A/HRC/22/54 New Zealand.11 Australians, for instance, have been identified as the largest group of sex tourists prosecuted in Thailand (31 per cent of the total).12 Of the 146 cases investigated by Action Pour Les Enfants (APLE) in Cambodia between 2003 and April 2012, 32 were American, 24 French and 20 Vietnamese.13 In the coastal regions of Kenya, for example, 30 per cent were residents and 70 per cent of the abusers were foreign: Italians (18 per cent), Germans (14 per cent), Swiss (12 per cent), with tourists coming from Uganda and the United Republic of Tanzania fifth and sixth on the list. In Costa Rica, according to available information, between the 1999 and 2005, the Child Exploitation Unit had arrested a total of 74 persons on suspicion of commercial sexual exploitation of children. Of those arrested, 56 were Costa Rican nationals and 18 foreign nationals.14 24. CST destinations evolve quickly and frequently, as a result of the development of new tourism destinations and economic, social and political developments. As soon as prevention and protection efforts are intensified in a particular country, sex tourists seeking children seem to move on to a neighbouring country. Cambodia and Viet Nam, for instance, seem to have suffered an influx of abusers as a result of increased efforts in Thailand to combat CST. Countries such as Mongolia have also witnessed a growth in the abuse of children by tourists.15 25. Different maps and lists of origin, transit and destination countries have been produced – by ECPAT and the Protection Project, for example.16 It is important to note that these lists are not static or exhaustive. More research and information is needed for these maps to reflect reality more accurately – to the extent possible. Sex tourism involving children is not confined to a few exotic destinations but rampant around the world. 2. Who are the offenders? 26. Despite the common misconception that travelling child sex offenders are mostly middle-aged men, they can have many different profiles. The majority is male, with less than 5 per cent believed to be female.17 Offenders may be married or single, wealthy or not, and of all ages. 27. Over the years, classifications of different profiles have been made to facilitate the development of appropriate interventions. A distinction was therefore made between “situational” and “preferential” child sex tourists. The situational sex tourist was described as not travelling with the intention of being a sex tourist, who is tempted by an opportunity to have sex with children in a country, not usually having a preference for children, abusing children who are pre-pubescent or not, driven by the search for new experiences and justifying their acts on the basis of cultural or economic grounds. The preferential sex tourist travels specifically with the aim of abusing children, can experience sexual attraction for adults, but tends to search for pubescent or adolescent children. In addition, the paedophile, usually considered as someone suffering from a clinical disorder, with an exclusive inclination for pre-pubescent children, who may not show any preference for the 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 Ibid., p. 8. Information from the Protection Project. See www.aplecambodia.org. Information from the Protection Project. ECPAT International, Sexual exploitation, p. 8. ECPAT Netherlands, “Child sex tourism: protect children in tourism”, pp. 1620, and information from the Protection Project. The Protection Project review of the Trafficking in Persons Report 2011 (Washington, D.C., 2012) includes a map of occurrence and routes of child sex tourism: 186 countries are included, of which 80 cases reported, with tourists originating from 27 countries and with 48 destination countries Information available from www.ecpat.net/ei/Csec_cst.asp. 7