Australia plans to revoke convicted pedophiles’ passports to prevent ‘child-sex tourism’
RT.com
30 May, 2017
The Australian government wants to cancel the passports of convicted pedophiles to prevent them traveling abroad where they are out of reach of the country’s laws. Scores of child sex offenders left the country in 2016 without permission, officials said.
“Today the Coalition Government [of Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull] announced it will introduce tough new laws which will prevent registered child sex offenders from travelling overseas,” Australian Foreign Minister Julie Bishop said in a statement on her official website.
The new legislation aims to make Australia “a world leader in protecting vulnerable children from child sex tourism by prohibiting registered child sex offenders from leaving Australia or holding Australian passports.”
Almost 800 child sex offenders traveled overseas in 2016, according to Foreign Ministry estimates. But more than one-third of them did so without permission.
“It was clear the existing passport legislation was not working,” Bishop said.
“The new legislation will impose higher standards than existing rules, putting a stop to child sex offenders travelling to vulnerable countries where they are out of sight and reach of Australian law.”
According to Bishop, at least 20,000 child sex offenders have been registered in Australia.
They are “those who have served their sentences but are subject to supervision and reporting obligations due to their ongoing risk to our community,” she said.
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