C S E C The Commercial Sexual
Exploitation of Children In the early years of the 21st Century, 2000 to
2025 gvnet.com/childprostitution/CostaRica.htm
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CAUTION: The following links
and accompanying text have been culled from the web to illuminate the
situation in HOW TO USE THIS WEBPAGE Students If you are looking for
material to use in a term-paper, you are advised to scan the postings on this
page and others to see which aspects of child prostitution are of particular
interest to you. You might be
interested in exploring how children got started, how they survive, and how
some succeed in leaving. Perhaps your
paper could focus on runaways and the abuse that led to their leaving. Other factors of interest might be poverty,
rejection, drug dependence, coercion, violence, addiction, hunger, neglect,
etc. On the other hand, you might
choose to write about the manipulative and dangerous adults who control this
activity. There is a lot to the
subject of Child Prostitution. Scan
other countries as well as this one.
Draw comparisons between activity in adjacent countries and/or
regions. Meanwhile, check out some of
the Term-Paper
resources that are available on-line. Teachers Check out some of
the Resources
for Teachers attached to this website. HELP for Victims Judicial Investigation Organization ***
FEATURED ARTICLE *** Innocence for Tamar Hahn, Mother
Jones, Oct. 10, 2000 motherjones.com/politics/2000/10/innocence-sale [accessed 5 May
2011] Every evening at 6
p.m. she walks out into the streets of ***
ARCHIVES *** ECPAT Country
Monitoring Report [PDF] ECPAT International,
2014 www.ecpat.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/CRM_COSTA%20RICA_FINAL.pdf [accessed 26 August
2020] [SPANISH] Desk review of existing
information on the sexual exploitation of children (SEC) in Costa Rica. The
report looks at protection mechanisms, responses, preventive measures, child
and youth participation in fighting SEC, and makes recommendations for action
against SEC. Human
Rights Reports » 2019 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices U.S. Dept of State Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and
Labor, March 10, 2020 www.state.gov/reports/2019-country-reports-on-human-rights-practices/costa-rica/ [accessed 25 August
2020] SEXUAL
EXPLOITATION OF CHILDREN - The minimum age of consensual sex is 18 years. The law
criminalizes the commercial sexual exploitation of children and provides
sentences of up to 16 years in prison for violations. The law provides for
sentences of two to 10 years in prison for statutory rape and three to eight
years in prison for child pornography. The country was a destination for
child sex tourism. 2018 Findings on
the Worst Forms of Child Labor Office of Child
Labor, Forced Labor, and Human Trafficking, Bureau of International Labor
Affairs, US Dept of Labor, 2019 www.dol.gov/sites/dolgov/files/ILAB/child_labor_reports/tda2018/ChildLaborReportBook.pdf [accessed 22 August
2020] Note:: Also check out this country’s report in the more recent edition DOL
Worst Forms of Child Labor [page 403] The Ministry of
Labor’s Office for the Eradication of Child Labor and Protection of the Adolescent
Worker (OATIA) noted that working children in Costa Rica are employed in
agriculture, fishing, construction, and the informal sector. Children in
Costa Rica, including migrant children, are also subjected to commercial
sexual exploitation, sometimes as a result of human trafficking, particularly
in tourist destinations and border areas. (5-7,27) In 2018, the National
Child Welfare Agency identified 43 minors in situations of commercial sexual
exploitation, and an additional 4 minors were identified as victims of human
trafficking and labor exploitation. (1) Migrant children, typically from
Nicaragua, are subjected to forced labor in agriculture, domestic servitude,
and commercial sexual exploitation. (27) Although seven
individuals were convicted in 2018 for crimes involving the worst forms of
child labor, which including two cases of human trafficking for the
commercial sexual exploitation of children and one case of human trafficking
of a child for labor exploitation research could not identify the complete
number of investigations, prosecutions, and convictions related to violations
of the worst forms of child labor (42) The Prosecutorial Trafficking and
Smuggling Unit also reported 11 child trafficking investigations, 13 child
trafficking violations, and 2 prosecutions and convictions for alleged child
labor crimes in 2018. (1) Costa Rica increased its number of investigations
into cases involving sexual relations with minors and remunerated sex with a
minor, and provided more complete data on both of these crimes. In 2018, 22
individuals were sentenced for each of these crimes, but it was not clear how
many of these cases involved child commercial sexual exploitation.
