Christine Retschlag

Christine Retschlaghttps://wng-kosmos-wn-cms-uat.kaos.nibit.com.au:443/about/contributors/christine-retschlagChristine Retschlaghttps://public-web-wn.uat.wng.me/explore/europe/bosnia-and-herzegovina/visiting-bosnia-and-herzegovina-30-years-after-the-warThree decades after the start of the Bosnian war, Christine Retschlag explores the beauty, complicated history, and enduring spirit of Bosnia and Herzegovina through the eyes of the locals.2022-11-01T11:00:00Z https://wng-kosmos-wn-cms-uat.kaos.nibit.com.au:443/explore/europe/bosnia-and-herzegovina/visiting-bosnia-and-herzegovina-30-years-after-the-warhttps://www.worldnomads.comThe omnipresent Adele is crooning through the stereo how she set fire to the rain, but around this Bosnian Muslim dinner table, it’s more a case of extinguishing the flames of the past. I’m in a house built from scrap metal, high on the hill overlooking the lights of Sarajevo, as a guest of locals Mustafa and Mersiha, whose business – Bosnian Cooking Lessons – also stages hosted dinners. Here, you dine on organic food including their own plum brandy and the traditional burek, Bosnian pita bread made from flour, salt, sunflower oil, and lukewarm water, while wrapping your mouth around the alphabet soup of consonants this language commands. Mersiha, who was nine when the Bosnian war began in 1992, stretches the dough like an accordion player and explains how her mother tried to keep her entertained during the 3.5-year attack on Sarajevo by teaching her to cook. “It was a lot of pressure because if you got it wrong, there was no trying again as we didn’t have enough food,” she says. <figure><img src="https://media.worldnomads.com/explore/bosnia/sarajevo-at-dusk.jpg" alt="The city of Sarajevo at dusk, seen from a hillside." /><figcaption>The view over Sarajevo. Image credit: Annapurna Mellor, Intrepid Travel</figcaption></figure> For Mustafa, who was 13 at the time, it was the years spent underground which he found most challenging. “It wasn’t the bombs or bullets but the darkness. Everything underground was pitch black. The light was something we used to dream about,” he says. “One night, I saw one-third of the city lights come back on and that’s when I knew the war was really over.” <ul> <li><a href="#tour">A tour designed to boost the local economy</a></li> <li><a href="#history">History, scenery, adventure, and wildlife in Bosnia and Herzegovina</a></li> </ul> <h2 id="tour">A tour designed to boost the local economy</h2> In May 2023, Intrepid Travel will launch its first tour dedicated solely to Bosnia and Herzegovina, made possible by a three-pronged partnership forged two years ago with USAID’s Developing Sustainable Tourism in Bosnia and Herzegovina (Turizam) program and the Global Travel and Tourism Resilience Council. The trip is part of a five-year, US $20 million project which aims to enhance the quality and diversity of tourism products, create new job opportunities, boost employment, encourage the participation of women in the workforce, and drive economic growth. In 2019, the country had the third-highest tourism growth rate in the world, and the sector contributed more than US $1 billion to the economy. In 2020, however, the COVID-19 pandemic decreased tourism revenues by more than 85 percent and hampered the sector’s development. This eight-day Bosnia & Herzegovina Expedition is designed to showcase the best of Bosnia, including nature, soft adventure, war history, and local characters such as Mustafa and Mersiha and the city’s only woman coppersmith, Nermina Alic. <figure><img src="https://media.worldnomads.com/explore/bosnia/market.jpg" alt="A smiling woman selling vegetables at a market in Bosnia and Herzegovina." /><figcaption>A seller at an open-air market in Sarajevo. Image credit: Christine Retschlag.