An exploratory case study on child sex tourism in a Pacific country: Samoa

Abstract

In 2006, The Committee of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, expressed concern about rising tourism in Samoa, and the possibility of associated sexual exploitation of local children. The Committee had recommended that the Government of Samoa devote further research to the sexual exploitation of children, including identifying its scope, and root causes. This thesis became a response to The Committee’s recommendation to Samoa. I carried this study out in Apia, Samoa (2009). It presented three research objectives as follows, 1) To report the scope of child sex tourism in Samoa, 2) To identify, and report on the root causes that contributed to child sex tourism in Samoa, and 3) To present a set of recommendations as a baseline foundation for policy, advocacy, and research. Methodology was a qualitative, single embedded case study. Data sources were mixed-method and multi-perspective, aimed at triangulation to enhance trustworthy results. Data analysis was inductive. Anecdotal evidence revealed child sex tourism is a serious problem in Samoa. Victims were girls and boys (including straight and transgendered ones), perpetrators were all male; preferential and opportunistic. The data revealed 10 root causes facilitating CST in Samoa, as follows: 1) Poverty, 2) Hospitality, 3) Philanthropic exploitation, 4) Marginalisation of boys, 5) Family under pressure, and family dysfunction, 6) Unsafe schools, 7) Ifoga, or the culture of shame, 8) Sex tourism, 9) Tourism was excused of any action, and 10) Lack of awareness about child sex tourism. Additionally, four substantial root causes were identified, as follows: 1) Complacency, 2) Attitudes toward data collection, 3) Child sex tourism had to be ‘proven’ by statistics, and 4) Perpetrators beaten and deported leading to under reporting. This was a first study in Samoa. The baseline results this study presents, are important for policy development, advocacy, and for the academic research community, offer a platform to build on, both quantitative and qualitative.