(27)Reports indicate that the judiciary, prosecutors, and the police require additional
staff, training, and resources to identify victims of human trafficking and
commercial sexual exploitation, refer victims to appropriate social services,
and investigate, prosecute, and convict perpetrators. (6,27,48)
Costa Rica also lacks a database to track human trafficking cases, making it
difficult to target enforcement and prevention efforts. (27) Concluding
Observations of the Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC) UN Convention on the
Rights of the Child, 3 June 2005 www1.umn.edu/humanrts/crc/costarica2005.html [accessed 30 January
2011] [49] The Committee
welcomes the ratification by the State Party of the Optional Protocol to the Convention
on the Rights of the Child on the sale of children, child prostitution and
child pornography, as well as the measures taken by the State Party to
prevent and combat sexual abuse and exploitation of children. The Committee
further welcomes the inclusive participation of Non-Governmental
organizations in this process and the development of a National Plan against
Sexual Exploitation of Children and Adolescents (2001). The Committee also
welcomes the direct initiatives in cooperation with hotels and the travel
industry to combat sex tourism. However, the Committee remains concerned at
the low level of coordination among institutions, the lack of assistance
available for victims of sexual exploitation, as well as information received
by the Committee whereby the number of children victims of sexual
exploitation might be increasing, in particular among street children. Reuters, July 19,
2007 tiquicia-cr.blogspot.com/2007/07/costa-rica-toughens-sexual-exploitation.html [accessed 5 May
2011] The reformed laws ban
possession of child pornography for the first time and make sex with children
under 13 punishable by up to 16 years in prison. Police say efforts
to crack down on child prostitution has driven it underground into the
control of criminal organizations. Five Years After ECPAT: Fifth Report
on implementation of the Agenda for Action ECPAT International,
November 2001 www.no-trafficking.org/content/web/05reading_rooms/five_years_after_stockholm.pdf [accessed 13
September 2011] [B] COUNTRY UPDATES
– Sordid
Child Sex Trade Booms in Costa Rica Glenn Garvin, www.mail-archive.com/pen-l@galaxy.csuchico.edu/msg35236.html [accessed 8 January
2015] Both kids dissolved
in giggles. Then the older one looks up, her face solemn. ''Thirty dollars
for my little sister, 15 for me," she says. Meet Stephanie, 12, and Ivette, 13, two
members of a fast-growing Costa Rican work force: child prostitutes. The girls say they've been working as
prostitutes for a year, since they were 11 and 12. Even then, they weren't the youngest on the
corner. That would be 9-year-old Iliana, who left home after being repeatedly
sexually molested by an uncle. Country Report - iAbolish, The American
Anti-Slavery Group At one time this
article had been archived and may possibly still be accessible [here] [accessed 5 May
2011] A VICTIM’S STORY - In 1999, several
underage Costa Rican girls testified to being lured to a party by The girls abused by
Baker and Kanev are certainly not alone. Costa Rica
hosts the fastest-growing network of sexual exploitation and trafficking of children
and the largest number of child prostitutes in Central America. UNICEF Works To
Eradicate Child Sexual Exploitation The At one time this
article had been archived and may possibly still be accessible [here] [accessed 5 May
2011] The studies
revealed that there are three types of factors that cause children to become
involved in sexual commercial exploitation: the environment of sexual
commerce; the family context; and their life histories, which make the
children vulnerable to mistreatment and victimization. In regards to the
environment, the presence of domestic abusers as well as foreign tourists
leads to three major types of intermediaries: bar and hotels owners, taxi
drivers, and pimps. It is important to educate people so as not to judge girls
too quickly, based on their appearance, as prostitutes. According to Ms.