</figcaption></figure> As a former newspaper journalist, I watched the nightly Bosnia bombings and Sarajevo under siege 30 years ago from the safety of Australia, so the invitation to come to visit the country on a preview tour is too great to resist. The tour begins on the still-scarred streets of the Bosnian capital where I encounter the <a href="/stories/connection/the-roses-of-sarajevo">Sarajevo “rose”</a> – a deep imprint left by mortar shells and painted red by locals – to mark the spot where around 100 civilians were killed on two separate occasions, and the Tunnel of Hope – a hidden pipeline dug to connect besieged Sarajevo with the outside world. <figure><img src="https://media.worldnomads.com/explore/bosnia/sarajevo-rose.jpg" alt="The Sarajevo Rose, a memorial to civilians killed in the siege of Sarajevo." /><figcaption>A Sarajevo rose. Image credit: Annapurna Mellor, Intrepid Travel</figcaption></figure> <h2 id="history">History, scenery, adventure, and wildlife in Bosnia and Herzegovina</h2> But there’s much more than war to beautiful Bosnia. We wind through lush countryside painted in autumnal rusts, snake past rivers and into Jajce – the capital of medieval Bosnian kings – renowned for its inner-city 72ft (22m) waterfall and sparkling lakes reminiscent of Switzerland. In the back of a jeep on an off-road safari we encounter Bosnia’s wild horses who roam free as part of a herd of 1,000 at the base of the Cincar Mountain, before feasting on meats, cheeses, and beer in a mountain hut. Cobbled streets pave the way through magical Mostar, bustling with street stalls and stairs which lead to the iconic one-arc Mostar Bridge, while an inconspicuous road takes us to former Communist leader Tito’s secret nuclear bunker in which 80 percent of the items – placed to house 350 in the event of an attack – remain. Intriguingly, it’s now also a contemporary art gallery. Towards the end of this eight-day journey, there are opportunities to go <a href="/travel-insurance/activities/kayaking-or-rafting">white-water rafting</a> down the Neretva River, and explore canyons and waterfalls, before returning to Sarajevo to take a cable car to the Dinaric Alps where the successful Sarajevo Winter Olympics were held in 1984 and are considered a golden era in the city’s history. <figure><img src="https://media.worldnomads.com/explore/bosnia/rafting-bosnia.jpg" alt="White-water rafting on the Neretva River in Bosnia and Herzegovina." /><figcaption>White-water rafting on the Neretva River. Image credit: Annapurna Mellor, Intrepid Travel</figcaption></figure> Not part of this tour, but a must-do while in Sarajevo, is the War Childhood Museum which opened in 2017 and is the only one of its kind in the world which tells the experience of war through the eyes of children. Intrepid Tour Leader Muhamed Vlajcic was 10 when the war started. “For 3.5 years Sarajevo lived through hell on earth. 300,000 people lived without food and electricity, every day in continuous terror,” he says. “We pretended we had a life but trust me, it wasn’t a life.” Yet, Muhamed reminds us that art, school, clubs, pubs, bars, and more than 1,000 theater shows continued in underground basements throughout the siege. “The spirit of Sarajevo was never killed,” he says. USAID Developing Sustainable Tourism in Bosnia and Herzegovina Chief of Party Ibrahim Osta says the best thing travelers can do to help the continuing recovery is to come to the country, meet locals and support the economy. “Tourism has the power to create livelihoods for people in areas that no single industry can. With tourism you leave money everywhere [you] go,” he says. “It’s authentic, it has zero negative impact, and you have a true Bosnian experience.” <h2>Trip notes</h2> Intrepid’s new 8-day <a href="https://www.intrepidtravel.com/au/bosnia-and-herzegovina/bosnia-herzegovina-expedition-144139" target="_blank">Bosnia & Herzegovina Expedition</a> will launch in May 2023 with five departures scheduled. The tour starts from AUD $1,995.Annapurna Mellor, Intrepid Travel 0 Annapurna Mellor, Intrepid Travel Iconic Mostar Bridge in Mostar, Bosnia and Herzogavina.

