex offenders are not necessarily of foreign nationality only. Every year Goa witnesses a large number of single male domestic tourists. Some of these visitors come to Goa believing that they can have sex with minors […] Unfortunately, cases of domestic tourists involved in the sexual abuse of minors are far more difficult to detect as the child is often passed off as a relative.”
Download ‘Walking the Tightrope’.
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