Britain to crackdown on UK child-abuse offenders in Thailand
Children need to be empowered, with stakeholders working closing together and being vigilant in order to tackle the issue of child-sex offenders, Peter Davies, CEO of the London-based Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre (CEOP), said.
Davies, and his colleague Tim Gerrish, were in Bangkok earlier this week to exchange views with the Thai police and the Department of Special Investigation (DSI) - a sign that the British government was taking the issue of child-sex offences by UK nationals seriously.
The two also visited Vietnam and Cambodia, the other two top destinations for British child-sex offenders after Thailand.
Gerrish said his government had more than 30,000 paedophiles and child-sex offenders on its watchlist, and had enlisted some 50,000 volunteers to disseminate useful information and preventive advice, which has reached up to 7 million people so far.
Both explained that their visit to Thailand and work with related agencies here shows how important issue is for the UK government.
"The message is that the UK is not a nation of sex offenders, and is prepared to tackle this issue," Gerrish said. Last October, Gerrish was in Thailand to help run a training session for 125 teachers from public and private schools.
Davies explained that it was crucial to teach children to look after themselves in both online and offline environments. The United Kingdom has introduced educational products such as five to 10-minute video clips that can be used in school to help raise children's awareness. CEOP is considering if similar products might be useful in Thai schools as well.
He said the problem of child-sex offences would have to be addressed both in Thailand and in the UK. "Some of that is about education and some of that is about social issues, which can take a long time to tackle," he said.
Davies added that while those caught for drug trafficking in Thailand were almost always denied bail, child-sex offence cases were treated more leniently.
When asked to compare the severity of the situation in Thailand vis-?-vis other nations, both Davies and Gerrish said such comparisons were unhelpful.
"We will not look for hot spots because it limits our work," Gerrish said, adding that the centre might "miss what is going on elsewhere"
as a result. Though CEOP has contacts in South American and Eastern European nations, Davies insisted that "statistics tell us very little".
"It so happens that Southeast Asia is the first continent where we have work. Anywhere in the world, where there are UK nationals, it's a place of our concern," Davies, who was formerly a police officer in Oxfordshire, said. He also highlighted the fact that in many cases, child-sex offenders were members of the family, which made it difficult for it to be reported to the police.
As for online exploitation, Davies said websites displaying sex-crimes against children were often blocked and persons behind them were prosecuted. He said that just five years ago, people could make a lot of money selling such images, but now offenders are selling access to images of child abuse instead. Paedophiles are also sharing such images through smart phones, though the UK authorities have had some success in making arrests, Davies said.
"The distinction between online and offline [abuse] is not so great," he said, adding that more thought was needed in caring for victims in terms of rehabilitation and recovery. He also said that media coverage of high-profile arrests could work as a deterrent
At last a step in the right direction
Every country has its share of pedophiles, often abuse victims themselves. But I have never seen it so much out in the open as in Thailand. Maybe international pressure and action in their home countries can help to rid this blight. After all the reason these predators come to Thailand because it has become more difficult in their home countries.
Guess every little helps.