https://public-web-wn.uat.wng.me/explore/europe/bosnia-and-herzegovina/visiting-bosnia-herzegovina-30-years-after-the-war-cloneThree decades after the start of the Bosnian war, Christine Retschlag explores the beauty, complicated history, and enduring spirit of Bosnia and Herzegovina through the eyes of the locals.2022-10-31T11:00:00Z https://wng-kosmos-wn-cms-uat.kaos.nibit.com.au:443/explore/europe/bosnia-and-herzegovina/visiting-bosnia-herzegovina-30-years-after-the-war-clonehttps://www.worldnomads.comThe omnipresent Adele is crooning through the stereo how she set fire to the rain, but around this Bosnian Muslim dinner table, it’s more a case of extinguishing the flames of the past. I’m in a house built from scrap metal, high on the hill overlooking the lights of Sarajevo, as a guest of locals Mustafa and Mersiha, whose business – Bosnian Cooking Lessons – also stages hosted dinners. Here, you dine on organic food including their own plum brandy and the traditional burek, Bosnian pita bread made from flour, salt, sunflower oil, and lukewarm water, while wrapping your mouth around the alphabet soup of consonants this language commands. Mersiha, who was nine when the Bosnian war began in 1992, stretches the dough like an accordion player and explains how her mother tried to keep her entertained during the 3.5-year attack on Sarajevo by teaching her to cook. “It was a lot of pressure because if you got it wrong, there was no trying again as we didn’t have enough food,” she says. <figure><img src="https://media.worldnomads.com/explore/bosnia/sarajevo-at-dusk.jpg" alt="The city of Sarajevo at dusk, seen from a hillside." /> <figcaption>The view over Sarajevo. Image credit: Annapurna Mellor, Intrepid Travel</figcaption></figure> For Mustafa, who was 13 at the time, it was the years spent underground which he found most challenging. “It wasn’t the bombs or bullets but the darkness. Everything underground was pitch black. The light was something we used to dream about,” he says. “One night, I saw one-third of the city lights come back on and that’s when I knew the war was really over.” <ul> <li><a href="#tour">A tour designed to boost the local economy</a></li> <li><a href="#history">History, scenery, adventure, and wildlife in Bosnia and Herzegovina</a></li> </ul> <h2 id="tour">A tour designed to boost the local economy</h2> In May 2023, Intrepid Travel will launch its first tour dedicated solely to Bosnia and Herzegovina, made possible by a three-pronged partnership forged two years ago with USAID’s Developing Sustainable Tourism in Bosnia and Herzegovina (Turizam) program and the Global Travel and Tourism Resilience Council. The trip is part of a five-year, US $20 million project which aims to enhance the quality and diversity of tourism products, create new job opportunities, boost employment, encourage the participation of women in the workforce, and drive economic growth. In 2019, the country had the third-highest tourism growth rate in the world, and the sector contributed more than US $1 billion to the economy. In 2020, however, the COVID-19 pandemic decreased tourism revenues by more than 85 percent and hampered the sector’s development. This eight-day Bosnia & Herzegovina Expedition is designed to showcase the best of Bosnia, including nature, soft adventure, war history, and local characters such as Mustafa and Mersiha and the city’s only woman coppersmith, Nermina Alic. <figure><img src="https://media.worldnomads.com/explore/bosnia/market.jpg" alt="A smiling woman selling vegetables at a market in Bosnia and Herzegovina." /> <figcaption>A seller at an open-air market in Sarajevo. Image credit: Christine Retschlag.</figcaption></figure> As a former newspaper journalist, I watched the nightly Bosnia bombings and Sarajevo under siege 30 years ago from the safety of Australia, so the invitation to come to visit the country on a preview tour is too great to resist. The tour begins on the still-scarred streets of the Bosnian capital where I encounter the <a href="/stories/connection/the-roses-of-sarajevo">Sarajevo “rose”</a> – a deep imprint left by mortar shells and painted red by locals – to mark the spot where around 100 civilians were killed on two separate occasions, and the Tunnel of Hope – a hidden pipeline dug to connect besieged Sarajevo with the outside world. <figure><img src="https://media.worldnomads.com/explore/bosnia/sarajevo-rose.jpg" alt="The Sarajevo Rose, a memorial to civilians killed in the siege of Sarajevo." /> <figcaption>A Sarajevo rose. Image credit: Annapurna Mellor, Intrepid