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A tourist wades into the body of water with a small African child in The Gambia - where kid sexual practice abuse is rife

Gambian children are existence sold to British paedophiles for as little equally £ii-a-time by their desperate parents, Sunday Online can reveal.

Huge numbers of predators are taking advantage of lax laws in the poverty stricken African country to embark on ill child corruption holidays where they openly target fiddling boys and girls.

Sun Online saw first manus how poor Gambian children can be vulnerable to British paedos when we visited the beach resorts that dot Kololi on the country'south picturesque Atlantic coastline.

Our reporter was constantly shocked by the number of unaccompanied African minors he saw beingness cared for past middle-aged, Western men who did not appear to be their biological fathers.

A man with a British accent holds a scared toddler in his arms

The encounters witnessed included a daughter aged between vi and eight having tiffin with a balding, white haired man in a eatery filled with similarly aged tourists.

The same solar day we saw a stoutly congenital man in his 50s or 60s wading into the ocean gripping the hand of a tiny African child in white swimming shorts.

Every bit unsettling was the sight of a Gambian toddler watching wide-eyed with fearfulness every bit a middle-aged white woman got into a fist fight with a young black prostitute at a popular beach bar.

Information technology was 11.30pm at night and the air was thick with cigarette smoke. The kid, no older than two, was being held closely by a white man with a British accent.

Children sold for £2

Our investigation comes as experts warn that the economical crisis unleashed by the collapse of travel firm Thomas Melt is helping plough the onetime British colony into a "paedophile paradise" where perverts tin can operate unchecked.

Thomas Cook flew 45 per cent of The Gambia'south 100,000 annual visitors from the U.k. to the majuscule Banjul until it went into liquidation under the weight of its debts in September.

In an sectional interview, Lamin Fatty, the National Coordinator of the Child Protection Alliance in The The gambia, reveals that both male and female person tourists are targeting African minors.

He warns: "Sex is cheap in my country and children are being sold for as footling equally 150 dalasis, or but over £ii in your currency. Some of the parents know their children are being abused and they accept it considering they are and so desperate for nutrient in their bellies.

"Others are too naïve to realise. They think the Westerner is paying their bills and helping their boy or girl out of the kindness of their heart, while in reality they accept bad intentions.

"Child corruption is going on all the time in The Gambia and the government is non doing plenty to put a finish to it.

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Two school-age girls play at the anxiety of ii men, their mums nowhere in sight

"Our children are being approached directly on the beaches or the street and child abusers from all over Europe including the UK are coming here for this.

"I want to make clear that this does not just involve men merely also adult women who are paying for sex with teenage boys in The gambia.

"Nosotros have laws that are supposed to stop this from happening but they are not being enforced so nosotros have become a paradise for paedophiles."

Locals 'desperate' later on Thomas Cook collapse

Equally tourism makes up one-third of the country's GDP, there are fears that businesses will get bust and locals will go hungry following an estimated 50 per cent drop in economic activity that has already hit beach resorts.

Lawyer and children's rights advocate Malick Jallow told Sunday Online: "While some tourists will always want to help poor Gambians, others will see this situation equally an opportunity to exploit young children.

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Lamin Fatty, National Coordinator of the Children's Protection Alliance, said this boy shouldn't be in a bar then belatedly at night, adding: "Nosotros do not encourage physical affection with minors"

"The problem is that the corruption is sometimes carried out with the blessing of the parents because they are so in demand.

"The perception is that white people, or 'toubabs' as they phone call them, have stacks of greenbacks and these parents are often excited that their child has attracted the attention of a white human.

"It really makes them feel proud so they requite their permission for the boy or girl to go with the person and when the police try to question them they will not co-operate."

'She didn't look comfortable at all'

Erstwhile Thomas Cook rep Anne Heap, 53, from Wigan, said: "These people are as poor as poor can be — it's rare to run into a child wearing shoes — and there isn't whatsoever other trade for them outside tourism.

