Australia may outlaw Cambodian orphanage tours and volunteer programs.

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Australia may outlaw Cambodian orphanage tours and volunteer programs.

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Australia Looks to Outlaw Tours to Orphanages in Cambodia
3 July 2017
Australians facilitating tours and volunteer programs at orphanages in foreign countries such as Cambodia may eventually face criminal charges if a recently opened inquiry in Australia results in legislation.
A West Australian senator told a federal parliamentary inquiry into establishing a Modern Slavery Act in Australia that many orphanages operating in developing countries exploit children, and that it should be a criminal offense to organize trips to the centers, according to the Australian Broadcasting Company.

“Some of these orphanages are well intentioned but most of them are for profit and some of them are run by organized crime because ultimately children in these facilities are a commodity,” Senator Linda Reynolds is quoted as saying to the committee.
“Some children are stolen, some are recruited—the facilities pay recruiters to go out to poor communities and convince parents that their children will be better off in these institutions,” she added...
http://asia-info.co/forums/cambodia-new ... bodia.html

From: https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/aust ... ia-132047/
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Re: Australia may outlaw Cambodian orphanage tours and volunteer programs.

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The race to rescue Cambodian children from orphanages exploiting them for profit
18 August 2017
Despite good intentions, Australians and others from western countries are often propping up Asian orphanages that separate children from families. Now there’s new efforts to tackle some of the consequences of ‘voluntourism’...
Much was hidden from the tourists visiting Sinet Chan in her rundown Cambodian orphanage.
When they returned to their hotels, cameras full and best intentions sated, they remained oblivious to the reality of what they had just supported.

Chan, the nine-year-old who sang and danced for them, was being starved. She and the other children hunted and ate mice to survive.
The orphanage’s director beat and raped her, repeatedly, over the course of several years. She was forced to toil in his rice paddies and farms without pay. Clothes and toys donated to her would be taken to the market, sold, and used to line the director’s pockets.

“I thought it might be a good place. Maybe I could have enough food to eat, have a chance to go to school. But actually what I imagined is wrong,” Chan told Guardian Australia. “He dressed us up looking poor so the visitors see us, they feel pity for us, and they donate more,” she said.
“But they don’t really know what was going on inside the orphanage.”
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/ ... for-profit
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Re: Australia may outlaw Cambodian orphanage tours and volunteer programs.

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Australian government urged to ban orphanage tourism immediately
5 September 2017
- A Liberal-led committee will urge the government to ban Australian involvement in orphanage tourism as a matter of urgency.
The practice – which mostly involves children who are not, in fact, orphans – is propped up by Australian donations and volunteers, particularly in south-east Asia.

The committee is now recommending that Australia’s involvement in orphanage tourism be dealt with as an immediate priority, without waiting for a modern slavery act.
The foreign affairs and aid subcommittee is preparing a letter to the attorney general, George Brandis, and the justice minister, Michael Keenan, urging them to consider an immediate ban on Australian involvement in orphanage tourism.

In Cambodia, an estimated 80% of the 16,500 children in orphanages still have a living parent.
Children are frequently subjected to exploitation, abuse and slave labour, according to the United Nations children’s fund (Unicef) and others.

Many of the institutions are run to profit their owners, propped up by Australian money and volunteers sent by churches, schools, universities, travel agencies and nongovernment organisations. Even well-run orphanages can tend to have negative impacts on children. Studies have shown institutional care for children, which no longer exists in Australia, makes them more likely to develop reactive attachment disorders, developmental delays and behavioural issues...
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-n ... mmediately
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Re: Australia may outlaw Cambodian orphanage tours and volunteer programs.

Post by Woody »

I am not sure of the ethics, so its OK for the OZ govt to pay the Cambodian Govt $55 million to take a handful of refugees but volunteers well thats not welcome.
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Re: Australia may outlaw Cambodian orphanage tours and volunteer programs.

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Foreign Minister Julie Bishop warns on ‘fake orphans’ in Bali, Cambodia
Thursday, 1 March 2018 1:28AM
Well-meaning Australian tourists will be warned against travelling to South East Asia to work with “fake orphans”, with Foreign Minister Julie Bishop launching a crackdown on “voluntourism” today.

