Sex tourism booming in Kenya
2006-12-19 18:03
Geneva - Italian, German and Swiss sex tourists are fuelling an "unacceptable" boom in the often violent exploitation of child prostitutes in Kenya, the UN Children's Fund said on Tuesday.
In a joint report with the Kenyan government, Unicef found that up to 15 000 girls aged between 12 and 18 living in four main tourist destinations on the Kenyan coast were engaged in casual sex for goods and cash.
A further 2 000 to 3 000 girls and boys were involved in full-time prostitution, the study showed.
"Clearly, what is going on here is unacceptable. Unicef feels that it's time for zero tolerance ... especially of sexual violence against children," agency spokesperson Michael Bociurkiw told journalists.
"Kenya should be seen as a no-go zone for sexual exploitation of children," he said.
Italian, German and Swiss nationals are the most common clients of child sex workers among tourists, at 18%, 14% and 12% respectively.
Kenyan men are the largest single group of clients, comprising 38% of the total.
Cultural acceptance
Unicef said much more needed to be done to end the cultural acceptance of child prostitution in tourist areas.
The study showed that a "staggering" 75% of people involved in tourism thought it was acceptable for girls to exchange sex for cash, and 60% said the same for boys.
Many were also implicated directly in the exploitation of children, it added.
"Child sex workers are often compelled to deliver sexual services to Kenyans - beach boys, bar staff, waiters, and others - in order to access tourists. During the low tourist season, the local market for child sex workers keeps the system going," the report said.
It called on the Kenyan government, civil society, the tourist industry and the broader private sector to join forces to fight the problem.
"We must act to save our children from these horrific abuses before they do even greater damage," said Unicef's Kenya representative, Heimo Laakkonen.