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Growing poverty drives children to porn By Chris
Kamalendran and Faraza Farook "We thought
it was an extended Christmas or New Year party," said a neighbour
who recalled that the loud music went on till about seven in the
morning. While the unsuspecting neighbours continued with their
daily chores, children, some in school uniforms, were getting ready
to "act out" their scene in a pornographic film that was
being videoed that morning. The camera
was rolling. Two children were allegedly being subjected to sexual
abuse by a man. Other children were watching, drinking and smoking
while awaiting their turn to be captured on film and then go home
with the "gifts" they had been promised. Little did they
suspect that they were in for a rude shock when a team from the
National Child Protection Authority (NCPA) and the special child
protection police unit stormed into the house, surrounded by the
Negombo police. They rounded up seven adults and eleven boys all
under 18 years. There were
children as young as eight or nine, while older boys aged 16 and
17 were also involved. Many, however, were within the 11 to 13 age
group. The seven adult suspects included the main organiser and
chief actor, both from Maradana and a driver who transported the
children from Colombo and four other men from Negombo who collected
the children in the area. According to
NCPA, the children had been brought from Maradana, Maligawatte,
Bambalapitiya and some from fishing villages in Negombo. The children
from Colombo had been taken to Negombo on a previous day and they
had stayed on for the filming on Tuesday. Some of the children had
been drugged. Some girls
were reportedly expected to join the crew in the afternoon when
they returned from school. Some cigarettes, a liquor bottle, glasses
and a lighter were found in the house when the team raided the house
around 8 a.m. By Friday afternoon,
five of the eleven children had been sent to Kalubowila hospital
for medical examination to determine if they had been abused. The
Sunday Times learns that there was no trace of physical abuse as
the children had been rescued on time. An aunt of
an 11-year-old victim told The Sunday Times that her nephew had
claimed the previous day that he didn,'t want to go to school on
Tuesday as he had to go for a friend's birthday party. He had been
adamant, but the grandmother had refused. Despite orders to go to
school, the boy had dressed up and left home early Tuesday with
a couple of friends who were also heading to the same destination.
"We didn't
know until a villager told us that she saw him leave with two other
boys in a three wheeler. However, we presumed he had gone to the
birthday party," the aunt said. That evening,
at 5.50 p.m., the worried grandmother had reported to the Negombo
Police that her grandson was missing. She had told police that although
she heard about children being used in commercial sex, she never
believed it could happen to her grandson. The boy's father
had died when he was very young and his mother was in the Middle
East. The boy had been left in the care of his grandmother and aunt.
The boy had
reportedly been promised Rs. 1000 of which he was to give Rs. 500
to the local pimp and keep Rs. 500 for himself. Another child,
who came from an economically poor background was lured with the
promise of exercise books, a bag, pens and pencils for his schooling
if he volunteered to "clean the foreigners house". A boy in the
same village, talking of his 14-year-old schoolmate who was a victim
of this racket said, "He is a bright student studying in year
9. Now I don't think the school will take him back. The whole village
is talking about him and his behaviour. Everybody is talking of
how he used to ridicule some boys as serving the sexual desires
of white men and now, he himself is not clean." Six of the eleven children were returned to their parents when they were presented at the Ja-Ela Circuit Magistrates Court. Five are at a probation centre in Pannipitiya. The special
police unit has requested that the seven suspects be kept in remand
prison until the 20th or till the case is to be taken up next to
prevent angry parents from taking the law into their hands. The house that
was raided is situated on a narrow path in a serene environment.
It has a seven foot high wall around it, and a black gate with the
names of two foreigners on it. The two foreign nationals from Holland
who are suspected to have a hand in the abuse and exploitation of
children, had left Sri Lanka on Sunday morning. Neighbours said
that they had seen young boys visit the house, but never suspected
anything. "On some
days, I've seen boys walking in and out of the house," one
disturbed neighbour said. Another recalled that a week ago, she
saw a little boy perched on top of her gate, which is on the rear
side of the raided house trying to peep over the seven feet high
wall. "When questioned he said he came to see the doves we
were rearing, but I chased him away. We got to know that this boy
was also among those nabbed on Tuesday". Children and
Women's Desk,chief SP Cecil Perera said the people in the area were
aware of the racket but remained tight lipped in fear of being harassed
by those involved. He said the boys nabbed during the raid were
innocent victims. "We are investigating into the incident to
trace if there is a hidden hand behind the whole racket," SP
Perera said. Although commercial
sex is not a new phenomenon to Sri Lanka, the stigma associated
with such issues prevents people from talking about them. These
paedophile networks thrive through prostitution and pornography
activities, especially in tourist areas in the South and in some
parts of Colombo and in the West Coast of Negombo. Most families,
though aware of the exploitation, are ignorant of the long-term
consequences. And with poverty being the underlying cause of many
problems, the families allow and sometimes encourage such activities
for want of money. SP Perera said
awareness programmes were being conducted in the coastal belts where
boy prostitution and commercial sex was high. But poverty
still remains a push factor. UNICEF Programme
Officer for Learning Years, Adolescents and Protection Dr. Hiranthi
Wijemanne says that society's cooperation is vital in sending messages
to adults and children to be aware of child sexual exploitation.
She said people
should come out of their shells and talk about sexual abuse with
their children so that when they are approached, they will seek
their parents’ advice. Lankan boys
are advertised on the Internet and even on magazines and Sri Lanka
is promoted as a fertile land for paedophiles.Tourist Board chairman
Paddy Vithana said although foreign missions abroad strictly inform
people that paedophilic activity was a punishable offence it still
remains a matter of great concern". "We provide
licences for hotels only on inspection and provided that they meet
the criteria of the tourist board. Visitors can
bring in their guests, but any unauthorised activity must be reported
for us to take any action," Mr. Vithana said adding that the
Tourist Board had not received a single complaint and so far no
licences had been cancelled. He said the Tourist Board also conducts awareness programmes for tour operators to discourage such activity, but some small operators tended to ignore such warnings.
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