Human Trafficking in [Trinidad & Tobago] [other countries]Street Children in [Trinidad & Tobago] [other countries]Child Prostitution in [Trinidad &Tobago] [other countries] |
Child Prostitution The Commercial Sexual Exploitation of
Children In the early years of the 21st Century -
2000 to 2010 gvnet.com/childprostitution/Trinidad&Tobago.htm
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CAUTION: The following links and accompanying text have been culled
from the web to illuminate the situation in Trinidad & Tobago. Some of these links may lead to websites
that present allegations that are unsubstantiated, misleading or even
false. No attempt has been made to
validate their authenticity or to verify their content. ***
FEATURED ARTICLE *** Who Controls the Media and Crime? A. A. Hotep, Editorial, Trinidad
& Tobago News, April 24, 2005 www.trinidadandtobagonews.com/Editorial/240405.html [accessed 1 August 2011] The mainstream media only took up
the issue of street children after we broke the story here in 1996 by encouraging
the Mirror newspaper to publish interviews with some of the street children.
Before the story came out, people were condemning our claim that there even
are children who live on the streets. As soon as the mainstream press picked
up the story, they did exactly as the children predicted; they ran a
sensationalized story, resulting in the government rounding up a few street
children. In the government's view, picking up a few kids solved the problem.
The street children knew better, as they had already told me that was the
very reason they did not want the media taking up their plight. The children
felt they were better off living in the shadows of society, withstanding the
abuses that come with living in the streets. For anyone not familiar with how
truly gruesome it was for these children, consider six and seven year olds
being raped for fast food. One case I followed closely involved a wealthy
white male. He used to pick up a few children, taking them to his home for
sex. For this he would give them boxes of fried
chicken. One child, after having been brutally raped in a similar encounter,
was left for dead in the Queens Park Savannah. – sccp ***
ARCHIVES *** The Department of Labor’s 2006 Findings on the Worst Forms
of Child Labor [PDF] www.dol.gov/ilab/media/reports/tda/tda2006/Trinidad_and_Tobago.pdf [accessed 1 January
2011] INCIDENCE
AND NATURE OF CHILD LABOR - Children in CURRENT
GOVERNMENT POLICIES AND PROGRAMS TO ELIMINATE THE WORST FORMS OF CHILD LABOR - In August 2006, the Ministry of Social Development
published the Revised National Plan of Action for Children, which includes
specific goals for combating commercial sexual exploitation of children and
exploitive child labor. The National Steering Committee for the Prevention
and Elimination of Child Labor, with the advice and support of the ILO, is
participating in a project to withdraw and rehabilitate child laborers at two
landfill sites in Trinidad and Tobago. Human Rights Reports » 2008
Country Reports on Human Rights Practices www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/hrrpt/2008/wha/119175.htm [accessed 1 January
2011] SECTION 6
WORKER RIGHTS – [d]
The Ministry of Social Development continued to implement its Revised
National Plan of Action for Children, which includes specific goals for
combating commercial sexual exploitation of children and exploitive child
labor. The Protection Project - Trinidad
& The www.protectionproject.org/human_rights_reports/report_documents/trinidad.doc [accessed 2009] FORMS OF TRAFFICKING - Trafficking in women and
children for sexual exploitation is a growing concern in the entire Sex tourism is reportedly on the
rise in Trinidad and Tobago, and European and North American men are the main
sex tourists. Tourist agencies and unlisted guesthouses apparently run the
industry, by advertising package deals in magazines that include the costs of
buying a woman. Older men are known to
recruit children for prostitution and other forms of sexual exploitation, and
it has been reported that girls across all socioeconomic strata often
initiate sexual relationships with cab drivers in exchange for transportation
or other goods. Child labor is a problem in
Trinidad and Tobago. Exact numbers of children who are working in Trinidad
and Tobago do not exist; however, studies show that children on these islands
are working as beggars and street vendors and are involved in prostitution
and the drug trade. Report slams child prostitution Sean Douglas, Trinidad & Tabago's
Newsd@y, July 2 2007 www.newsday.co.tt/news/0,59824.html [accessed 1 August 2011] Child prostitution is growing in
Tobago, according to a report on the Police Service Commis-sion
(PSC) done by a parliamentary Joint Select Committee (JSC) which was laid
Friday in the House of Representatives.
Under the heading “Crime against the children of Tobago,” the report
lamented child abuse within families and child prostitution. However further discussion
revealed that social and professional intervention was required in addition
to enacted legislation.” The minutes included the JSC’s
recommendation that “the police initiate a programme
of patrolling the streets and malls to remove schoolchildren. Who Controls the Media and Crime? A. A. Hotep, Editorial, Trinidad
& Tobago News, April 24, 2005 www.trinidadandtobagonews.com/Editorial/240405.html [accessed 1 August 2011] The mainstream media only took up
the issue of street children after we broke the story here in 1996 by
encouraging the Mirror newspaper to publish interviews with some of the
street children. Before the story came out, people were condemning our claim
that there even are children who live on the streets. As soon as the
mainstream press picked up the story, they did exactly as the children
predicted; they ran a sensationalized story, resulting in the government
rounding up a few street children. In the government's view, picking up a few
kids solved the problem. The street children knew better, as they had already
told me that was the very reason they did not want the media taking up their
plight. The children felt they were better off living in the shadows of
society, withstanding the abuses that come with living in the streets. For anyone not familiar with how
truly gruesome it was for these children, consider six and seven year olds
being raped for fast food. One case I followed closely involved a wealthy
white male. He used to pick up a few children, taking them to his home for
sex. For this he would give them boxes of fried
chicken. One child, after having been brutally raped in a similar encounter,
was left for dead in the Queens Park Savannah. – sccp ei Barometer of Human and Trade
Union Rights in the Education Sector [PDF] Education International (www.ei-ie.org), [accessed 1 August 2011] [page
292] TRINIDAD AND
TOBAGO CHILD LABOUR - The minimum legal age for
workers is 12 years. Children from 12 to 14 years may work only in family
businesses. The enforcement of the child labour law is lax. Children are
often seen begging or working as street vendors. Some children are exploited
by criminal gangs to work as guards and couriers for drug trafficking. NGO
and ILO reports suggest that child prostitution has been a problem in recent
years. No cases were recorded by the police in 2002. The Republic no longer
sentences children to corporal punishment or to prison. Child offenders, aged
15 and older, are held at a youth training centre. Younger offenders are sent
to an industrial school. All material used herein
reproduced under the fair use exception of 17 USC § 107 for noncommercial,
nonprofit, and educational use. PLEASE
RESPECT COPYRIGHTS OF COMPONENT ARTICLES.
Cite this webpage as: Patt, Prof. Martin, "Child Prostitution –
Trinidad & |
Human Trafficking in [Trinidad & Tobago] [other countries]Street Children in [Trinidad & Tobago] [other countries]Child Prostitution in [Trinidad &Tobago] [other countries]