Travel</figcaption></figure> <h2 id="history">History, scenery, adventure, and wildlife in Bosnia and Herzegovina</h2> But there’s much more than war to beautiful Bosnia. We wind through lush countryside painted in autumnal rusts, snake past rivers and into Jajce – the capital of medieval Bosnian kings – renowned for its inner-city 72ft (22m) waterfall and sparkling lakes reminiscent of Switzerland. In the back of a jeep on an off-road safari we encounter Bosnia’s wild horses who roam free as part of a herd of 1,000 at the base of the Cincar Mountain, before feasting on meats, cheeses, and beer in a mountain hut. Cobbled streets pave the way through magical Mostar, bustling with street stalls and stairs which lead to the iconic one-arc Mostar Bridge, while an inconspicuous road takes us to former Communist leader Tito’s secret nuclear bunker in which 80 percent of the items – placed to house 350 in the event of an attack – remain. Intriguingly, it’s now also a contemporary art gallery. Towards the end of this eight-day journey, there are opportunities to go <a href="/travel-insurance/activities/kayaking-or-rafting">white-water rafting</a> down the Neretva River, and explore canyons and waterfalls, before returning to Sarajevo to take a cable car to the Dinaric Alps where the successful Sarajevo Winter Olympics were held in 1984 and are considered a golden era in the city’s history. <figure><img src="https://media.worldnomads.com/explore/bosnia/rafting-bosnia.jpg" alt="White-water rafting on the Neretva River in Bosnia and Herzegovina." /> <figcaption>White-water rafting on the Neretva River. Image credit: Annapurna Mellor, Intrepid Travel</figcaption></figure> Not part of this tour, but a must-do while in Sarajevo, is the War Childhood Museum which opened in 2017 and is the only one of its kind in the world which tells the experience of war through the eyes of children. Intrepid Tour Leader Muhamed Vlajcic was 10 when the war started. “For 3.5 years Sarajevo lived through hell on earth. 300,000 people lived without food and electricity, every day in continuous terror,” he says. “We pretended we had a life but trust me, it wasn’t a life.” Yet, Muhamed reminds us that art, school, clubs, pubs, bars, and more than 1,000 theater shows continued in underground basements throughout the siege. “The spirit of Sarajevo was never killed,” he says. USAID Developing Sustainable Tourism in Bosnia and Herzegovina Chief of Party Ibrahim Osta says the best thing travelers can do to help the continuing recovery is to come to the country, meet locals and support the economy. “Tourism has the power to create livelihoods for people in areas that no single industry can. With tourism you leave money everywhere [you] go,” he says. “It’s authentic, it has zero negative impact, and you have a true Bosnian experience.” <h2>Trip notes</h2> Intrepid’s new 8-day <a href="https://www.intrepidtravel.com/au/bosnia-and-herzegovina/bosnia-herzegovina-expedition-144139" target="_blank">Bosnia & Herzegovina Expedition</a> will launch in May 2023 with five departures scheduled. The tour starts from AUD $1,995. Annapurna Mellor, Intrepid Travel 0

https://public-web-wn.uat.wng.me/explore/europe/bosnia-and-herzegovina/visiting-30-years-after-the-warThree decades after the start of the Bosnian war, Christine Retschlag explores the beauty, complicated history, and enduring spirit of Bosnia and Herzegovina through the eyes of the locals.2022-10-31T11:00:00Z https://wng-kosmos-wn-cms-uat.kaos.nibit.com.au:443/explore/europe/bosnia-and-herzegovina/visiting-30-years-after-the-warhttps://www.worldnomads.comThe omnipresent Adele is crooning through the stereo how she set fire to the rain, but around this Bosnian Muslim dinner table, it’s more a case of extinguishing the flames of the past. I’m in a house built from scrap metal, high on the hill overlooking the lights of Sarajevo, as a guest of locals Mustafa and Mersiha, whose business – Bosnian Cooking Lessons – also stages hosted dinners. Here, you dine on organic food including their own plum brandy and the traditional burek, Bosnian pita bread made from flour, salt, sunflower oil, and lukewarm water, while wrapping your mouth around the alphabet soup of consonants this language commands. Mersiha, who was nine when the Bosnian war began in 1992, stretches the dough like an accordion player and explains how her mother tried to keep her entertained during the 3.5-year attack on Sarajevo by teaching her to cook. “It was a lot of pressure because if you got it wrong, there was no trying again as we