16. coming. from the adventures of the famous naturalist and explorer. to celebrate a rolex on the front $250.00. marking on the floor of the discovery. expedition home boy on. this week on the 77 percent street debate. i believe the minister have to understand that his country is being labeled as a sex tourist destination it's going to be very difficult to take away sex tourism from a country that is mostly dependent on tourism a saying that foreigners and tourists are treated better than gandhi i'm sure. that

there's no argument about that most of the governors i limp the government you will have a lot of work to do because you're not doing what you. told the mining coast of africa and looking at the shorelines across the atlantic it's easy to see why the gambia is a very popular destination for tourists but typically those escaping the winter in europe but what are some of the unintended consequences of tourism well i have a group of young people here who are going to help me answer that question and i'm going to start with killer is actually a rapper but he uses his music. and he find the voice of young people and the issues around him so killer of head you said that's the gambia is a sex tourism hawks what is it true. absolutely it definitely is a hot spot. on the stand if it was only limited towards people who are on the same category as of the. but it's even went down to

a level where you see paedophilia like on a rapid basis children as young as 9 years old you know being preyed on by tourists you know so it's not just the sex tourism of prostitutes and women and beautiful gandhian women you know but also the young generation who are coming up and are being exploited by you know such types of stories of ok i want to speak to somebody who is actually an official from the tourism ministry to having what john's you are the senior product development office in the ministry you've heard what the young man has to say but you minister has said that this is not true so where is the contradiction when if you say it is a sex tourism destination that's where the const contradiction is. nobody is saying there's no sex tourism in the grammar of what you call it a success stories in this nation that it looks like the whole destination is prepared you know. product developed and you know marketed as sex tourism destination which is the minister's argument ok so pretty to put talked to here it sounds to me but when you deny that this is really happening in the country don't

you think you also deny people a chance to solve the problem again i insist on what i said it would be given that there's no denial of sex tourism taking place in the country because we're seeing it what we're denying is people. who is in destination so it's not. it's this is the difference you need to draw the line between the 2 where the destination is a sex tourism destination or the sex the sex tourism going on if you have sex tourism is going on particularly myself i've been in the industry for such a long time and i've seen sex tourism practices i'm not denying it or if. it's not a sex tourism business and i'm not aware of that. ok you know i mean my point being i believe the minister have to understand that his country is being labeled as a sex tourist destination by who the sex tourists who come there and feedback the information and market getting you as a sex tourist destination and i believe that's what they have to understand and come out with more strategies to counter that sort of what comes and they come back

for more on other sites culturally the music you know but not. just the nation because as soon as they come to something. honestly that's the 1st thing you see majority of the europeans talking to some old lady looking for a young man who is you know potent enough you know to take care of her sexually or the other way around because it actually exists on a large scale here in the grammy ok so i think we can definitely agree that 6 stories in definitely happening here we're not making it up even the person from the ministry says that he's witnessed it so i want to come to you she's a journalist for the purposes of this conversation she's also a women's rights activist so how did this all begin take me through it because the country doesn't just host 6 stories out of nowhere actually it's very very it's going to be very difficult to. take away sex tourism from a country that is mostly dependent on tourism in itself but this is something that hussein apart has been really happening and for that reason officials take it very

very seriously when you come to senegal for instance this is a place where we have a lot of tourists coming to and so what happens here interest is that we make sure that people who are young girls under the age of 18 find it very difficult to access these places will also have the sexual offenses act that also condemns sex store i mean a 6 story in the country but also when you go to hotels you have these athletes and after reaching them very modified for them to for jurors themselves to understand that you cannot take part in these practices in this country when you go to the communities themselves where sometimes when tourists come to engage in sex tourism you go to the communities because they know when they come to the hotels then they might be tracked easily ok so you have let's not let's not let's not jump the gun here because i think we're talking about regulation and we still don't know what the real problem because we're talking about these stories coming in the stories coming in but they're engaging with gambier's so why are gambians participating so

