SALESIAN Father Chris Riley, who has spent his life fighting for a better deal for Australia’s downtrodden youth, is planning a campaign to raise awareness about child prostitution and hopes to change the way Australia deals with the problem.
Fr Riley, who established Youth Off The Streets in Sydney 10 years ago to care for street kids, intends challenging the Australian Government to do something about child prostitution and will propose a Canadian system as a model to follow.
He said he would be bringing out a police officer who has worked against child prostitution in Canada, and a social worker who was familiar with the Canadian system.
Seeing the success being achieved in Canada, Fr Riley is keen for Australia to try similar strategies to protect children involved in prostitution.
The first thing I want to do is do away with the term ‘child prostitution’,’ he said, during a recent visit to Brisbane. ‘It’s not child prostitution ‘ it’s child abuse.’
As far as Fr Riley is concerned, those picked up for using children as prostitutes should be called child abusers.
Fr Riley knows the controversy will flare when he starts talking about the Canadian system of having a locked facility to accommodate children found to be involved in prostitution.
He believes taking the children from the streets to a locked facility is necessary to remove them from the sex industry for their own protection.
‘We as adults have a duty to protect our children. If 11, 12, 13 and 14 year-olds are prostituting themselves, we need to take a stand and put them in a locked facility where they can be counselled.’
