Child Sex Offenders to be Identified in US Passports

Convicted child sex offenders will be named as such on their U.S. passports said the State Department on Wednesday.

The passports of child sex offenders will contain a unique identifier that consists of a notice on the back cover of the book that reads “The bearer was convicted of a sex offense against a minor, and is a covered sex offender pursuant to (U.S. law).”

The department said it would begin revoking the passports of registered child sex offenders. They will be required to obtain a new passport with the identifier in order to travel abroad.

Those applying for the first time will not be issued passports without the identifier.

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The new policy is in response to the International Megan’s Law, enacted to curb child exploitation and child sex tourism. The law prohibits the issuance of passports to child sex offenders without a unique identifier. It is named for Megan Kanka, a 7-year-old girl who was murdered by a convicted child sex offender in 1994.

Those affected by the new law will be notified by the State Department once it receives the names from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement at the Department of Homeland Security.

Governments and police organizations from around the globe have joined together to combat the issue of the global sex trade as well as the problems of sex tourism. The State Department estimates that 1 million children per year are driven into the global sex trade.

Many governments deal with the problem in different ways, but the end result is that it is becoming more difficult for the perpetrators of these crimes to move about the world.

In Australia, the government has announced plans to ban convicted pedophiles from traveling overseas.

“There will be new legislation which will make Australia a world leader in protecting vulnerable children in our region from child sex tourism,” Australian foreign minister Julie Bishop told The AP.

Many hotel and airport staff members are receiving training in how to recognize incidents of human trafficking. One victim is pushing New York City for legislation requiring signage that explains sex trafficking to and requires employees receive training.

An app called TraffickCam has been developed that creates a database of hotel rooms that police can be used to locate victims.