With short-term volunteering placements, particularly in Bali and Cambodia, becoming more popular with young Australians, research shows that a new industry has boomed to feed the demand.

This means Australian travellers could be unwittingly contributing to a supply chain of people, money and resources, with children who are not orphaned being used to lure the tourist dollar.

Amid warnings that the industry could be engaged in child-trafficking and even slavery, Ms Bishop said the new Smart Volunteering Campaign would discourage Australians from any form of short-term, unskilled volunteering in overseas orphanages, and any activity where children were promoted as a tourist attraction.

“Australia has a long and proud history of volunteering,” Ms Bishop said. “For decades, thousands of Australians from all backgrounds have given their time and skills selflessly to help communities overseas. The work of our volunteers builds skills and supports economic growth in developing countries. However, some Australian volunteers have unwittingly contributed to harmful practices by participating in the ‘voluntourism’ industry and engaging in orphanage tourism.”

Universities advertising placements will be targeted to ensure students do not unwittingly visit or volunteer in programs that exploit children.
https://thewest.com.au/travel/asia/fore ... b88760200z
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Re: Australia may outlaw Cambodian orphanage tours and volunteer programs.

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Woody wrote: Fri Sep 08, 2017 7:28 pm I am not sure of the ethics, so its OK for the OZ govt to pay the Cambodian Govt $55 million to take a handful of refugees but volunteers well thats not welcome.
Isn't unfettered capitalism glorious? 8)
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Re: Australia may outlaw Cambodian orphanage tours and volunteer programs.

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Woody wrote: Fri Sep 08, 2017 7:28 pm I am not sure of the ethics, so its OK for the OZ govt to pay the Cambodian Govt $55 million to take a handful of refugees but volunteers well thats not welcome.
the topic is about children exploitation not tamils on the run
thru shit to more shit
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Re: Australia may outlaw Cambodian orphanage tours and volunteer programs.

Post by Makewa »

The "fact" that Australia paid $55m for a refugee programme is a complete beat-up built on a misunderstanding.

The most obvious clue is that Australia has been giving aid of that order for years without any refugee agreement. There was a reported increase of 4 mill linked to the refugee issue.

Also, like the Tampa issue, you need to understand that it is not a resettlement programme, it's an advertising campaign .. and it works. Boats stop coming.
Ditto.
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Re: Australia may outlaw Cambodian orphanage tours and volunteer programs.

Post by Makewa »

Back to the core topic ... Australia is unlikely to have the system and the will to "outlaw" unethical behaviour overseas; education programs and warnings are the way things are done in such liberal democracies...

If you go beyond unethical to criminal then yes, anti-paedo laws are a rare example of a precedent. Like money laundering controls, they stem from international agreements.
Ditto.
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Re: Australia may outlaw Cambodian orphanage tours and volunteer programs.

Post by CEOCambodiaNews »

Australia says orphanage trafficking is modern-day slavery
BBC - 9 hours ago
Australia has become the first country in the world to recognise so-called orphanage trafficking as a form of modern-day slavery.

The legislation forms part of a wider drive to stop Australians taking part in "voluntourism" schemes which harm rather than help the children.

It is estimated 80% of children living in the world's orphanages have at least one living parent.

In many cases, they have been lured to the orphanages to attract volunteers.

A report by ReThink Orphanages found more than 57% of Australian universities advertise orphanage placements, with 14% of Australian schools visiting, volunteering or fundraising for institutions abroad.

The demand for such trips has created a problem in South East Asia, Australian Senator Linda Reynolds said earlier this year, calling orphan tourism the "perfect 21st-Century scam".

Ms Reynolds told the Thomson Reuters Foundation foreign visitors were left with a "sugar rush" after apparently doing something good - and then sharing it on social media.

But many fail to realise their "good deed" is in fact fuelling an industry based on child exploitation in numerous countries around the world.

In effect, then-Australian Foreign Minister Julie Bishop said in March, the children have "become tourist attractions".
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-australia-46390627
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