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[MONTREAL, 21 November 2010] – International Children’s Rights Day was marked this year by a first-ever, Canada wide campaign against child exploitation in sex tourism, launched at Montréal’s Pierre Elliott Trudeau International Airport. The national effort is being jointly sponsored by a broad based coalition of including Air Canada, Aéroports de Montréal (ADM), Canada Border Services Agency, Montreal City Police Force and Québec Safety, as well as the International Bureau for Children’s Rights (IBCR), Plan Canada and OneChild, in cooperation with UNICEF Canada. To arouse public awareness campaigners are specifically targeting travelers to Latin America and the Caribbean, which are popular Canadian destinations for “sex tourism,” because they are closer and cheaper than the Asian destinations. “The Government of Canada is strongly committed to the battle and will continue to strengthen law enforcement’s ability to combat the sexual exploitation of children, and increase public awareness,’ said Daniel Petit (Charlesbourg—Haute-Saint-Charles), representing the Minister of Public Safety, Vic Toews. “We know that the general public in Canada cares about children’s rights. With this campaign, we are urging them to be vigilant, and to report suspicious situations, even during their travels to sunny destinations,” said, IBCR General Director Nadja Pollaert, who is advocating Canadian legislation to grant extraterritorial jurisdiction over child sex tourism offences. “We believe it is important to remind Canadians that they are not immune from the laws of their own country when they travel abroad. That is why we are supporting this initiative,” said Christiane Beaulieu, ADM’s Vice-President of Public Affairs and Communications. Canadians who sexually abuse children while outside the country can be prosecuted in Canada under a little known extraterritorial law enacted in 1997. A study by B.C. University law professor Benjamin Perrin found that between 1993 and 2007 146 Canadians faced charges in foreign countries for sexually abusing children. In a recent case in July, Kenneth Klassen was sentenced to 11 years imprisonment for sexually fondling prepubescent girls in Colombia and Cambodia. Children’s rights founder of OneChild Cheryl Perera, praised Air Canada for regularly airing a video against sex tourism on its flights in recent years. “The airline’s involvement shows its commitment to educating Canadians to an awareness of child rights,” she said. “Air Canada is a key player in the travel industry and it is needless to say that its support is extremely important.” Rosemary McCarney, President and CEO of Plan Canada, said that her organisation works hard with children, communities, civil society organisations and government. “We need to be tougher and more persistent on targeting the issue of demand,” she said. More than two million children worldwide are victims of sexual tourism every year. There is no unique profile of the offenders. They might be frequent travelers abroad on business, leisure or even humanitarian workers. They are mostly “situation criminals”, leading seemingly ordinary lives, but attracted by the lack of punishment for their offenses committed in other countries. But the victims of their crimes suffer from long-term psychological and physical trauma, sexually transmitted diseases, drug and alcohol abuse, banishment from school, and family stigma, all leading to a vicious cycle of dependence. “Watching out for children, and making sure they are safe at all times, is everybody’s shared responsibility,” said Jérôme Morissette, Chief of the Montréal Police Sexual Assault Section. “Any wrongful act committed against a child must be reported to the police immediately.”
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