Sexual Tourism Inches Up among American Travelers

Several U.S. institutions have set going a joint program aimed at exposing and combating sexual exploitation of children by American tourists. “This particular form of exploitation affects some two million children worldwide, many of them below five years of age," sighed off John Wilkinson, Vice President of World Vision, one of the organizations that have signed up for the campaign alongside the U.S. State and Homeland Security departments.

World Vision Director Joe Mettimano explained the campaign is aimed at discouraging American tourists -including schoolteachers, military personnel and businesspeople- from abusing kids by enforcing tougher sentences on those who break the law.

According to World Vision, a quarter of tourists traveling around the world in search of children to quench their twisted sex desires hails from the United States. In the case of Latin America, that percentage hovers around 80 percent.