C S E C The Commercial Sexual
Exploitation of Children In the early years of the 21st Century, 2000 to
2025 gvnet.com/childprostitution/SolomonIslands.htm
|
|||||||||||
|
CAUTION: The following links
and accompanying text have been culled from the web to illuminate the situation
in the Solomon Islands. Some of these
links may lead to websites that present allegations that are unsubstantiated,
misleading or even false. No attempt
has been made to validate their authenticity or to verify their content. HOW TO USE THIS WEBPAGE Students If you are looking
for material to use in a term-paper, you are advised to scan the postings on
this page and others to see which aspects of child prostitution are of
particular interest to you. You might be
interested in exploring how children got started, how they survive, and how
some succeed in leaving. Perhaps your
paper could focus on runaways and the abuse that led to their leaving. Other factors of interest might be poverty,
rejection, drug dependence, coercion, violence, addiction, hunger, neglect,
etc. On the other hand, you might
choose to write about the manipulative and dangerous adults who control this
activity. There is a lot to the
subject of Child Prostitution. Scan
other countries as well as this one.
Draw comparisons between activity in adjacent countries and/or
regions. Meanwhile, check out some of
the Term-Paper
resources that are available on-line. Teachers Check out some of
the Resources
for Teachers attached to this website. ***
FEATURED ARTICLE *** Lure of Logging
Creates Another Headache Alfred Sasako, www.islandsbusiness.com/islands_business/index_dynamic/containerNameToReplace
=MiddleMiddle/focusModuleID=18500/overideSkinName=issueArticle-full.tpl [accessed 11
September 2011] To give you some
idea as to what always happened, here’s a transcribed interview with a
10-year-old boy featured in the report.
“When the [logging] ship came, I went to look. Lots of children went
to look. We went out in canoes for [selling] market [goods]. They were all
Asian men. “We sold them coconuts. We
did not go onboard. We were not allowed. Some girls were allowed. They were
not children but they were not mature women [they were teenagers]. LOVE OF MONEY: “The Asian men gave them $10 each to come
onboard. There were about 10 of them. I don’t know what they did onboard. No
boys were allowed. The girls did not come for market—they did not bring
anything to sell”. ***
ARCHIVES *** ECPAT Perceptions
of Frontline Welfare Workers on the Sexual Exploitation of Children in the
Pacific
[PDF] Rosalind Fennell,
ECPAT International, June 2019 [accessed 7
September 2020] In 2019, ECPAT
International conducted a detailed survey that targeted Pacific region
welfare workers directly managing a range of cases with children. Frontline
staff in Fiji, Solomon Islands, Papua New Guinea, Vanuatu, Tonga, Samoa and
Kiribati were identified by local experts and supported to complete an online
survey. The main objective was to collect new data that helps describe a
nuanced picture of how sexual exploitation of children (SEC) is occurring
within Pacific communities and how it is presenting to those working on the
welfare frontline. Human
Rights Reports » 2019 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices U.S. Dept of State Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and
Labor, March 10, 2020 www.state.gov/reports/2019-country-reports-on-human-rights-practices/solomon-islands/ [accessed 7
September 2020] SEXUAL
EXPLOITATION OF CHILDREN - The minimum age for consensual sex is 15 years. The
maximum penalty for sexual relations with a girl younger than age 13 is life
imprisonment, and for sexual relations with a girl age 13 to 15, the penalty
is 15 years’ imprisonment. Consent is not a permissible defense under these
provisions; however, in the latter case, reasonable belief the victim was age
16 or older is a permissible defense. Selling or hiring minors younger than
age 15 and between 15 and 18 for prostitution is punishable as a criminal
offense. There were reports of workers in logging camps sexually exploiting
girls as young as age 12, but in most cases official charges were not filed. Child pornography
is illegal and carries a maximum penalty of 10 years’ imprisonment. The law
criminalizes the commercial sexual exploitation of children and participation
in or use, distribution, or storing of sexually exploitative materials
involving children. Girls and boys were exploited in prostitution and sexual
servitude. Trafficking of children carries a maximum sentence of 25 years’
imprisonment. 2018 Findings on
the Worst Forms of Child Labor Office of Child
Labor, Forced Labor, and Human Trafficking, Bureau of International Labor
Affairs, US Dept of Labor, 2019 www.dol.gov/sites/dolgov/files/ILAB/child_labor_reports/tda2018/ChildLaborReportBook.pdf [accessed 7
September 2020] Note:: Also check out this country’s report in the more recent edition DOL
Worst Forms of Child Labor [page 1049] In the Solomon
Islands, the commercial sexual exploitation of both boys and girls is
prevalent near logging camps; near or aboard fishing vessels; and at hotels,
casinos, and entertainment establishments. (2,5,6,11-13) The Penal Code
includes heightened penalties if an offense is committed against a child, but
has insufficient prohibitions against child trafficking because threats, the
use of force, or other forms of coercion are required to be established for
the crime of child trafficking. Furthermore, the laws on child commercial
sexual exploitation are insufficient as they do not include prohibiting
pornographic performances. (21) Concluding
Observations of the Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC) UN Convention on the
Rights of the Child, 6 June 2003 sim.law.uu.nl/SIM/CaseLaw/uncom.nsf/fe005fcb50d8277cc12569d5003e4aaa/73d1b40db7ea072a41256d42003b2016?OpenDocument [accessed 3
September 2012] [54] The Committee is
very concerned that: (a) Children of
both sexes are exposed to prostitution due to economic difficulties; (b) There is a
lack of guidance on the role of police intervention in this field, as well as
an absence of institutions dedicated to the rehabilitation of child
victims; (c) There is very little data
on the number of children being exploited. Paradise Lost.