didn’t have enough food,” she says. <figure><img src="https://media.worldnomads.com/explore/bosnia/sarajevo-at-dusk.jpg" alt="The city of Sarajevo at dusk, seen from a hillside." /> <figcaption>The view over Sarajevo. Image credit: Annapurna Mellor, Intrepid Travel</figcaption></figure> For Mustafa, who was 13 at the time, it was the years spent underground which he found most challenging. “It wasn’t the bombs or bullets but the darkness. Everything underground was pitch black. The light was something we used to dream about,” he says. “One night, I saw one-third of the city lights come back on and that’s when I knew the war was really over.” <ul> <li><a href="#tour">A tour designed to boost the local economy</a></li> <li><a href="#history">History, scenery, adventure, and wildlife in Bosnia and Herzegovina</a></li> </ul> <h2 id="tour">A tour designed to boost the local economy</h2> In May 2023, Intrepid Travel will launch its first tour dedicated solely to Bosnia and Herzegovina, made possible by a three-pronged partnership forged two years ago with USAID’s Developing Sustainable Tourism in Bosnia and Herzegovina (Turizam) program and the Global Travel and Tourism Resilience Council. The trip is part of a five-year, US $20 million project which aims to enhance the quality and diversity of tourism products, create new job opportunities, boost employment, encourage the participation of women in the workforce, and drive economic growth. In 2019, the country had the third-highest tourism growth rate in the world, and the sector contributed more than US $1 billion to the economy. In 2020, however, the COVID-19 pandemic decreased tourism revenues by more than 85 percent and hampered the sector’s development. This eight-day Bosnia & Herzegovina Expedition is designed to showcase the best of Bosnia, including nature, soft adventure, war history, and local characters such as Mustafa and Mersiha and the city’s only woman coppersmith, Nermina Alic. <figure><img src="https://media.worldnomads.com/explore/bosnia/market.jpg" alt="A smiling woman selling vegetables at a market in Bosnia and Herzegovina." /> <figcaption>A seller at an open-air market in Sarajevo. Image credit: Christine Retschlag.</figcaption></figure> As a former newspaper journalist, I watched the nightly Bosnia bombings and Sarajevo under siege 30 years ago from the safety of Australia, so the invitation to come to visit the country on a preview tour is too great to resist. The tour begins on the still-scarred streets of the Bosnian capital where I encounter the <a href="/stories/connection/the-roses-of-sarajevo">Sarajevo “rose”</a> – a deep imprint left by mortar shells and painted red by locals – to mark the spot where around 100 civilians were killed on two separate occasions, and the Tunnel of Hope – a hidden pipeline dug to connect besieged Sarajevo with the outside world. <figure><img src="https://media.worldnomads.com/explore/bosnia/sarajevo-rose.jpg" alt="The Sarajevo Rose, a memorial to civilians killed in the siege of Sarajevo." /> <figcaption>A Sarajevo rose. Image credit: Annapurna Mellor, Intrepid Travel</figcaption></figure> <h2 id="history">History, scenery, adventure, and wildlife in Bosnia and Herzegovina</h2> But there’s much more than war to beautiful Bosnia. We wind through lush countryside painted in autumnal rusts, snake past rivers and into Jajce – the capital of medieval Bosnian kings – renowned for its inner-city 72ft (22m) waterfall and sparkling lakes reminiscent of Switzerland. In the back of a jeep on an off-road safari we encounter Bosnia’s wild horses who roam free as part of a herd of 1,000 at the base of the Cincar Mountain, before feasting on meats, cheeses, and beer in a mountain hut. Cobbled streets pave the way through magical Mostar, bustling with street stalls and stairs which lead to the iconic one-arc Mostar Bridge, while an inconspicuous road takes us to former Communist leader Tito’s secret nuclear bunker in which 80 percent of the items – placed to house 350 in the event of an attack – remain. Intriguingly, it’s now also a contemporary art gallery. Towards the end of this eight-day journey, there are opportunities to go <a href="/travel-insurance/activities/kayaking-or-rafting">white-water rafting</a> down the Neretva River, and explore canyons and waterfalls, before returning to Sarajevo to take a cable car to the Dinaric Alps where the successful Sarajevo Winter Olympics were held in 1984 and are considered a golden era in the city’s history. <figure><img src="https://media.worldnomads.com/explore/bosnia/rafting-bosnia.jpg" alt="White-water rafting on the Neretva River in Bosnia and Herzegovina." /> <figcaption>White-water rafting on the Neretva River. Image credit: Annapurna Mellor, Intrepid Travel</figcaption></figure> Not part of this tour, but a must-do while in Sarajevo, is the War Childhood Museum which opened in 2017 and is the only one of its kind in the world which tells the experience of war through the eyes of children. Intrepid Tour Leader Muhamed Vlajcic was 10 when the war started. “For 3.5 years Sarajevo lived through hell on earth. 