To: Community, Businesses and Government of Singapore
22 September 2005
We, the undersigned, support greater effort and action to stop the
trafficking of women and children for commercial sexual
exploitation. In particular, we seek to protect the most
vulnerable those below the age of 18 years who are
victimized by adult demand for sexual services of such children and
young persons. UNICEF estimates that there are more than 1
million child prostitutes in Asia.
While there should be continued attention on alleviating poverty
and improving public education to address the supply side, we
believe more can be done to address the demand side. We recognise
the damage this demand inflicts on young lives in terms of physical
and psychological abuse; on their communities as they are unable to
break out of the cycle of poverty and abuse; and on our own society
for morally bankrupting us if we stand by and do nothing.
We believe it is the collective responsibility of members
of the community, businesses and government agencies to stop this
demand that transcends national boundaries.
1. From the community, we seek to end the culture
of silence. Our community needs to acknowledge the ugly fact that
there are Singaporean men who use children and young persons for
sex, whether as preferential or opportunistic abusers. They take
advantage of their victims poverty, marginalisation and lack of
protection and justify their actions as helping someone make a
living or as being culturally acceptable or tolerated in the host
country In particular, border regions like Batam, have a thriving
sex industry fuelled by demand from more affluent neighbours like
Singapore. Part of this demand is met by children and young persons
trafficked into the trade. We seek community action in the form of
public education of these facts, vigilance against offenders and
public support for concerted action by businesses, non-government
organisations (NGOs) and our government. We urge each individual to
exercise his or her influence in their family, place of work and
community.
2. From businesses, especially those in the
tourism and entertainment sectors with regional reach, we ask that
they recognise the problem of child sex tourism and trafficking,
and the important role they can play in prevention. We call for
businesses to maintain ethical standards of conduct and not turn a
blind eye to the fact that their services and facilities may be
used in the commercial sexual exploitation of children and young
persons. We urge businesses to implement staff training to aid
recognition and reporting of incidents, mechanisms for reporting
and customer education to stop demand.
3. From government, we ask for urgent action to
put in place all necessary and viable legal and policy measures to
prevent and deter the commercial sexual exploitation of children
and young persons, both in Singapore and overseas by members of our
own community. These may include making it a criminal offence to
engage in sexual activity with anyone below 18 years of age while
overseas. We seek more effective cooperation among our government
agencies and among government agencies across national boundaries,
as well as government cooperation with businesses and NGOs to
enforce measures aimed at prevention and at bringing offenders to
justice.
This petition is made out of our belief that as members of a
civilised society we have a responsibility to treat every person,
regardless of age, social or economic status, ethnicity,
nationality or religion, with respect, dignity and common humanity,
and ensure the protection of the most vulnerable against those who
seek to exploit and degrade them for personal gratification. We
demand that positive action be taken immediately by Singaporeans
and Singapore residents to help stop the commercial sexual
exploitation of children overseas.
Sincerely,
The Undersigned