Alfaro, this attitude and its side effects are important aspects in the
process. In regards to
family life, the primary factors in making children vulnerable to sexual
exploitation were poverty and family violence. Various risk factors come into
play, including: a record of previous sexual abuse, running away, staying on
the street, paternal neglect, abused mothers, and the consumption of drugs
and alcohol. According to
UNICEF-Costa Rica, child sexual commercial exploitation is considered to be a
severe violation of children and adolescents, and it is recognized as a national
problem that manifests itself through the sex trade, trafficking, and child
and adolescent pornography. Moreover, it must
be remembered that the boys, girls and adolescents engaged in prostitution
are always the victims and the fault lies with the adults who exploit
children. Child Prostitution:
A Growing Scourge W. E. Gutman, The www.thepanamanews.com/pn/v_10/issue_07/travel_01.html [accessed 5 May
2011] lab.org.uk/sex-tourism-threatens-central-americas-youth [accessed 4 November
2016] A REGION OUT OF
CONTROL - Costa Rica is fast rising as the hemispheric
capital of sex tourism. According to
Casa Alianza, more than 3,000 girls and young women
work in Child
Prostitution a Growing Problem Nefer Munoz, Inter Press
Service News Agency IPS, www.hartford-hwp.com/archives/47/333.html [accessed 5 May
2011] "Because in Prostitution
Is 'Dark Side of Tourism' Serge F. Kovaleski, The www.latinamericanstudies.org/costarica/prostitution.htm [accessed 5 May
2011] David, a stocky,
unkempt man who insisted that only his first name be used, boasted of how he
had arranged for one of the many taxi drivers connected with the sex trade to
bring a 13-year-old girl from her parents' home in a poor Casa Alianza / Covenant House, 10-13-2003 www.libertadlatina.org/Lat_Costa_Ricas_Principal_Madame_Arrested_10132003.htm [accessed 5 May
2011] Sinai Monge Munoz, 41, was arrested on Thursday evening after a
successful sting operation in the Hatillo 3 suburb
of the capital of Deaths
Force www.latinamericanstudies.org/costarica/badilla.htm [accessed 5 May 2011] But finally,
because hers was the second set of teen-prostitute body parts to appear along
Protection Project
- The www.protectionproject.org/human_rights_reports/report_documents/costa.doc [accessed 2009] FACTORS THAT
CONTRIBUTE TO THE TRAFFICKING INFRASTRUCTURE - Sex tourism:
Lessons learned in Philip Wright,
Producer, Child Rescuers, BBC News, 18 June, 2004 news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/this_world/3818871.stm [accessed 5 May
2011] Ordinary Costa
Ricans, from taxi drivers to hoteliers, are taking official tourism classes
as part of the country's latest attempt to stop the abuse of children by
international sex tourists. The Central
American holiday destination is sending thousands of tourism workers, from
hotel receptionists to tour guides, on training courses to get the message
across that it is not a good idea to help tourists find under-age girls for
sex. It is part of the Code of Conduct drawn up
by the industry and children's rights campaigners. Sex
Tourism Plagues Paul Jeffrey, United
Methodist Women UMW, Response gbgm-umc.org/response/articles/sextourism.html [accessed 5 May
2011] Street children who
used to sniff relatively inexpensive glue are now turning to crack, readily
available in the region as Central American military officials, no longer
living high on the hog from Child rights
advocate speaks at U.N. meeting on contemporary slavery www.marrder.com/htw/jun99/central.htm [accessed 5 May
2011] [article on the
right] .
"If you are an enterprising foreigner in Honduras, you can set up a bar
and offer little Honduran girls for sex to the other visiting tourists. Or in
Costa Rica, if you are a tourist, you can buy sex from little girls, but
often only in the morning as they have to go to primary school in the
afternoon," he added. In his
presentation, Harris described the worrisome boom of child sex tourism in
Costa Rica and Honduras, where more and more visitors are coming each year
exclusively to have sex with minors. Attacked by a complex network that
involves Internet sites, local hotels and bars, taxi drivers, and
"professional" pimps, numerous poor girls and boys -- as young as
10 years old -- are falling victims to those sex predators, as they find in
prostitution their only means of survival. Commercial Sexual
Exploitation Of Children (CSEC) James Varney, The
Times Picayune ( www.dol.gov/ILAB/media/reports/iclp/bulletin/Sept2002.htm [accessed 3 July
2011] [scroll down] "As they say
in this dingy border junction with Regional Governmental
Congress on Sexual Exploitation of Children [PDF] Ingrid Parras Jiménez, National Plan against Commercial Sexual
Exploitation of Children and Adolescents www.iin.oas.org/Congreso%20Explotation%20Sexual/COSTA_RICA_ing.PDF [accessed 19
November 2016] ***
EARLIER EDITIONS OF SOME OF THE ABOVE *** Human Rights
Reports » 2005 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices 2009-2017.state.gov/j/drl/rls/hrrpt/2005/61722.htm [accessed 7 February
2020] CHILDREN - The government,
security officials, and child advocacy organizations acknowledged that the
commercial sexual exploitation of children remained serious problems. PANI
estimated that three thousand children suffered from commercial sexual
exploitation and street children in the urban areas of Human Rights
Reports » 2004 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices 2009-2017.state.gov/j/drl/rls/hrrpt/2004/41755.htm [accessed 1 April
2020] CHILDREN - The Government,
security officials, and child advocacy organizations acknowledged that the
commercial sexual exploitation of children remained a serious problem. In 2003, the NGO Casa Alianza
estimated that of the approximately 1,500 children living on the street, 76
percent were addicted to drugs and 29 percent survived by prostitution. The Department of Labor’s 2004 Findings on
the Worst Forms of Child Labor www.dol.gov/ilab/media/reports/iclp/tda2004/costa-rica.htm [accessed 30 January
2011] Note:: Also check out this country’s report in the more recent edition DOL
Worst Forms of Child Labor INCIDENCE AND NATURE
OF CHILD LABOR
- The commercial sexual exploitation of children is a continuing problem in All
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