C S E C The Commercial Sexual
Exploitation of Children In the early years of the 21st Century, 2000 to
2025 gvnet.com/childprostitution/Paraguay.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. ***
FEATURED ARTICLE *** Triple Border Project, International Labour
Organisation ILO Office for At one time this
article had been archived and may possibly still be accessible [here] [accessed 17
September 2011] PERSONAL STORY MABELIA - Mabelia is 10 years old. On November 30, 2002, she was found by a merchant from Ciudad del Este on Adraina Jara y Pampliega street. It was approximately 9:00 p.m. when she was found in, what is perhaps, one of the most frequented corners of the centre of Ciudad del Este, Paraguay. She was very dirty.
Dressed in pants and a pullover, and wearing Japanese-style slippers, when
she was found she had about 12 USD (80.000 Gs, Guaraníes) in her pockets, a product of her 'sexual
activity'. It had been 48 hours since she had returned to her mother's home,
but she feared going back, since she had not met the goal that had been
established by her mother, Doña Maria. At the Courthouse,
the young girl told the judge that the money found in her pockets was the
fruit of her 'sexual work'. She explained that, encouraged by her mother, she
would leave her house in the morning and sometimes would cross the Puente de
la Amistad ( ***
ARCHIVES *** ECPAT Country
Monitoring Report [PDF] Luna Nueva, ECPAT
International, 2014 www.ecpat.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/CMR_PARAGUAY_FINAL.pdf [accessed 6
September 2020] [SPANISH] Desk review of
existing information on the sexual exploitation of children (SEC) in
Paraguay. 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/paraguay/ [accessed 6
September 2020] SEXUAL
EXPLOITATION OF CHILDREN - According to the Ministry of Children and Youth,
child trafficking for the purpose of commercial sexual exploitation or forced
domestic servitude remained problematic. The law provides penalties of up to
eight years of imprisonment for persons responsible for pimping or brokering
victims younger than 17 years of age. The minimum age of consent
is 14 when married and 16 when not married. The law sets the penalty for
sexual abuse in cases involving violence or intercourse to at least 15 years
in prison if the victim is younger than 18, and to 20 years in prison if the
victim is younger than 10. The penal code also provides for fines or up to
three years in prison for the production, distribution, and possession of
pornography involving children or adolescents younger than 18. Authorities
can increase this penalty to 10 years in prison depending on the age of the
child and the child’s relationship to the abuser. The law prohibits the
publication of names, images, or audios of underage sexual abuse victims or
witnesses and stipulates fines and one year in prison for offenders. In the first 10 months
of the year, the Prosecutor’s Office received thousands of reports of sexual
abuse against children. In September a prosecutor with the Attorney General’s
Office indicted 13 navy officers who had sexually abused a 13-year-old girl
at a navy garrison in 2018. 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 6
September 2020] Note:: Also check out this country’s report in the more recent edition DOL
Worst Forms of Child Labor [page 948] Criadazgo, a practice in
which middle-class and wealthy families informally employ and house child domestic
workers from impoverished families, is pervasive in Paraguay; the 2011
National Survey of Child and Adolescent Activities estimated that more than
46,000 children were engaged in criadazgo. Many of
these children are in situations of domestic servitude, subjected to violence
and abuse, and highly vulnerable to sex trafficking. (2,4,11,17,30,31)
Children are subjected to commercial sexual exploitation in Ciudad del Este;
in the Tri-Border area between Paraguay, Argentina and Brazil; and along
commercial shipping routes on the Paraguay River. (3,7,25,31) Concluding
Observations of the Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC) UN Convention on the
Rights of the Child, 12 October 2001 www1.umn.edu/humanrts/crc/paraguay2001.html [accessed 16
December 2010] [49] The Committee
expresses its deep concern that, with regard to the increasing phenomenon of
commercial sexual exploitation of children, there are no data available,
legislation is inadequate, cases involving sexually exploited children are
often not investigated and prosecuted, victims are criminalized, and
rehabilitation programs are not available. It further notes that a national
plan against commercial sexual exploitation of children has not been
developed. Success Stories The Global Fund for
Children, Asunción At one time this
article had been archived and may possibly still be accessible [here] [accessed 3 July