300,000 people lived without food and electricity, every day in continuous terror,” he says. “We pretended we had a life but trust me, it wasn’t a life.” Yet, Muhamed reminds us that art, school, clubs, pubs, bars, and more than 1,000 theater shows continued in underground basements throughout the siege. “The spirit of Sarajevo was never killed,” he says. USAID Developing Sustainable Tourism in Bosnia and Herzegovina Chief of Party Ibrahim Osta says the best thing travelers can do to help the continuing recovery is to come to the country, meet locals and support the economy. “Tourism has the power to create livelihoods for people in areas that no single industry can. With tourism you leave money everywhere [you] go,” he says. “It’s authentic, it has zero negative impact, and you have a true Bosnian experience.” <h2>Trip notes</h2> Intrepid’s new 8-day <a href="https://www.intrepidtravel.com/au/bosnia-and-herzegovina/bosnia-herzegovina-expedition-144139" target="_blank">Bosnia & Herzegovina Expedition</a> will launch in May 2023 with five departures scheduled. The tour starts from AUD $1,995. Annapurna Mellor, Intrepid Travel 0

https://public-web-wn.uat.wng.me/responsible-travel/make-a-difference/sex-tourismSex tourists travel with the intention to offend and ruin lives. What can travelers do to help?2022-03-14T11:00:00Z https://wng-kosmos-wn-cms-uat.kaos.nibit.com.au:443/responsible-travel/make-a-difference/sex-tourismhttps://www.worldnomads.com<ul> <li><a href="#offending">Child sex offending</a></li> <li><a href="#action">Action on the ground</a></li> <li><a href="#travelers">What can travelers do?</a></li> <li><a href="#pandemic">The impact of the global pandemic on sex tourism </a></li> </ul> Early evening in Bangkok’s notorious Patpong Road district and tourists move through the heaving humidity, the chaos of clubs and holiday dreams. Here there are two types of traveler, curious, unsuspecting visitors and more conspicuously, those on the prowl, eager to select a girl by the number pinned on her brief costume. Just like circling the numbers on a lotto ticket but with less concern about the consequences. And it’s a story being played out every night, in every country in the world, not just Thailand and most certainly not only in developing nations. It’s an issue as complex as it is disturbing. Sex tourism. What is it? Who does it impact? And how can it be stopped? Where does that scratchy line between legal, regulated prostitution end and the scourge of human trafficking begin? <h2 id="offending">Child sex offending</h2> Even those who work closely in the field are divided on its definition. But they are united in the cause to stop it. Australian Federal Police (AFP) Detective Superintendent Jayne Crossling for the Australian Centre To Counter Child Exploitation (ACCCE), says the AFP does not use the term “sex tourism” or “sex tourists” but instead categorises this type of offending as “traveling child sex offending” and “child sex offenders”. “The AFP does not provide comment on preferred destinations for traveling child sex offenders as it could highlight and provide opportunities for others looking to travel with the intention of offending,” Detective Crossling says.  “We continue to work with law enforcement agencies across Southeast Asia to build capacity to detect and take action against such offending. “With regard to traveling sex offenders, Australia is predominantly a ‘source’ country, meaning that more Australians travel overseas to commit child sex offences, rather than overseas offenders traveling to Australia to commit offences.” <h2 id="action">Action on the ground</h2> Kristen Scharf is the Cambodia Country Manager for <a href="https://www.a21.org/">A21</a>, one of the largest organizations in the world that is solely fighting human trafficking at a local, domestic and international level. Since 2008, it has expanded to 19 locations in 14 countries, including an office in Sydney. According to A21, human trafficking is “the illegal trade of human beings: the recruitment, control, and use of people for their bodies and for their labour”. And the statistics are sobering: <ul> <li>There are more people enslaved today than in any other time in history</li> <li>An estimated 40.3 million people are enslaved today</li> <li>Human trafficking generates an average of USD $150 billion a year</li> <li>Men, women and children can all be victims of trafficking with women the most likely at 71 per cent; men 29 per cent; and children 25 per cent</li> <li>Slavery happens in every country</li> <li>An estimated 5.4 out of every 1,000 people are enslaved around the world.