Charity's haven for famine children destroyed by paedophile scourge
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Date: 1999-07-22
Source: guardian.co.uk
Audrey Gillan
Thursday July 22, 1999
The Guardian
British paedophiles are targeting charities and aid agencies in developing countries in an attempt to gain access to vulnerable children.
The National Criminal Intelligence Service, which registers and monitors the activities of paedophiles, has warned that the scale of the problem is on a level with sex tourism. Faced with legal safeguards in the United Kingdom, the men have found that it is easy to gain access to children in developing countries.
The Guardian has discovered that a number of British and Canadian paedophiles have targeted an aid agency working with orphans of the famine in Ethiopia.
They infiltrated Switzerland's biggest children's charity Terre des Hommes Lausanne (Tdh), and went to live and work in a children's village at Jari in Ethiopia's south Wollo region.
One of the men, David Christie, 57, who is British, was sacked from the charity after admitting an "improper sexual relationship" with one of the 300 or so children in his care. He has not been prosecuted and is now living in north London. Yesterday he refused to discuss the allegations.
Another five men are alleged to have been involved in abuse. A psychologist who has worked with the traumatised children, Tizita Gebreu, said she knew of at least six abusers who operated a "tight, closed system".
One of the men linked to the ring is Marc Lachance, the founder of Circus Ethiopia, the world-travelling band of acrobats and jugglers recruited from the homeless of Ethiopia's capital Addis Ababa. Lachance, 40, born in Oxford but raised in Montreal, killed himself last May after boys in the circus sought political asylum while on tour in Australia last year, citing abuse.
Last month, Benjamin Foot, the Ethiopia programme director of Save the Children, wrote to all his staff after he discovered what had happened at Tdh.
"We are now faced with the possibility that there remain a number of individuals at liberty who are either known paedophiles or have been accused of child abuse ... The lesson that must be learnt from this is that paedophilia is a major but frequently hidden problem. We also know that agencies that work with children are vulnerable to being targeted by paedophiles."
A spokesperson for NCIS said that increasing numbers of paedophiles were focusing on charities or teaching work. "NCIS also knows of paedophiles who have pretended to work for charities or who have invented charities in foreign countries. These pretend charities are in effect nothing more than paedophile rings," he said. "These people take advantage of children when they are at their most vulnerable and in need of care. It allows them access to children on a level rivalling the traditional paedophile sex tourism."
Ray Wyre, a psychologist who has worked with both police and a number of high profile offenders, has discovered former clients with paedophile convictions to be working abroad with children.
"As we get better and better at control and databases, the offender goes for the weakest link which is the voluntary sector and charities, especially abroad. You have people going from charity to charity. It gives them access to children who are much more vulnerable. In these countries you could buy a child for a packet of crisps," he said.
A spokesman for the foreign office said it was aware of the reports of abuse from Ethiopia and the details had been passed to Scotland Yard but the matter pre-dated the 1997 sex offenders act which allows British courts to try UK nationals for crimes of this nature.
"This government is very concerned about this issue. We will be looking to work with foreign governments in combating this problem and offering our help to [non-governmental organisations] with concerns over their selection procedure," he said.
Last night other charities, including Voluntary Services Overseas and Christian Aid, said they too were concerned.
Christoph Schmocker, spokesman for Tdh, said: "It's a fact that paedophiles are attracted to organisations such as ours and now we can try and find mechanisms to fight against them. But we are afraid that this could happen to us again."
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wow, this is disgusting, but
wow, this is disgusting, but please dont assume that all pedophiles are like that.
Its extremely insulting to compare all pedophiles to these filth that abuse children. Not all pedophiles molest or hurt children! People who wants to protect children and people who feel sexually attracted to children are sometimes one and the same.
If a person is an heterosexual man, how would you think the would feel if society blamed him for all the women victims of violence?
There are good pedophiles who never touch a kid, who want to protect them! Not all pedophiles are monsters, please consider that pedophiles are human beings just like everyone else, most of them dont abuse children! A pedophile CAN and DO control his impulses, and usually are far more concerned for the safety of the children!
Please consider these people who would never harm a child but are pedophiles!
WOW, this is disturbing, but not surprising
Ok, first of all, a pedophile, by definition, is an adult who is sexually attracted to young children. The pedophile, like a homo or heterosexual, can be loving, protecting, and sweet... but like other sexual orientations, the sexual attraction of a pedophile remains, creating a tension and temptation that may or may not be acted upon when the object of desire is present.
A sadist, on the other hand, is a person who derives sexual gratification from inflicting pain or emotional abuse on others. Just as any sexual orientation can be loving, any sexual orientation can be abusive and cruel.
It's my belief victims of sexual violence are usually attacked by sadists... so, if a heterosexual man (or homosexual female) is having sex with a woman... if one wants to determine if a crime has been committed, I think two things ought to be considered. 1. Were both parties consenting adults?. 2. Was the sexual act forced, with unwanted violence?
If a pedophile has sex with a child... before the issue of violence can be considered, the issue of age and informed consent must be addressed. If an adult is having sex with an individual who is unable to provide informed consent, that adult is performing a sexual act that can and will be considered illegal.
