By Matthew Moore
Herald Correspondent in Jakarta
February 20, 2004
The national police have called an urgent meeting of police from around the
world to discuss a strategy to combat child sex tourism in Indonesia,
particularly on the tourist islands of Bali and Lombok.
Indonesian police agreed on the plan after meeting UNICEF representatives in
Jakarta yesterday. There have been a number of recent allegations about
pedophiles visiting Indonesia.
A UNICEF spokesman said police had agreed that a concerted international effort
was needed to tackle the problem, which has received wide publicity since the
arrest in Bali last month of a former Australian diplomat, William Stuart Brown,
who is accused of child sex offences.
New pedophile allegations include one against the Western head of an aid group
on Bali. The group receives funding from numerous countries, including
Australia.
The man's name was not on UNICEF's watch list of suspected sex offenders, the
spokesman for the UN children's agency said.
An SBS television program this week alleged that pedophiles from the Netherlands
and Germany were living on Lombok, where they have been regularly abusing
children.
The chairman of the Committee Against Sexual Abuse, Professor Luh Ketut Suryiani,
will address police in Bali this morning as part of an attempt to get them to
identify and pursue offenders against children.
It is expected the meeting of international police will take place early next
month.
The Sydney Morning Herald
Back to Front Page