2011] CYNTHIA - Although
technically in the state’s care, Cynthia was free to roam the streets. She
began using drugs and turned to small-time robberies and occasional
prostitution to survive. “My life was drugs and fighting,” she recalls, but
under her tough demeanor, Cynthia desperately wanted change. 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 – Report
by Special Rapporteur [DOC] UN Economic and
Social Council Commission on Human Rights, Fifty-ninth session, 6 January
2003 www.unhchr.ch/Huridocda/Huridoca.nsf/0/217511d4440fc9d6c1256cda003c3a00/$FILE/G0310090.doc [accessed 3 July
2011] [59] The Penal Code
criminalizes the use of children in prostitution, but does not directly
penalize the sale, traffic or use of children in pornography. In
legal proceedings concerning child pornography, cases have been referred
under article 135 of the Penal Code, which addresses sexual abuse of children. Children
will only incur criminal responsibility for their involvement in these
offences where they are the author, and not as the
victim. Children under the age of 14 do not incur legal
responsibility. Following the commitments made during the Yokohama
Congress, a National Plan of Action for the Elimination of Sexual
Exploitation is being elaborated. Xinhua News Agency,
April 03, 2005 english.people.com.cn/200504/03/eng20050403_179249.html [accessed 3 July
2011] Paraguay, on its
part, has committed itself to cooperating in fighting illicit activities such
as smuggling of goods, tax evasion, drug trafficking, piracy, money
laundering and child prostitution. Concluding
Comments - Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women UN Convention on the
Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women CEDAW, 28-01-2005 sim.law.uu.nl/SIM/CaseLaw/uncom.nsf/0/aaffeae32aca218bc1256fd90045e107?OpenDocument [accessed 3 July
2011] [28] While
appreciating the State party's efforts to address the issue of trafficking in
women and girls, including the ratification of the United Nations Convention
against Transnational Organized Crime in 2003 and its Protocol to Prevent,
Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children, in
2004, and the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child
on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography in 2003,
and the establishment of an inter-agency board including representatives from
the civil society to combat trafficking, the Committee is concerned that
domestic legislation has not been put in place in line with those instruments
and that provisions on sexual exploitation and trafficking of girls and boys
are absent in the Childhood and Adolescence Code. It also expresses concern
about the lack of a comprehensive plan to prevent and eliminate trafficking
of women and to protect victims as well as the lack of systematic data
collection on this phenomenon. Frequently Asked
Questions about CSEC ECPAT International At one time this
article had been archived and may possibly still be accessible [here] [accessed 3 July
2011] Immigration
controls at the Regional
Governmental Congress on Sexual Exploitation of Children [PDF] Dr. Carlos Alberto Arestivo, Dept of Social
Action, Republic of Paraguay, Government Report on Sexual Exploitation www.iin.oas.org/Congreso%20Explotation%20Sexual/Paraguay_ing.PDF [accessed 19
November 2016] ***
EARLIER EDITIONS OF SOME OF THE ABOVE *** The Department of Labor’s 2004 Findings on
the Worst Forms of Child Labor www.dol.gov/ilab/media/reports/iclp/tda2004/paraguay.htm [accessed 16
December 2010] 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 - Human Rights
Reports » 2005 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices 2009-2017.state.gov/j/drl/rls/hrrpt/2005/61737.htm [accessed 10 February
2020] CHILDREN
-
Sexual exploitation of children also was a problem. UNICEF reported that
two-thirds of sex industry workers were minors, the majority of whom began
working between the ages of 12 and 13. In addition, UNICEF reported there
were more than 40 thousand criadas (domestic
servants) between the ages of 6 and 12, who were often sexually exploited as
well. In November the government's Municipal Advisory Council on the Rights
of Children and Adolescents reported that 35 percent of street children in
Ciudad del Este had been victims of sexual exploitation, in many cases with
the full knowledge of their parents. Human Rights
Reports » 2002 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices 2009-2017.state.gov/j/drl/rls/hrrpt/2002/18341.htm [accessed 3 April
2020] Prostitution by
adults is not illegal, and exploitation of women, especially teenage
prostitutes, remained a serious problem.
National daily newspaper Noticias ran a
series of features in September and October chronicling child prostitution in
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