|
In this research I have attempted to get a better insight in the fight against child sex tourism in Costa Rica, by analyzing what is happening in the field. In this concluding chapter I would like to connect my findings to the theoretical framework presented in chapter 2. Following my model I presented at the end of this chapter I would like to locate the way how Costa Rica deals with its problem of child sex tourism within structures of inequality [power structures], globalization, and the ambitions of Costa Rica towards sustainable development. In the model I have mentioned the most important economic, political, historical and cultural factors. These factors shape the way how the concepts of globalization, power structures and sustainable development are played out in the society. In their turn these three concepts influence the way how Costa Rica is dealing with the fight against child sex tourism.
The way how Costa Rica is dealing with its fight against child sex tourism influencesthe situation of child sex tourism in Costa Rica. In my theoretical framework I argued that in my view these three concepts are important concepts in looking at the phenomenon of child sex tourism. After this research I can confirm that in the case of Costa Rica these concepts indeed do play an important role in the issue. All the structural and cultural factors mentioned in the model influence the way how the structures of globalization, power structures and sustainable development are shaped within the Costa Rican society. When looking at the globalization issue in Costa Rica, several important developments can be noticed. While discussing globalization theories the theory presented by Appadurai (1990) turned out to be the most useful in this case. Using the five different dimensions of global cultural flows of Appadurai helps in explaining the concept of globalization in the case of Costa Rica. I will give an example with each of the flows.
• Ethnoscapes; the movement of people. Many American expatriates are living and running a business in the country. As one of my colleagues at Paniamor said: “The coasts are the colonized parts of Costa Rica!”, as 80% of the coasts are owned by foreigners, mainly Americans. Also the issue of trafficking and the migration of people from neighboring countries to Costa Rica are factors playing a role within this flow.
• Mediascapes; the movement of images and narratives by the media. Costa Rica wants to promote itself through the media as a sustainable tourism destination. At the same time Costa Rica is also still promoted as a sexual paradise through for example web pages and the influence of the NGO Casa Alianza.
• Technoscapes; the global figuration of technology; the influence of the internet is increasing, both in a positive and a negative way. Websites promoting Costa Rica as a sexual destination are increasing and the pornography is playing an important role in the commercial sexual exploitation. At the same time the communication technologies helped in bringing awareness about the problem in Costa Rica. Paniamor, for example, did not know about the problem until they had participated in an international conference and through the exchange of information between countries.
• Finanscapes; the flows of money. Decisions of the government to become involved in the global trade, through for example the structural adjustment programs and the CAFTAagreement in order to solve their debts and prevent poverty. In this regard also the allocation of resources by the government can be mentioned, as they are prioritizing commerce issues opposed to social issues in the country.
• Ideoscapes; the spread of political ideologies. Being political correct can be mentioned in this regard. Several government officials argued on television that they were against the commercial sexual exploitation, because that was the right thing to say, especially to the outside world. However, at the same time they were not really thinking this, as they had used girls themselves. Also the freedom of the press in Costa Rica can be mentioned in this regard and the influence of international NGO’s and other social movements in the political debates.
Several of the mentioned factors point to the issue of the homogenizing effect of globalization debate. On the one hand it seems that Costa Ricans want to keep their own identity saying things like my colleague of Paniamor said, thus the opposite of a homogenizing culture. Also the fact that this colleague at Paniamor prefers ‘Costa Rican’ music and does not want to listen to popular music, demonstrates this. However, the consumerism also has found its place in Costa Rica, with one of my participant researchers arguing that everything looks American, especially in the capital city. So in this view, I would like to mention Kellner’s (2002) comment that it is important to see globalization as both a process of sameness, uniformity and standardization as well as seeing this globalized culture as a means to encourage difference and hybridity.
When looking at the power structures in Costa Rica, it has been obvious in this report that these play a very important role in the way how Costa Rica is dealing with the problem of commercial sexual exploitation in all levels of society. This also is linked to the globalization issue as “globalization is an environmental, political, social and cultural process in the sense that it is constructed by relationships of power, domination and subordination” (Banerjee & Linstead, 2001). Although Costa Rica is not considered a Third World country, it has a colonial history, which is noticeable because of its dependency structures, having implemented structural adjustment programs and with the huge influence of the United States. Neo-colonialism can very well be applied to the Costa Rican situation. Women, girls and boys are now being used as a source of foreign income in the prostitution industry and the coasts have been taken over by foreigners. The fact that many sex tourists are motivated by a racist powerful notion of we are better than the people in that ‘barbarian’ country and thus it is okay to manipulate and use them says a lot about the inherent power structures in the relation between (sex) tourists and locals (prostitutes and children).
What is also very important with regard to these neocolonialiststructures is the decision a couple of decades ago to focus on the development of tourism and the debt-for-nature agreements with industrialized countries that are linked to this tourism development. As many areas where declared protected areas, many families had to move without the government providing proper alternatives and arrangements (Isla, 2007). At this moment tourism is the most important business in Costa Rica. The ICT [the Costa Rican Tourism Institute] is also the only institution or organization or whatever, that is satisfied with its budget. When the government puts many resources in this department, logically other important issues, such as social issues, get fewer resources. This is the first internal power structure I would like to mention, the power structures within the governmental institutions.
