Human Trafficking in [Colombia Street Children in [Colombia] [other countries]Child Prostitution in [Colombia] [other countries] |
Human Trafficking & Modern-day Slavery Colombia [ Country-by-Country
Reports ] Colombia is one of the Western
Hemisphere’s major source countries for women and girls trafficked abroad for
purposes of commercial sexual exploitation and involuntary servitude.
Colombian women and girls are trafficked throughout Latin America, the Caribbean,
Western Europe, East Asia, the Middle East, and North America, including the
United States. Within Colombia, some men are trafficked for forced labor, but
trafficking of women and children from rural to urban areas for sexual
exploitation remains a larger problem. Groups at high risk for trafficking
include displaced persons and relatives of members of criminal organizations.
Internal armed violence in Colombia has displaced many communities, making
them vulnerable to trafficking, and insurgent and paramilitary groups
forcibly recruit and exploit children as combatants. Gangs and organized
criminal networks—some connected to terrorist organizations—force relatives,
acquaintances, and displaced persons, typically women and children, into
conditions of commercial sexual exploitation and compulsory labor, including
forced begging and servitude in the illegal drug trade. Migrants from South
America and China transit Colombia en route to Europe and the United States;
some are reported to be trafficking victims. Colombia also is a limited
destination for sex tourism, particularly in coastal cities such as Cartagena and Barranquilla. - U.S. State
Dept Trafficking in Persons Report, June, 2007 [full
country report] CAUTION: The following links have been culled from the web to
illuminate the situation in ***
FEATURED ARTICLE *** Colombia: Newfangled Human Trafficking Colombia harbors new ways of human trafficking involving young children, body parts, labor exploitation and recruitment for the domestic armed conflict. Adriana Ruiz, coordinator of the UN anti-Trafficking Project, added that human trafficking now joins traditional trafficking of women for sex slavery in Europe and Asia. Although she lacked precise numbers, Ms. Ruiz denounced theft of babies and a worrying traffic of organs like ovaries and ovules, as well as labor exploitation via domestic service. *** ARCHIVES
*** U.S.
Dept of Labor Bureau of International Labor Affairs INCIDENCE
AND NATURE OF CHILD LABOR - Bur of Democracy,
Human Rights & Labor - Country
Reports on Human Rights Practices - 2005 CHILDREN
– Although the law
prohibits service in the public security forces before age 18, both
paramilitaries and guerrillas forcibly recruited and used children as
soldiers. The IOM estimated that since 1999 it assisted 2,426 children in the
country who had been members of illegal armed groups. The Ministry of Defense
estimated that 20 percent of FARC members were
minors and that most guerrilla fighters had joined the FARC
ranks as children. TRAFFICKING
IN PERSONS – Many
traffickers disclosed the sexual nature of the work they offered but
concealed information about working conditions, clientele, freedom of
movement, and compensation. Others disguised their intent by portraying
themselves as modeling agents, offering marriage brokerage services, or
operating lottery or bingo scams with free trips as prizes. Recruiters
reportedly loitered outside high schools, shopping malls, and parks to lure
adolescents into accepting nonexistent jobs abroad. Most traffickers were
well-organized and linked to narcotics or other criminal organizations. The
armed conflict created situations of vulnerability for a large number of
internal trafficking victims. Concluding
Observations of the Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC) - 2000 [69] While the Committee takes
note of the State party's efforts to combat the trafficking and sale of
children, it remains concerned about the lack of adequate preventive measures
in this area. Colombia: Newfangled Human Trafficking Colombia harbors new ways of human
trafficking involving young children, body parts, labor exploitation and
recruitment for the domestic armed conflict.
