Albania mentioned as a top child trafficker

TIRANA, Aug 18 – The British media has labeled Albania as a main source of trafficking children to Britain, whose authorities were accused of turning a blind eye to child sex tourism.
British pedophiles are gaining access to children abroad because foreign orphanages and schools cannot conduct UK criminal record checks, a report warned.
The study by Ecpat UK, a coalition of children’s charities, said the government had “turned a blind eye” to child sex offenders who travel or work abroad, placing thousands of children at risk, with “repeat offenders travelling from country to country and flagrantly avoiding the stringent sex offender mechanisms in the UK”.
The report pointed out that Britons figure prominently in international child abuse statistics, with at least 15 British nationals charged in Thailand over the past two years for sexual abuse of children, and others prosecuted in India, Ghana, Cambodia and Albania.
“Many of them have been teachers or volunteers in orphanages,” said the report.
New measures came into force last month allowing pedophiles who abuse children abroad to be prosecuted in Britain, regardless of whether the abuse was legal in the host country.
“This sends a strong message to so-called sex tourists that they won’t get away with targeting other countries with less strict controls than the UK,” the Home Office said.
“From the autumn, we also intend to make registered sex offenders notify the police of any travel abroad. Presently, sex offenders have to notify police if they will be abroad for three days or more.”
ECPAT UK is calling for stronger co-operation with foreign governments to deport and chaperone convicted pedophiles back to the UK, so that they can be put on the sex offenders register, tracked and, where necessary, have travel restricted.