"Thomas Cook used to always give u.s.a. an extra 10kg luggage allowance so the workers and passengers could bring aid boxes to The The gambia — basic things like apparel, medicine and school equipment.

"The first matter I idea of when we went under was, 'What is going to happen to people in The The gambia?' Nosotros were the but airline flying directly there.I've heard that crime has already shot upward as there is non enough money coming in — the hand that feeds them is gone.

"Sexual activity tourism is already huge in The gambia — some confined are like brothels — and I practice worry that more children will get lured into prostitution to feed their families. When I was working there I would see sometime men walking with girls as immature every bit 10, eleven or 12. There is a dark side to The Republic of the gambia.

"One time when nosotros were flying dorsum to Manchester there was a British man in his 70s with a girl who was but most eight or ix. This was nearly 8 years ago. I was so concerned nigh what was going on that I got chatting to him outside the toilet during the flying. I wanted to speak to the girl too simply she never left her seat, she didn't expect comfy at all. I reported it and border security later told me the man had been 'apprehended' merely I was not able to notice out what happened to him or the girl later that."

Tots hand-in-hand with 'paedos'

We came across a number of tourists with immature children in the Due west African resortCredit: My Story Media

There is no proof to advise that whatsoever of the men we pictured were paedophiles.

Nonetheless the experts we showed our dossier of photos to said the police force should have questioned them according to Gambian child protection laws.

Lamin Fat said: "This does worry me because, if the children are unaccompanied, they should not be lone in tourist areas without their parents.

"It is too forbidden for a child to be in a bar so tardily at night and we do not encourage physical affection with minors.

"I work with young girls and boys and I would non hug them or option them up, it is not appropriate."

Malick Jallow added: "I would accept questioned these men had I seen them myself. Every bit a lawyer and an activist, I would desire to know if they have the authority to be caring for that kid. Nosotros have a lot of skillful Samaritans coming to The Gambia just nosotros as well have people who employ charity as a front to hide their bad intentions.

"The security guards should have questioned these men but there is a culture of inferiority hither and they would have been scared to challenge a wealthy Westerner."

British tourists can however wing to The Republic of the gambia via Lisbon with the TAP airline or via Casablanca with Royal Air Maroc. There is likewise a limited direct service run by 'Republic of the gambia Experience' company and package deals tin be snapped up for just over £500 a person.

Pensioners taking teens to hotels

Older British women are famed for holidaying in Republic of the gambia, where some pick upwardly African gigolosCredit: My Story Media

Wellness care assistant Lucy Mendy, 33, from Gloucester, was trying to savor a wintertime vacation in the country she has come to see as a 2nd home — but says she was shocked by some of the things she had witnessed during her trip.

She said: "I've seen former men taking girls looking equally young as 15 or xvi-years-old to their hotel room.

"It made me feel ill and I wish I could have intervened, but this is not the UK and I was scared what might have happened if I tried to face up them. People here are so poor, some of them volition do anything for money, even if it means giving their bodies to a tourist."

Marjorie said the touch of Thomas Cook endmost down was clear to meet in the resort

Lucy's mum, pensioner Marjorie Botton, 68, too from Gloucester, added: "The collapse of Thomas Cook has hit people then hard.

"They are getting half equally many British tourists and that means they might not make enough money to get through the serenity season, which starts in April."

Dutch tourist Corina Bouwman also witnessed suspected child abuse during her two week, winter vacation in December.

The social worker, 54, said: "I've seen a number of tiny African children walking effectually with large white men. On each occasion I thought, 'What is going on here? Where is the child'south mother?' Only I didn't desire to charge anyone in case I had misread the situation."

'White men approach little boys and girls'

Father-of-4 Abdullah Labamba, 48, runs a fruit stand next to i of the many hotels that line Kololi'due south palm-tree fringed beach and says he has witnessed paedophiles targeting vulnerable child workers selling peanuts for less than £i a handbag.