that's actually a good point you make because there's a problem we have to sensitize the gamete communities a little bit more there's got to be a grassroots effort to educate the families because at the end the other day if a family is poor they're making a $1000.00 see a mother and almost certainly this white european male or female comes without 1000 of dollars offer to take their child to europe give them a visa give them a better life they turn a blind eye and that is what the issue is and i think it starts with the young people as well because some of them are no they're 18 they're 17 they're 16 they're you know what these people are coming here for but again it's the poverty at the same time though the hotel they can't turn a blind eye the policeman can't and we've got to make sure that everything is and in place so when these pedophiles all these dirty harry's that's what we call them dirty harry's back in the day the dirty harry said. satirise when they come to the gambia they know there is a no nonsense policy ok i want to speak to a gentleman from the tourism committee mr layman challenge is it a question of marketing or is it just that people have become complacent that this

is how things work here and this is how they will continue to work days from thing that week or responsible tourism to undiscussed to various tourists that are coming here and the people that they are meeting here so we all have to be responsible to make sure that you know we sort out our disparate tourism sector is responsible you know. to have you know form 6 whatsoever but we also of the responsible parties who are coming to develop our local communities i think be something that is a holistic approach that we need to take at least. you know responsible through the prism board on the ministry ok got these policies already in place i'll come back and ask about implementation but i want to go back to something that you set fire to which is that there is a cause and effect in 6 years in the cause being unemployment can you talk to me about that was a situation like for young people here well it's very very i have heard this

courageous because like we were talking about a time we have about 41.5 percent of young people who are unemployed in this country so you will realize that there is a high tendency of young people getting themselves involved in certain acts that can just give them income and when you when you come to become a gambler you realize it's a low income country it's a developing country it takes a bad leader people sensitize in ash south as well officials also taking it upon themselves to make this harmony understand why is it so important to be patient if they can't go you know all out and make something for themselves it does not guarantee for going on to something that would not last because at the end of the day these stories they go and we stay here what do they live with us nothing so it comes back to all of us as a people but also i believe the government will be watching. you know that young people are tired and even though we're talking that opportunities are there but we still have 41.5 percent who are still unemployed ok let me speak to mr shall come back to you kill is mission is part of the can you think when

a simple console this is of the region where we're at and he's one of the representatives were you doing to make sure that young people in this area and not falling prey to people who are trying to exploit them are you offering opportunities for them training perhaps. recently we have conducted tours in for. informal bitter where we have given recommendations for improvement of the tourism sector but what about for the young people trying to come you know the thing is that you have to understand the importance of tourism and the role it plays in this country towards him contributes a lot to the gross domestic product of this country and it creates a lot of employment in this country. is that those practices that we are hearing now is passionately we have to accept the reality it's about time for young people

to use their creative genes and most of the people that engage in these trade deals are not gambians. these are not. a small number of engage in the same thing and normally when you ask them they will basically on poverty you know but the thing is that you have to use the meeting one like me are going walking in the tourism industry for quite a long time and i know the industrial importance of the industry and the group things that it brings about. i know you're insisting that it's beneficial to the country and i think it's also important for us to see tourism actually in the 2nd highest foreign income earner in this country so what you're seeing cannot be overstated but kill is with hearing that the sex tourism of those who are engaging in it and not gambians true on. 1st of all i would just like to put a pinpoint on something before i forget which is really a force in sex tourism and that came from the highest authorities within the state

and that was when recently of norwegian paedophile was pardoned from prison somebody who raped a girl who was less than 10 years old and he was pardoned amongst many other prisoners who were pardoned and seeing that come in from approval approved by the justice minister under the watch of the executive the other has actually see himself i think that alone is an insult towards the efforts to fight against sex tourism because it's a norwegian who is just like more than 46 years old who came on holiday and was put into jail and was arrested and locked up for committed sexual offenses towards a minor and that person is apartment while you have example real because young people who are arrested over. then that does not even give hope to the young people who are trying our best as young people to be on a positive channel despite the frustrated society that we live in so ok so let me go back to john because i think that relates directly to you the tourism offenses

