Foreign child abusers operating in Goa: Church

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Goa is becoming a child sex trade hub after Thailand’s crackdown on its thriving child abuse industry, Archbishop Filipe Neri Ferrao said on Saturday.

“Till recently, Thailand was considered to be the capital of the child sex tourism industry in this part of the world. It is now known how the Thai government, pushed by international child protection organisations, cracked down on the industry in that country,” Ferrao said.

“As a result, the lords of the sex trade have been looking out for fresh locations in South-East Asia. India, with her almost magical name, presents herself as an ideal alternative and Goa, which is being presented as a land on a holiday for 365 days, is increasingly seen as the most viable place for such a shift of operations,” Ferrao said.Ferrao was speaking at a two-day seminar here on child sex abuse, co-organised by the Roman Catholic Church-aligned Centre for Responsible Tourism.

Child sex abuse, especially paedophilia, has been a sensitive issue in Goa ever since Freddy Peats, an Indian passport holder of German descent, was arrested and convicted for paedophilia in the late 1980s.

“As it is, India is home to 20% of the world’s children. It also has the dishonour of having the largest number of sexually abused children in the whole world. The oncoming onslaught of child sex tourism, therefore, can only spell further doom for our nation and, more especially, for our state,” Ferrao said.

“The rest of our country perhaps needs to come up with a comprehensive legislation that will effectively deal with this complex problem, both at the national and state levels,” he said adding that Goa Children’s Act, for the protection of children’s rights, must be made more stringent.

“The need of the hour is to press for a legislation that will forcefully declare zero tolerance for child sexual abuse, particularly for tourism-related crimes against children in India,” he said.Goa has a population of 26% Christians, a majority of whom are Roman Catholics (RC) and owe allegiance to the influential RC church here.

1 COMMENT

  1. GOA ARCHBISHOP NEEDS TO PRACTICE WHAT HE PREACHES

    Goa Archbishop Rev Filipe Neri Ferrao’s recent call for zero tolerance to child sexual abuse is laudable. But he needs to explain his own inaction in the 2004 Ribandar case where the then Parish Priest of Ribandar Father Newton Rodrigues was allegedly involved in the molestation of a 13 year old parishioner just before midnight mass.

    I had personally met the Archbishop in 2004 and sought his intervention. As requested by him I had also submitted a written complaint to him with all the facts. He was also fully aware that the Moderator of the Ribandar Parish Pastoral Council had resigned over what was going on at the Ribandar Church. But for reasons best known to him Archbishop Ferrao chose not to take any action and just look the other way.

    Nobody can be above the law and we are doing more damage by trying to keep the illegal and immoral acts of those erring Priests under wraps. If our Archbishop had cracked the whip in time may be the Ribandar and even the Macazana Church horrifying events may never have happened. These may not be just isolated instances but a part of the bigger malaise that the Church one day or the other will have to come to terms with. So if Archbishop Filipe Neri Ferrao puts into practice what he has just preached by cleansing his own stables it may be in everybody’s best interest.

    Aires Rodrigues
    Ribandar

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