Pound Pup Legacy

"We learned that political personalities and policies were largely responsible for not only allowing the sexual exploitation of women and children, but also promoting it for personal gain. The social conditions were a direct result of the economic and political decisions of the local government. Politicians were not only giving their consent by their silence but also by being actively involved in setting up bars and clubs, issuing licenses and permits, overlooking forged birth certificates of minors who were classified adults,and by. establishing and running venereal disease control programmes to make customers feel safer when sexually exploiting women and children.

The industry was organized, controlled and efficient in it’s business of destroying human lives. From the roots of the Sex tourism and the military prostitution a new destructive pattern of human degradation was imposed on people. We regret to announce that it is still very much the same today in the Philippines and in other parts of the world.

We knew we were up against immense forces and powers that had deep vested interested in the commercialization of human sexuality especially that of children. Child pornography, we learned, was and is a massive industry in itself, that systematically promotes abuse of children. Today the full flowering of that sordid industry is gaining pervading presence in the new medium of communication and information dissemination - the Intemet." 

from: http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0011/001147/114733eo.pdf

[Considering the recent news about  UN "peace-keepers" sexually abusing children, this comment seems laughable now.  Perhaps more telling about the pedophilia problem and a politician's personal interests can be read between the following words.... ] 

Child trafficking is lucrative and linked with criminal activity and corruption. It is often hidden and hard to address. Trafficking always violates the child’s right to grow up in a family environment. In addition, children who have been trafficked face a range of dangers, including violence and sexual abuse. Trafficked children are even arrested and detained as illegal aliens.

Some facts:

• UNICEF estimates that 1,000 to 1,500 Guatemalan babies and children are trafficked each year for adoption by couples in North America and Europe.
• Girls as young as 13 (mainly from Asia and Eastern Europe) are trafficked as “mail-order brides.” In most cases these girls and women are powerless and isolated and at great risk of violence.
• Large numbers of children are being trafficked in West and Central Africa, mainly for domestic work but also for sexual exploitation and to work in shops or on farms. Nearly 90 per cent of these trafficked domestic workers are girls.
• Children from Togo, Mali, Burkina Faso and Ghana are trafficked to Nigeria, Ivory Coast, Cameroon and Gabon. Children are trafficked both in and out of Benin and Nigeria. Some children are sent as far away as the Middle East and Europe.

Sexual activity is often seen as a private matter, making communities reluctant to act and intervene in cases of sexual exploitation. These attitudes make children more vulnerable to sexual exploitation. Myths, such as the belief that HIV/AIDS can be cured through sex with a virgin, technological advances such as the Internet which has facilitated child pornography, and sex tourism targeting children, all add to their vulnerability.

• Surveys indicate that 30 to 35 per cent of all sex workers in the Mekong sub-region of Southeast Asia are between 12 and 17 years of age.
• Mexico’s social service agency reports that there are more than 16,000 children engaged in prostitution, with tourist destinations being among those areas with the highest number.
• In Lithuania, 20 to 50 percent of prostitutes are believed to be minors. Children as young as age 11 are known to work as prostitutes. Children from children’s homes, some 10 to 12 years old, have been used to make pornographic movies.

from: http://the-emissary.net/pedophilia.html