Logging and the Environmental and Social Destruction of the Andre Vltchek, Asia-Pacific Journal: japanfocus.org/-Andre-Vltchek/2770 [accessed 20 July
2011] THE SOCIAL IMPACT OF
INTERNATIONAL LOGGING
- Logging, mining and fishing by foreign fleets brought several glaring
problems to the Solomons, the most chilling being
child prostitution and child pornography. Time Magazine ran a story “Sold and
abused” on March 27, 2006, claiming that “… many visitors are sexually
abusing the country’s children – and parents, politicians and police seem
powerless to stop them.” “Child prostitution was the most prominent
type of exploitation, with 25 stories collected, affecting 36 children.
Children ranged from age 11 through to 19, with most children being aged 13
to 15 years. www.nzherald.co.nz/world/news/article.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10415389 [accessed 14
February 2015] Children in The report, by the UN
Children's Fund Pacific, the UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and
the Pacific and End Child Prostitution, and Child Pornography and Trafficking
of Children for Sexual Purposes, is based on studies in 2004 and 2005 in
Fiji, Kiribati, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands and Vanuatu. The report in its
summary said the five studies confirmed that in each country children were
sexually abused by family members and neighbours,
and that child prostitution, child pornography, early marriage, child sex tourism
and trafficking occurred. Child sex tourism
offences in the Pacific Adapted from: ECPAT
International Newsletter, February-March, No. 51, At one time this
article had been archived and may possibly still be accessible [here] [accessed 19 July
2011] Report on the
Pacific Regional Workshop on Combating Poverty and Commercial Sexual
Exploitation of Children and Youth [PDF] Inter-Agency Group
(IAG) consisting of ESCAP, UNICEF-EAPRO and ECPAT International, Nadi Fijii, 15-19 September, 2003 www.unescap.org/esid/GAD/Issues/CSEC/Pacific_Regional_Consultation_report_Sept2003.pdf [accessed 10 June
2011] [p.52] CSEC - There are few
records or studies of CSEC in the Delegates agree to
strengthen efforts to reduce demand for CSEC Joint Media Release:
ECPAT International, UNESCAP, UNICEF - 11 November 2004, At one time this
article had been archived and may possibly still be accessible [here]
[accessed 18
September 2011] In the ECPAT International,
CSEC Database At one time this
article had been archived and may possibly still be accessible [here] [accessed 20 July
2011] CHILD PROSTITUTION - During a child
protection conference held by The Solomon Islands Family Support Centre in January
of 1999, many confirmed the existence of Commercial Sexual Exploitation of
Children (CSEC) in the country. Violation of
Children’s and Women’s Rights: The Case of Trafficking and Commercial Sexual
Exploitation
[PDF] Ms. Mehr Khan, UNICEF Regional Director, www.fhs.mcmaster.ca/slru/ic2003/Khan.pdf [accessed 16 April
2011] Although smaller in
scale, the commercial sexual exploitation of children also appears to be
escalating in the Pacific Islands, in particular in Fiji and the Solomon
Islands, which are becoming major destinations for child sex tourism,
especially for Australians. ***
EARLIER EDITIONS OF SOME OF THE ABOVE *** The Department of Labor’s 2005 Findings on
the Worst Forms of Child Labor [PDF] www.dol.gov/ilab/media/reports/iclp/tda2005/tda2005.pdf [accessed 22 December
2010] INCIDENCE AND NATURE
OF CHILD LABOR
- Commercial sexual exploitation of children is a problem in the CHILD LABOR LAWS AND
ENFORCEMENT
- The procurement of girls under 18 years of age for
the purposes of prostitution is prohibited under the Penal Code (“Offences
Against Morality”). The Penal Code provides sanctions for the abduction of
children. Human Rights
Reports » 2006 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices 2009-2017.state.gov/j/drl/rls/hrrpt/2006/78791.htm [accessed 11
February 2020] WOMEN
-
Prostitution is illegal, but the statutes were not enforced. There is no law
specifically against sex tourism, although such offenses could be prosecuted
under laws against prostitution. There were some press reports of sex tourism
during the year, but no specific cases were reported to the police. All
material used herein reproduced under the fair use exception of 17 USC § 107
for noncommercial, nonprofit, and educational use. PLEASE RESPECT COPYRIGHTS OF COMPONENT
ARTICLES. Cite this webpage as: Patt,
Prof. Martin, "Child Prostitution – |