Now, to put all this in a more neutral context.. If that's possible.... let's say a healthy fully functioning adult person (any gender) performs, or forces, a sexual act on or from a person (any gender) with a mental disability. Would the majority of people think that "healthy" person's sexual act is loving and acceptable? Would members of society be right, or wrong, to believe those who are sexually attracted to those with mental disabilities ought to have little to no physical contact with the mentally disabled?
Try telling me a child has the ability to decide which sexual acts are safe and what sexual acts are NOT safe. Tell me a child has the ability to decide if he/she wants to engage in a relationship with an adult-sized person who is sexually attracted to children. Tell me a child knows the consequences of such a relationship, a relationship that may or may not become sexual, depending upon one's spontaneous impulse.
Please, tell me. I'd love to know what a loving pedophile believes a child thinks when an adult shows a sudden loving, almost sexual, interest in a child.
If you ask me, "good pedophiles" will understand this simple fact of life.... sexual images, sexual touches, sexual anything too soon and too early in life can really fuck-up a person's ability to see and know what sexual acts are safe, and which sex acts are preferred between two healthy, mutually consenting adults interested in an intimate relationship. "Good pedophiles" will have the good moral decency to stay the hell away from all children, knowing this act itself will prove to society pedophiles can and WILL respect the emotional needs of a child who has yet to decide his/her own sexual preferences. "Good pedophiles" will not test their ability to control sexual urges or fantasies or test their ability to refrain from sexual acts with the object of their most hidden sexual desire. "Good pedophiles" would not insist they should (have the right?!) or ought to be able to maintain contact with children, just so they can prove a moot point to themselves. Last but not least, "good pedophiles" recognize the importance of boundaries, honor the rights of a child, respect the age of consent, and openly admit, sometimes impulses cannot be controlled, no matter how 'good' or disciplined a person may act or seem.
Oddly enough, I'm suddenly reminded of the advice offered by adoption recruiters. Whoda thunk the same principle offered to single, struggling birthmothers can be shared with a person who defends the caring love of a pedophile: If you love the child so much, leave the child, and let the child go. [Maybe, if you're lucky, when the child is a mature adult, that child will return, and seek your love.]
"Try telling me a child has
"Try telling me a child has the ability to decide which sexual acts are safe and what sexual acts are NOT safe. Tell me a child has the ability to decide if he/she wants to engage in a relationship with an adult-sized person who is sexually attracted to children. Tell me a child knows the consequences of such a relationship, a relationship that may or may not become sexual, depending upon one's spontaneous impulse."
You obviously wont accept any opinion that contradicts your (and society's) belief, so I wont tell you anything about that.
"I'd love to know what a loving pedophile believes a child thinks when an adult shows a sudden loving, almost sexual, interest in a child. "
Relationships dont come from a vacuum. What the child might think depends on a plethora of factors, including the age of the child, the previous relationship between those two persons, how close was that relationship and a lot of other factors. Some children would certainly feel disgusted and fearful, if that person is -for example- a close relative (like the father) or a complete stranger. Other would be react more positively, as I said it depends a lot on the previous relationship.
""Good pedophiles" would not insist they should (have the right?!) or ought to be able to maintain contact with children, just so they can prove a moot point to themselves. "
I dont think is about "proving a point". I think you simply dont understand that a pedophile (someone who actually loves children) CANT BE HAPPY without the companionship (friendship) of children. Is simple as that.
Is not about "testing" or "proving". Is about being happy, within the boundaries of law, AoC, etc.
"If you love the child so much, leave the child, and let the child go."
Once again, is not about "leaving" the child, since the child is obviously not owned by the pedophile. Maybe that, breaking the friendship, would cause the other person a lot more of pain.
The only thing I wanted to make clear is my absolute condemnation to such horrid acts like the ones described in this post, but also, my absolute condemnation to blaming ALL pedophiles for such acts. As simple as that.
Very disturbing
A pedophile - by definition is a psychiatric disorder in adults and late adolescents characterized by the primary or exclusive sexual interest of pre-pubescent children. What's more disturbing is that pedophiles, themselves, refer to themselves that they are children lovers. So, I am guessing here that you are a pedophile? If not, excuse the false assumption - if so, well, I don't know what to say? Just, perhaps, stop calling yourself a child lover - you are not.
many pedophiles call
many pedophiles call themselves child lovers for two reasons:
1. To distinguish people who only have a sexual attraction (pedophiles) from people who have a sexual AND romantic attraction to children.
2. Because of the demonization of the word 'pedophile'. Many people just dont feel they have anything to do with what the media portrays as a 'pedophile': they feel sexual/emotional attraction to children, but they dont hurt children or want to hurt children, so they cant posibliy be pedophiles, right? The media and most of people think that a pedophile is a person like that, and many people attracted to children feel disgusted to be compared to that kind of 'persons', so they created the neologism 'child-lover'.
So that neologism responds to that two reasons. If the expression 'child-lover' is the correct, I dont know, is just an expression. Maybe they should call themselves 'askdeodleo', another neologism but a little more meaningless and difficult.