act which was mentioned earlier what does it say about a kid like that and what sort of message to send i had the same feeling star like when i heard the guy was actually but mrs b. on me it's be undiminished which was i'm glad you said. the watch of the door thought it was something for them to address but surely how do you how do you think these young people feel when you were part of the ministry saying it was beyond you so who should be dealing with. what i can say is at our level when it was reported that we have used the means that we have under the tourism act actually is to address the guard and take him for prosecution which was our limit and then pardons don't by the executive that is that is what i what i what i said it's beyond us equally i mean. with them that this guy is just now. if. you would. only you have something to say yeah just think that it's a disgrace that our gambian government that we're part of

a pedophile and like he said if anything like that happened overseas gambians would be in jail for life but what i want to do is go back to the unemployment issue yes and 21.5 percent young people that unemployed the issue is we need to start creating entrepreneurs if jobs are not available let's teach the young people skills where they can learn a craft or use their businesses to create some type of avenue of well for themselves and their families for generation to come 2nd of all right now the tourism industry has been privatized they're doing these what do you call a way all inclusive situations where the communities are not going to benefit if you tell you can you explain what an all inclusive situation so an all inclusive is like maybe a 500 tourists from russia will come they'll stay at the sheraton coral beach i'll tell the eat there they'll party there the do everything that maybe they might come out for something but that they stay there so where do the craft market benefits what are the taxable what are the little peanut lady benefit you know it's so when you talk about tourism and you want to do this privatized up to resume how does it help the people then you can start privatizing the beaches and telling the people

they can even go on the beach their beaches like they do in jamaica so we have a lot to do to gambia this is a new gambit let's not allow old time thinking and green now do we're supposed to do to make sure the youth of the 1st priority ok i want to do something to do said earlier which is that the people participating in these illegal activities are not gambians and i just want to clarify it's true or not you know they are gambians and a matter of fact it's only maybe between maybe the 1015 years that we've had an influx of selling in liberia's and nigerians what about the bomb situation we've been having i live in the camp at our friends who got reasons overseas yours that maybe are so we're not doing that but i'm telling you everybody has been liberians gambians nigerians poverty is poverty it's not about where you come from it's about trying to survive and everybody's trying to survive it doesn't matter what country you come from if you look at the minimum wage like $25.00 a month. or in every family i have minimum of 4 kids. you live over $25.00

a month so you come to a place like. i don't want people in the richest boat is one of the movies where people come here but you have to mind when you look at me as an artist when you look at the creative space in the gambia for entertainment this is the only place outside of tourism this is one of our only places that we have if i want to go to a regular party around if i want to go to a club is around this area this is not a centralized this is the only place that you have so if you come here once twice 3 times for different types you meet different people who are trying to meet people like you do automatically but maybe if gambia had like. that were meant for tourism more places for people to entertain themselves without coming here because example as a young person i don't like coming here. i get harassed i've got to show my id maybe . i thought i can't can someone explain well selig i'm going straight we've been talking about this for a while this is a strip and it's very famous with tourists and as we've had locals as well but one of the interesting things is at the top of the road there's

a checkpoint at the bottom as well why why why is it i think the last time i came here when my friend i was i almost get got mad because i felt like why is this happening but i understand that they're trying to put some regulator imagines you so that because this place is dominated by tourists and so they want to put a lot of protection on it but also because of that some of the gambian also are also deprived deprived from access in the places we look at especially when it's tourism season so what i just want to say when to say and rather my own part. is that we have a lot of potential like the one time we had this discussion about promoting arts and culture in the country i think the government has to be able to invest a lot in young people's potential just so that we can be able to prevent all these vices that comes with being unemployed this is the main reason why you will find grown up girls who are enough to be walking in certain places you will find them sitting in sending gambia and also goes to other young people as well so if we start investing in young people and believed. i'm sure we have