It also has become clear that, despite the emergence of NGO’s and social movements, the governmental still has a huge influence in all structures of society. One example of this can also be found in the national commission against commercial sexual exploitation of children, where the PANI has the leadership because of its place in the governmental hierarchy. Power structures in Costa Rica furthermore play a role in all the levels of class, gender and race. With regard to class, there are of course the rich tourists who think they have more rights than the poor women and children. However, also inside Costa Rica class plays a role with the growing division between rich and poor. Adolescents are becoming involved in the commercial sexual exploitation because they want to be able to buy goods from a certain brand wishing to belong to a certain class. Also power structures in relation to race play an important role in Costa Rica. Not only because of the before mentioned racist notions of certain tourists towards Costa Ricans, but also because of the xenophobia and discrimination by Costa Ricans themselves towards migrants from Nicaragua and other neighboring countries.
The last power structures, but definitely not the least, are the gender and sexuality issues in Costa Rica. The ‘Machismo’ culture in Costa Rica plays a very important role as an inhibiting factor in the fight against child sex tourism, as this cultural notion gives more power to men compared to women. Children are worse off; they are on the lowest ladder of the hierarchy. These cultural notions result in the fact that many people (men) still see women and children as a commodity that can be bought and which they are entitled to. It is very difficult and it takes a long time to change these traditional cultural aspects which have been in the mind of the people for many, many years.
The last important concept to look at is the sustainable development. It is important to see how the issue of sustainable development is incorporated in the Costa Rican society. The most important development to mention in this regard is the wish of Costa Rica to develop as a sustainable tourism destination. However, while they have been promoting this for already a couple of decades, it is only since a couple of years that social issues are being incorporated in this development. Before social issues were not considered part of the sustainable development. Sustainable development was focused on the development of an ecological sustainable tourism destination, which in reality meant that the nature was protected, in order to receive foreign resources through debt-for-nature agreements and through foreign ecological conscious tourists.
Social issues were not seen as important, which still reflects the lack of will within the government with regard to social issues at the present time. This notion in the past about sustainability can also be related to power structures, as “sustainability is considered a contested concept, a concept that is ‘socially and politically constructed’ and reflects the interests and values of those involved” (Mowforth & Munt, 2003: 18). Referring back to the debt-for-nature agreements one could definitely apply this to Costa Rica. Also the concept of globalization can be linked to sustainable development as the worldwide increase in tourism fuelled the development of this ‘sustainable’ tourism industry in Costa Rica. Nowadays people are realizing that social issues also have to be incorporated in sustainable development and thus also sustainable tourism development. The CST [Certification for Sustainable Tourism] program within the ICT [Costa
Rica Tourism Institute] demonstrates this. One of the four fundamental aspects that are evaluated is the socio-economic environment, which includes the request to exclude prostitution from the company and thus also the commercial sexual exploitation of children.
The fight against child sex tourism in Costa Rica is taking shape within these structures of globalization, power structures and sustainable development. Naturally this fight, the way how Costa Rica deals with its problem of commercial sexual exploitation influences the contemporary child sex tourism situation and how this will develop in the future. I would argue that in Costa Rica the problem of child sex tourism is very much interwoven with both the sex tourism industry and the commercial sex industry, as demonstrated in the model. My research demonstrated that the fight against child sex tourism in Costa Rica is not only about fighting child sex tourism. Costa Rica is fighting the commercial sexual exploitation of children as a whole, not only in tourism. Although prostitution is legal in Costa Rica, the commercial sex industry in general feels and will feel the effects of this fight first of all just because of the reason that prostitution and the commercial sexual exploitation of children are so closely linked. The fact that there has been a transition to more hidden organized crime networks will influence the industry as a whole, as intermediaries and exploiters are being more careful.
Furthermore fighting the prevailing sexual norms and morals in Costa Rica which hopefully will result in changing the way how women and children are being looked at, will obviously have an influence on the adult prostitution industry. Also the finding that most adult prostitutes have started their job as a prostitute when they were under-age implicates that the fight against the commercial sexual exploitation of children indirectly influences the adult prostitution industry in the future. This is important to know, because I have noticed that fighting the adult prostitution in Costa Rica is almost impossible, while the fight against the commercial sexual exploitation of children gets a lot more sympathy among the population. Especially the tourism companies were convinced to participate in the Code of Conduct project only after reassuring over and over again that the fight is about the commercial sexual exploitation of children and not about fighting the prostitution industry, a representative of ACOPROT [private non-profit association for professionals in tourism].
This was necessary in order to get more companies to participate. I would like to conclude this chapter by arguing first of all that child sex tourism is definitely an important problem in Costa Rica which has to be fought against. It does not mean that what you can not see does not exist, because it is much more hidden now than it was in the past. I believe the fight in Costa Rica against child sex tourism definitely is not a futile fight. The most important achievement is the awareness of the problem. Although there are many challenges to overcome and the long time this will take, every single child that is rescued because of the efforts in Costa Rica is a victory and makes this fight worthwhile.
|
Combating Children Exploitation in Costa Rica 
