The rape and abduction of three young girls in Denpasar last week throw into bitter relief the fate of at least 40,000 other Indonesian children currently being sexually exploited across the country.

These children survive in society's dank crevices where adults trade children's innocence for financial gain and perverted lust.

The Denpasar children were abducted on their way home from evening prayers at their local mosque. The victims, a 15-year-old, a 7-year-old, whose vagina and uterus sustained horrific injuries in the brutal rape, and a 10-year-old who was almost strangled to death, were hospitalized and will be returned to their grief-stricken families, according to Sri Wahyuni from the Bali chapter of Indonesian Commission for Child Protection (KPAID Bali).

Deep wounds to the body and spirit of these children will be gently nursed, they will be caringly counselled and watched over, probably for years to come. The other 40,000 to 70,000 children, across the archipelago sold or coerced into the commercial sex industry, survive outside this care.

While pedophiles who abuse these children are generally male, dealers or procurers for the child sex trade are often women: One document, Data Korban Trafficking Pusaka Indonesia 2007, lists names of perpetrators such as Nana and Boy, or Dewi and Rita, who promise vulnerable teenage girls work as domestics overseas or in Indonesia's large cities. The girls are often sold instead as sex slaves.

The scale of this human tragedy is founded on greed; the trafficking industry's earnings were around US$2.3 billion in 2005 alone - with numbers of trafficked people on the rise that profit grows fatter every year. According to a report The Securitization of Human Trafficking in Indonesia, by Rizal Sukma of the Centre for Strategic and International Studies, Jakarta, (CSIS) earnings from human trafficking in 2005 far outstripped profits from drug trafficking that netted around US$1 billion that year.

UNICEF data suggests 30 percent of prostitutes across the country are under 18 years of age and that 40,000 to 70,000 Indonesian children are victims of sexual exploitation.

"Data from ECPAT International *End Child Prostitution, Child Pornography and Trafficking of Children for Sexual Purposes* suggests that number could be as high as 150,000 children working in the commercial sex industry in Indonesia," says SOS Children's Villages National Director, Gregor Nitihardjo, during a telephone interview.

He adds the numbers of victims is increasing annually as pedophiles and human traffickers have access to virtually unlimited funds, while the budgets of law enforcement agencies are already overstretched.

"This is an international organization. They *pedophiles and traffickers* are very professional. They are in some ways more organized than the police or government because they are focused on one thing only," says Gregor.

Trafficking and sexual assault of children is a nation wide issue, according to Gregor, with "big holes" in the nation's borders allowing easy transfer of children and women out of the country.

"There are several main exit points including West Java, West and East Kalimantan and Riau. It's easy to get these people out and into other countries; there are big holes in the borders. There is one house that actually straddles the Malaysian-Indonesian border," says Gregor of the difficulty in patrolling the archipelago's borders.

According to Sri of KPAID Bali, raising public awareness of the issue goes a long way in reducing risk of children's abduction or coercion into pedophile rings or trafficking.

"We try to help parents and communities understand that they must not give their children away for money; not make it easy to go out with strangers, whether Indonesian or foreigners, " says Sri whose Bali office has annual operating funds of just $5,500.

She explains poor families are vulnerable to pedophile and trafficking groups; they want to believe these people's offer of schooling, shoes or books is genuine. They are unaware, she says, their children may instead become the victims of adult rape.

"Parents and communities need to teach their kids to stay away from strangers, don't let them go to Kuta or Lovina, don't accept gifts from strangers, especially on the way home from school," says Sri.

Raising social awareness about this issue is fundamental. Bali, in the nation's south, and Batam off Singapore are seen as Indonesia's sex tourism capitals with children trafficked between Lombok and Bali and from West Java, Riau and Kalimantan to Batam.

According to ECPAT International, which sourced its data from the Ministry for Culture and Tourism, there were more than 13,703 child victims of sexual exploitation between 1972 and 2008, in 40 villages located across six provinces, namely: Bali, West Nusa Tenggara, Central Java, Riau Islands, West Java and East Java.

The data compiled shows child trafficking for sexual purposes - both child prostitution and pornography - is mostly found in Semarang (Central Java) and Indramayu (West Java). Meanwhile, child victims of sexual abuse and prostitution are found evenly in the provinces. Bali and West Nusa Tenggara are also stated as tourist destinations, where many children are targets of sexual exploitation," says the ECPAT website's report.

Pedophile gangs are again on the rise in Bali, according to veteran champion of child protection, Luh Ketut Suryani of CASA (Committee Against Sexual Abuse). "Currently we have a lot of pedophiles active in Buleleng and Karangasem.

This is because these are poor areas that are remote. There are seven new cases to investigate also in Singaraja and we have three adults under observation in Kubu and another group also under observation," said Suryani.

Kuta and Double 6 beach is another danger zone for children, according to Sri and Dr Suryani, but street children everywhere are at risk.

"There are organized rings of pedophiles. In Kuta, a lot of pedophiles come as tourists and believe they are free to take the children.Pedophilia is a growth industry, not only from foreigners but also from Indonesians," says Suryani whose organization CASA has counselled hundreds of victims over the years.

Department head of Denpasar city police, Made Mundra, says "there are a lot of cases of pedophilia across Bali. It is happening in Denpasar, Karangasem, Buleleng and Kuta, but getting the kids to speak is very difficult; they are afraid and embarrassed to speak openly about what has been done to them," says Mundra.

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