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Fruit seller Abdullah Labamba, pictured, says paedos often target vulnerable child workers selling peanuts

He said: "I've seen white men approach the footling boys and girls correct here on the beach. I do my all-time to stop them. "I tell the children, 'Become out of here, this is not a condom place for yous.' The children will run abroad only they ordinarily come dorsum. Information technology's shocking."

"Their parents are desperate for money and they know they won't exist allowed home until they have sold at least 5 bags. Some men try to accept reward of that by offering them £50 for the whole basket. And so they volition enquire them to come back to go somewhere individual."

Child corruption scourge

Tragically, kid corruption is now endemic in The Gambia, where 60 per cent of the 1.9m population live beneath the poverty line.

Previous research has shown that paedophiles often pose as charity workers and Good Samaritans so they tin befriend poor families — and UNICEF has warned that The Gambia is one of Africa'south summit destinations for kid sex tourism.

The Gambian regime meanwhile has tried to crack down and in 2013 introduced new laws allowing them to seize hotel properties if children are knowingly abused on the premises.

They as well pledged to requite out "hefty fines" and "stiff sentences" to paedophiles that are defenseless.

But incredibly at that place has been only one successful prosecution since laws were tightened and that man ended up existence pardoned by the president.

Svein Agesandakar was jailed for sexual offences confronting children

Norwegian instructor Svein Agesandakar, 57, was institute guilty of abusing 6 children, the youngest aged three, in 2006.

The courtroom heard how he had tricked his manner into a hard-up Gambian family by posing as a do-gooder, giving the parents sacks of rice and new shoes in substitution for time alone with their big brood of 6 kids in a hotel room.

The paedophile had separate convictions for kid abuse in Kingdom of norway but was sentenced to just three years in jail.

Then, in 2018 President Adama Barrow decided to pardon him for reasons that have never been explained. The pardon was later revoked amongst a public outcry only experts fear his example has given a green light to other paedophiles.

ECPAT is the but child rights charity that is solely focusing on ending the sexual exploitation of children.

Children in all countries of the earth are at risk of trafficking and prostitution, every bit well every bit online dangers such equally preparation, sextortion and the proliferation of child sexual corruption images.

In contempo years, the travel and tourism sector has imperilled millions of children worldwide as travelling child sex offenders find new victims.

To end these crimes, knowledge and evidence must be of the highest possible quality to inform decisions and guide action.

Predator free

In October terminal year an official UN investigation establish that Gambia's tourist areas proceed to be a unsafe place for children and that predators now stay in motels and private apartments and then they can avoid prying eyes.

UN Special Rapporteur Maud de Boer-Buquicchio reported: "The rare instances when complaints are lodged with the police are not duly acted upon, the gathering of compelling evidence is delayed, and investigation and prosecution is stalled, resulting in victims or witnesses withdrawing their complaints.

"Some cases take as well reportedly been dismissed on the grounds that statements past child victims were allegedly inconsistent."

Our written report comes after the U.k. government was slammed for failing to protect children overseas from British predators.

A report by the Independent Research into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA) found more needs to be done to make sure offenders operating in poor countries like Republic of the gambia are caught and prosecuted.

Calling for a new national plan to tackle the problem, Debbie Beadle, Managing director of Programmes at the child protection organisation ECPAT United kingdom, said: "We promise that by bringing these institutional failings to light, the U.k. can get a world leader in tackling the abuse of vulnerable children globally, and that child victims abroad are no longer 'under the radar' of authorities.

Global manhunt for Aussie paedo monster Simon Gordon Davies who ran kid sex ring from charity set up to 'help' homeless kids

Finish Kid Prostitution and Trafficking - ECPAT is conducting principal research, likewise as bringing together data from diverse sectors and countries effectually the world, to form a reliable and professional range of academic sources.The clemency supports the protection of children and empowerment of 113 members in 98 countries - including The Gambia. Y'all can donate to ECPAT here .

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Source: https://www.sott.net/article/427872-The-Gambia-a-paedo-paradise-where-British-perverts-buy-African-children-and-toddlers-to-rape