When in the 1980s child-sex tourism, in other words sexual abuse of children by tourists was mainly associated with South Asia then now it is a problem of all the continents.
Estonia, together with Germany, Italy, Austria, and Holland participates in a project of ECPAT International, an organisation fighting against child prostitution and the trafficking of children for sexual purposes, to spread awareness among our tourism companies and enterprises in the tourism industry as well as the public of the threats to children.

According to the psychotherapist in Tartu Child Support Centre Malle Roomeld, there are many risk factors in Estonia that could predict the existence and development of child-sex tourism also here.

“At the moment there is an economic recession, families are suffering under poverty, the lessen attention of parents have left children on their own,” said Roomeld. “No one is paying attention to what children are doing on internet to which they have unlimited access. We have many cases where children have been pushed to sexual exposure.”


The widespread consumer mentality here increases the risk of young children and girls to be allowed to be sexually used for money as they desire to have a better life. However, the same phenomenon is present in the wealthier European countries as well. “All of these are risk factors. And an important fact is that there have been many paedophilia cases,” stated Roomeld.

She admitted that there are paedophiles in every country, but as our neighbour Sweden has prohibited offering sex services for money and Finland is about to take the same path too, then the buyers of sex services over there, among which are also people wishing to have sex with underaged, have to go somewhere else.

Usually they arrive to the neighbouring countries with their wishes. “The latest paedophilia cases here also tell us about the thousands of people going abroad for hoping to remain anonymous and find no social control because of the strict regulations in their own states,” said Roomeld, giving Toomas H Liiv and Kaur Hanson as examples who travelled abroad repeatedly with their victims.

Today, in Tartu court house at 2 pm, the Support Centre organises an information day on child-sex tourism. All the tourism companies, travel agents and hotel representatives are welcome to participate for free.

Also the Southern Circuit Prosecutor’s Office’s District Prosecutor Raul Heido talks about the laws regarding child protection in tourism that the companies in tourism industry should be familiar with.

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