Sunday, June 14, 2009

So very sad, so very evil....

The Dark side of paradise....

Although no official statistics are available, data suggest 80,000 to 100,000 women and children are victims of sexual exploitation or trafficking for such purposes each year, with many sent to Malaysia and the Middle East, or locally to Jakarta and Kalimantan.

[From Trafficking Drives Thousands of Girls Into Prostitution - The Jakarta Globe]

You see them everywhere in Bali, and a street near our old house had several houses. The girls live in hovels across the road. The most common visitors seem to be Police who can be seen taking envelopes at night, or driving out (and you can be sure law enforcement was not what they were there for).

The girls, you often see them in unhappily walking the streets between their hovels and the house, or getting into vans for delivery to a hotel or party somewhere, all look so sad and hopeless. Most are very young. It tears at you.......

1 comment:

Richard said...

Yeah, a friend of mine used to work throughout Asia in the travel industry and has some real horror stories. It was this sort of thing that forced him to quit the business.

He was regularly bribed, threatened, to cooperate and recruit tourists. Much of the travel business still turns a blind eye.