</li> </ul> Ms Scharf says sex tourists are motivated by the freedom of social restraints governing their behavior at home, procuring their victims online before they go; online once in destination; and via contacts on the ground. “Sex tourist discards their moral values abroad and think they can escape the consequences by taking advantage of vulnerable populations and weak legal systems,” she says.  <h2 id="travelers">What can travelers do?</h2> Responsible global tour operators such as <a href="https://www.gadventures.com/">G Adventures</a> are aware of the impact of sex tourism around the world. G Adventures runs tours to places such as Nepal where, as part of their trip, travelers can visit the <a href="https://sasanesisterhoodtrek.com/">SASANE</a> project in Kathmandu which assists survivors of sex trafficking and slave labour. Launched more than a decade ago, with the assistance of a USD $25,000 injection from G Adventures, SASANE rescues women who have been trafficked, and trains them to become paralegals so that they, in turn, can represent other women. Those who don’t have a basic education, are trained in valuable hospitality skills, which they share along with their stories to tourists, under the Sisterhood of Survivors project. Since it was established, more than 249 women have been trained to become paralegals, offering free-of-charge assistance to other survivors, who they have represented in more than400 court cases. Nepal is considered the epicentre of human trafficking – with India its main customer - and the issue has only worsened since the 2015 earthquake resulted in more poverty and displacement. Money raised from visiting tourists assists in keeping the operation afloat amid claims human trafficking is the second most prolific organized crime on the planet after the weapons and drug trade. But unlike drugs, a woman can be sold more than once and often many times in one day. Back in Cambodia, Ms Scharf says those who suspect human trafficking or child exploitation should report it immediately to the country’s anti-human trafficking police. “The government of Cambodia has zero tolerance for sex tourists and will prosecute individuals for crimes against children,” she says. <a href="https://humantraffickingsearch.org/">Human Trafficking Search</a>, which documents human trafficking and modern slavery, also produces research guides, and toolkits to help raise awareness of trafficking and sex tourism. It recommends <a href="https://humantraffickingsearch.org/tourist-tips-combatting-sex-and-labor-trafficking-while-traveling/">travelers</a> help stamp it out by reporting what they see, only using responsible travel tourism operators committed to anti-trafficking, and to always thoroughly research any volunteer organizations involving children.  <h2 id="pandemic">The impact of the global pandemic on sex tourism</h2> Detective Crossing says the AFP believes it is “highly unlikely” that child sex offenders were leaving Australia for the purposes of offending against children during the period when Australia’s international borders were closed. “It is too early to determine the effect that the reopened border has had on this type of offending, however it is highly likely the destinations that were previously attractive to travelling child sex offenders prior to COVID-19 will remain attractive with the borders reopened,” she says. “The AFP is working closely with partners to detect, prevent and where necessary prosecute offenders in relation to travelling sex offending.” At A21 in Cambodia, Ms Scharf says they have noticed a drop in child sex tourism since COVID-19 but intel from its partner agencies reveals there has been a “large shift” to online child exploitation. As travelers re-enter the world, it’s important to remember the lives of those who are powerless to defend themselves depend on people making the right choices to end the cycle.PhotoShelter 0 The red-light district of a city