‘Naive’ tourists fuel orphanges scam in Nepal, shows report
Charity workers in Nepal say tourists volunteering in orphanages in Nepal are fueling child trafficking.
A report by Next Generation Nepal (NGN) says children are being commoditised, exploited and abused in the top five Nepalese tourist destinations.
Orphanages in Nepal house over 15,000 children, yet at least two-thirds are not orphans, it clams.
NGN says many are being kept in ‘orphanages’ to be used as ‘poverty commodities’ to raise money from well-intentioned but naive fee-paying foreign volunteers and donors. Indeed, almost 90% of ‘orphanages’ in Nepal are located in the top five tourist districts for this reason, it said.
It argues that the ban by Western nations on inter-country adoptions in 2010 shifted the focus by criminal groups away from ‘selling’ children for adoption toward ‘selling’ opportunities to volunteers and donors to support orphanages.
The report also shows how most orphanages in Nepal do not meet the Government’s legal standards, and that abuse and exploitation children in such places are commonplace.
Responsible Tourism campaigner Vicky Smith said: "It has long been known in responsible tourism that tourism involving orphanages, whether as a volunteer or visitor, does not have the positive benefits that many have originally believed or intended, in fact fuelling a demand for often deliberately-squalid orphanage creation to commoditise children for exploitation.
"Like UNICEF’s ‘With the Best Intentions’ study of attitudes to residential care in Cambodia before it, this report exposes the grotesque money-making market that is orphanage tourism, trading on the guilt of Western philanthropic concerns and personal ego desires rather than any realistic local needs, which all too frequently offer nothing in the way of background checks or child protection.
"Travel companies and tourists need to be aware that fake orphanages and trafficking are the consequences of their demand, and offered information on responsible alternative ways of supporting childcare and community development. "
By Valere Tjolle
Linsey McNeill
Editor Linsey McNeill has been writing about travel for more than three decades. Bylines include The Times, Telegraph, Observer, Guardian and Which? plus the South China Morning Post. She also shares insider tips on thetraveljournalist.co.uk
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