a lot more that we can be victims of sex tourism well that's far too little leaves in just much she actually has to rush to the airport so if you don't see her again that's why i'm where you understand the to work at the craft market which is just behind here i can you tell me how tourism has changed your life to look. a lot positively. like the coffee market here. but what happens in the low season like now low season being when it's summertime in the north and hemisphere what happens to your businesses and does the government come into question you. it is well that of the business nor of any killer is i want to come back to you because we're talking about the benefits no one can see how this whole strip is lined with restaurants bars but who owns them actually let me start with you you're

a waitress you've been working in the industry for about 3 years have the owners been gambian or have they been foreign most of dems are foreign. and because i don't do many gambians want to invest in their country but due to lack of finance to do it so most of the people on this business are foreigners ok yeah so again we're in strictly benefitting the real owners of foreigners is there gentrification happening here well to be honest some partially but then remember we used to live in a dictatorship and a lot of investors who could have really invested i know a lot of wealthy gangrenous who could actually buy this whole place up you know but a lot of people fear to invest because of the investment environment here in the gambia you could come and create something major and the president would just take it from you know saying i think that also led to one of the main reasons why you know. a lot of gamblers don't on the other side though as far as participating in the tourism you have to understand regardless of the benefits. and you look at

it from the top of the food chain to the bottom of the food chain who benefits the most it's these hotels that benefit the most you know and the top of the list they charge at high rates they come here and the all inclusive packages the benefits that the gambian which are the tips that you would get you know from or not inclusive package she would get a form of package and then to even the work conditions of these by these foreigners cause i went to a lot of shops where i've seen gambians who work as the waitresses and waiters but they have low salaries you know they have poor conditions they get treated like nothing they can't protest today working conditions let's ask the people who are actually in it to you're seeing sure every time this is can you give me an example through thing. we walk in ask features and at the same patterns will be inside he she can see the wind in the key can there be a place it's should be at least have a ventilation but they are just like you not even have it the place will be hot

he'll be doing i would be sweating yet with more money and it's always less just to give you an idea the gambia is truly hot and humid you can see how much i'm sweating so to work in a kitchen without ventilation must be truly difficult this is also sound familiar to you yes of course it's true because i went. during the season we have a whole lot of cells which. money germs of the owner of the rats which can increase mental injuries every 2 which in at least it will help because we're the way to. that. of the owners of the. salaries we cringe because they have ourselves which you know. at least. was not in. ok so let me go to mr porter in here because we're hearing that yes the industry is hiring a lot of gambians but the conditions are not great the money is not enough is there any regulation from the ministry. of answer to the minister with the minimum wage

for for for people working in the industry is something that we find here is the law. if you're asking people to pay $1500.00 to a waiter they will go for it what is that in donna $1500.00. something like that i'm not very good at march so if you if you actually are tell people to pay 1500 as a basic salary then you're encouraging them to employ people who are not skilled and this is the problem with in the industry so i said to the minister and i proposed i jokingly said if i actually was the minister for tourism and everybody laughed this is what i'm going to do i'm going to put the minimum wage for tourism employees i went to for $7000.00. that would have. done so that would actually like any. well he's. being accused of complaining yeah so yeah yeah yeah i mean is that would keep me from my opinion every hears about it ok i was there i was in the forum and i can attest to that but like really disappointed with my.

