Sun, Sand, Surf & Sexual Exploitation of Children A Comprehensive Approach to Sustainably Tackle the Sexual Exploitation of Children in the Caribbean Submitted by Jana Tiffany Weber to the Faculty of Humanities Thesis Submitted in Partial Fulfilment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts International Relations – Global Conflict in the Modern Era Leiden University July 2018 Supervisor: Dr. Randal Shepard Second reader: Nicolás Rodriguez Idarraga Student number: s2077922 Email: [email protected] Table of Content List of Abbreviations ................................................................................................................................ 3 1. Introduction ......................................................................................................................................... 4 1.1 Research Question ........................................................................................................................ 5 2. Literature Review ................................................................................................................................ 6 2.1 Definitions ..................................................................................................................................... 6 2.1.1 Tourists ................................................................................................................................... 6 2.1.2 (Child) Sex Tourism ................................................................................................................. 6 2.1.3 Sexual Exploitation of Children .............................................................................................. 7 2.1.4 Trafficking in Persons ............................................................................................................. 7 2.2 From Colonialism to Tourism ........................................................................................................ 7 2.3 Gender Relations and Prostitution in the Caribbean .................................................................... 9 2.4 Sex Tourism & Paradise ............................................................................................................... 10 2.5 CST, CSE & Trafficking .................................................................................................................. 11 3. Methodology ..................................................................................................................................... 12 3.1 Qualitative analysis: Empiric vs. Interpretive .............................................................................. 13 3.2 Methodological Approach ........................................................................................................... 14 4.1 From Colonialism to Neo-Colonialism ............................................................................................. 16 4.1.1 Commodification of Bodies: Race and Gender During Colonialism ......................................... 16 4.1.2 How Tourism Became the “Cure” for Colonial Hangover ........................................................ 18 4.2 Explaining Sexual Exploitation of Children ...................................................................................... 21 4.2.1 Poverty & Globalization ............................................................................................................ 21 4.2.2 Societal & Educational Drivers ................................................................................................. 22 4.2.3 Sexual Violence and Eroding Family Structures ....................................................................... 24 4.2.4 Health Risks .............................................................................................................................. 25 4.2.5 Trafficking ................................................................................................................................. 26 4.3 The Creation of “Paradise” and its Aftermath................................................................................. 28 4.3.1 The Caribbean “Paradise” ........................................................................................................ 28 4.3.2 Sex Tourism as Industry ............................................................................................................ 28 4.3.3 Who Are the Clients? ................................................................................................................ 30 4.3.4 The Aftermath .......................................................................................................................... 32 5. Challenges and Recommendations ................................................................................................... 34 5.1 Economic Factors ........................................................................................................................ 34 5.2 Social Factors ............................................................................................................................... 36 5.3 Health .......................................................................................................................................... 36 1 Student number: s2077922 5.4 Education ..................................................................................................................................... 37 5.5 The Tourism Industry................................................................................................................... 38 5.6 From Law to Assistance ............................................................................................................... 39 6. Conclusion ......................................................................................................................................... 41 Bibliography ........................................................................................................................................... 43 Appendix A Out-of-school Children & Education Statistics in the Caribbean ...................................... 63 Appendix B (Sexual) Abuse of Children in the Caribbean..................................................................... 69 Appendix C Familial Neglect and Abuse ............................................................................................... 78 Appendix D Substance Abuse and HIV in the Caribbean ...................................................................... 80 Appendix E Health Statistics ................................................................................................................. 86 Appendix F Trafficking in the Caribbean .............................................................................................. 91 Appendix G Corruption Perceptions Index 2015-2017......................................................................... 95 2 Student number: s2077922 List of Abbreviations AI Amnesty International CCT Conditional Cash Transfer CSO Civil Society Organisation CST Child Sex Tourism ECPAT End Child Prostitution in Asian Tourism ILO International Labour Office IMF International Monetary Fund IR International Relations IUOTO International Union of Official Travel Organizations NFE Non-Formal Education NGO Non-Governmental Organisation SEC Sexual Exploitation of Children STD Sexually Transmittable Disease TVPA Trafficking Victims Protection Act UN United Nations UNESCO United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization UNICEF United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund U.S. United States WTO World Tourism Oranization 3 Student number: s2077922 1. Introduction Tourism constitutes a rapidly growing and influential global force, providing economic development in infrastructure and job markets, as well as affecting the destination’s social norms and culture (ECPAT International, 2016: 23). While its GDP contribution to the Caribbean in 2014 was US$51.9 billion (14.6%) it is expected to reach US$73.6 billion (15.4%) by 2025 (WTTC, 2015: 3). Despite tourism’s alleged prosperity, however, the contrary is often witnessed. High dependency on one economy, paired with the preeminent presence of international companies and debt, leaves most locals at the margins of their economy, thus increasing vulnerability, inequality, and migration (Terrero, 2014: 4). As the Caribbean is sold through the eroticised image of “paradise” and the four S’ “Sun, Sand, Surf and Sex” (Ryan & Hall, 2001: iv), sex tourism is widely encountered and encouraged (Mowforth, et al., 2008). A development of special, albeit only recently international, concern within this dynamic is the increase in the sexual exploitation of children (SEC), child sex tourism (CST), and trafficking, as a multi- billion-dollar-industry annually exploiting more than 2 million minors worldwide (Kosuri & Jeglic, 2017: 207; Miller-Perrin & Wurtele, 2017: 123). Environmental coercion through factors such as poverty and education lead desperate children and families into the commodification of their bodies. Western tourists, in turn, experience the cultural “other” and employ their relative power through capital and status, often ignorant to the dark side of the “paradise” they are presented with by the tourism industry (O'Connell Davidson & Sanchez Taylor, 2005). The situation in the Caribbean is nevertheless more complex than this victim-perpetrator dichotomy might suggest and is embedded