you know you just what i was trying to tell my broader start you know don't wait for people to create a gun do you have it take you out of iraq don't you don't you. know what i'm saying is that you can be doing gigs across the country i once told one artist playing loud and he was my point tell me what i told trying to learn his my contemporaries that's how you can. go to school. with the schools what you are seeing the negative things that you are seeing here try to visualize in your communities you have the. gumby and most of the governors are lame ducks ok so. far you need to allow me to do my job so let me let me allow you to respond in the i'm going to come back to you know what he was saying i want to go back to the discrimination and the profiling which happens to a lot of young gambian ghetto youth that's something that i've experienced i'm not

it's not allegations but you know the automatic response would be that was a different generation this is a new a new working on this new generation within like like a couple of months ago the same thing happened you seem like you are judged based on your appearance whether you are somebody who's worth of being in this place you feel what i'm saying while a person like me might come like 20 stacks in my pocket but you know i'm humble you will get judged and discriminated for being a typical guy who are the majority here who follow the white people where my interest is probably to go to a spark come with a car all the time not once not twice not 3 times and then you see people who really just passed moving nothing happens and i feel like that's insult to me are you saying that foreigners and tourists are treated better than. damn i can't have a better. go argument about that now why do we agree at the back then would you agree with me. coming back to me as my response as an artist i use my voice in response to what i meant was same to address those situations because those are all

part of and forms of social injustice yeah but you know we heard from you so he's saying that you also have a responsibility to. say that most game is a lame dogs i disagree with that it is most gambian private citizens i have done what we've done to gambia and have gambia where it is because government has not been doing well yet the hotels the brand new all tells a young gambians the majlis fall of the high tier johnny who was building the hotel bill in the club me myself i have nothing thousands of thousands of dollars he bring international arms are brought about which the spice of bargain your cali i just did miss lamb gambia glam pageant just the other day we're constantly using our own personal life to develop projects and programs for young people in this country who do trains i have a foundation where i do you believe issue before forming our strength for young people 12 to 18 so don't tell us that young danny said i don't want to take our money turn the cameras overseas in their minds here monthly that was a for them can be and people will be thinking so the government you have

a lot of work to do because you're not doing what you. want to bring this to a close and look for solutions because i think it's important looking forward so we're seeing there is a problem with the tourism industry and we've addressed some of those concerns but we're also seeing that these benefits clear benefits so moving forward how do we create a balance so that the gander is not swallowed by the negative effects of tourism and i'd like to hear from you mr slim. could be drawn through as i only said because we're responsible to disney and try to build it because. people who are working in the industry and government enforced. you know. i have to question because our batteries are running out so i want to hear from you very quickly well i think the government 1st of all should make sure that all of the money that is generated. or not goes back to the people so that the people will be poor enough to always come back here and be exploited one and also for the

government to work on all year round tours and i believe that there's more opportunities and there's more ways to fix that we're facing with a population of a movement of young people were well informed i think we can do anything not just wasn't well so the gambia is where we are a country named after a river and one that has had a very checkered history but clearly based on what we've heard here there is a long way to go and young people have the solutions thank you for watching.

thank you i fly fly out west the same keep us all. the clubs with the most trust the best players. just keep on with the bus happened the fair play fun and exciting the booking we say foot.

the bill came to dublin. welcome to the what is the game here for doug. to talk about a. phrase that's a little. more. loosely. small scale in small or big changes the people making it possible eco africa. fantastic right tried that as they set out to safe environments. to learn from one another and work together for a church. cooking for. w. earth

a home for saving the global energy goes tell stories of creative people and innovative projects around the world ideas to protect the climate and boost green energy solutions by global ideas be in by a series of global 3000 on d w and online. natural riches of precious resources. and a room warning investment. farmland because ethiopia's green of. the country has enough money to supply leases it to international her children. the government sector high export her corporations high profit margins. but not everyone benefits from the bombing business. players play fundamental destruction starvation. player selling out of

a country. starts to turn her 18th on d.w. . play play. play. play play play. this is d w news live from berlin violence returns to the streets of hong kong after pro-democracy demonstrators define a police band to march through the city police fired water cannon and tear gas as some radical protesters threw rocks and petrol bombs thank you china of a negative on a deal led to safeguard the island's freedoms. also coming up drone attacks for

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