Adriana Ruiz, coordinator of the UN anti-Trafficking Project, added
that human trafficking now joins traditional trafficking of women for sex
slavery in Europe and Asia. Although
she lacked precise numbers, Ms. Ruiz denounced theft of babies and a worrying
traffic of organs like ovaries and ovules, as well as labor exploitation via
domestic service. 4,000 Colombianas? That's sickening REPORT: JAPAN SEX INDUSTRY ENSNARES
LATIN WOMEN - When
she arrived she was raped by all three men and sold to a Yakuza organized
crime boss, who branded her across the chest with a 6-inch (15-centimeter)
rose tattoo. He forced her to provide sexual services to up to 40 clients a
day, she said. The Protection Project - Colombia [DOC] FORMS OF TRAFFICKING - As of November 2003, more than
70 Colombian women claiming to be victims of trafficking had sought refuge at
the Colombian embassy in Japan. The embassy started receiving calls from
trafficked women in 1997. Many Colombian women from the countryside seek jobs
in cities, where they are then solicited to go to Japan. One Colombian woman
was assured by her potential manager at a nightclub in Japan that she would
not be forced to work in prostitution. Instead, she was sold to a strip club
in Nishi-Kawaguchi, where she worked 12 hours a day. Some 567,000 minors from 6 to 18
years of age work in Colombia, 323,000 of them in the domestic service
industry. Of these children, 87 percent are girls. Young women from rural
areas leave for provincial capitals with offers of good jobs as domestic
workers. Often, actual working conditions are much worse than those promised
to them. They are subjected to sexual, physical, and psychological abuse and
receive only a portion of the wages promised them. Freedom
House Country Report - Political Rights: 3 Civil Liberties: 3 Status: Partly Free Human Rights Overview by Human
Rights Watch – Defending Human Rights Worldwide U.S. Library of Congress
- Country Study Colombia,
Japan to tackle trafficking The Japanese and Colombian
governments have agreed on a series of steps aimed at preventing human
trafficking and providing support to sex-trade victims. The officials explained to their
Colombian counterparts about Japan's new policy of treating women duped into
exploitation as victims to protect. The women will be allowed to stay in
shelters for an extended period of time rather than be subject to immediate
deportation. In turn, the Colombian government
has promised to step up control on passport forgeries, according to the
officials. Colombia will also make
efforts to publicize that victims of human trafficking in Japan, if they seek
help from police, will be placed under protection. Colombia will also take measures to improve
mental care provided to victims when they return to Colombia, according to
the officials. Japan
urged to stamp put trafficking in women "I was told there was a job
at a beauty salon. But when I arrived in Japan, I was taken to a strip joint
and confined in a second-floor room," said the woman in a vivid
description of her treatment.
"Then they demanded I return 5 million yen in travel expenses and
I was forced to work as a prostitute.
"A Japanese broker took pictures of me naked and said he would
kill my family if I ran away. He kept punching me until I was left covered in
bruises," the woman went on to say.
This woman ran into the Colombian Embassy in May last year, seeking
protection after running away from her captors. According to the embassy, more than 70 such
women have sought refuge at the embassy. Japan, the
Mecca for Trafficking in Colombian Women [PDF] "A dangerous network of
trafficking in women is captured. A dangerous network dedicated to
trafficking in women, at the service of the Japanese Mafia, was
disarticulated this weekend by units belonging to the DAS – the Administrative
Security Department. The DAS had known of the existence of the actions by the
Japanese Mafia for two years now, which, through Colombian contacts, sought
beautiful young women to engage them in prostitution." Trafficking in Colombian women to
the Asian continent has become “a true threat for thousands of Colombian
women who end up as slaves in Japan and other countries." Trafficking in
Colombian women to Japan began in the 80s, when the Japa
nese Mafia began to make incursions in Colombian territory
and decided to set up their center of operations in certain regions of the
country. Sex
slavery racket a growing concern in Latin America Viviana was one of what the Interpol
estimates are 35,000 women trafficked out of Colombia every year, with
estimated profits of $500 million, making it second only to the Dominican
Republic in the West. "It began
when a neighbor told me I was pretty, and could work in a casino in Spain and
make good money," recalls Viviana. "She
said I could earn $1,000 a week. It seemed like the only way I could ever buy
a house for my son. So I said yes." The offer seemed like a good deal,
until she got to Asturias, Spain, where a man began explaining about
"towels, sheets, condoms, and percentages." He also said she owed
them $4,000. She then realized - "this was not a casino, it was a
bordello." She spent that night crying, convinced she had "fallen
into the jaws of a beast." Colombian
Hailed as Hero in Fight Against Trafficking in Persons Francisco Sierra, Colombia's
ambassador to Japan, has made it his personal goal to stop this trafficking
in persons that has taken so many women into forced prostitution. For his
efforts, Sierra was recognized by Secretary of State Colin Powell on June 14
as one of six heroes in the fight against an illicit industry that preys upon
society's most vulnerable members. Sierra said the women are told
they will find a better life by working in other countries such as Holland,
Japan, and Spain, but they most often find themselves trapped into working in
brothels to pay off their so-called "transportation" fees; such fees
may total as much as $50,000 to $80,000. Sierra said that the women are
expected to pay their captors roughly $2,000 every ten days or they will be
severely punished. Colombia This Week
-- November 22, 2004 THURS 18- 14,000 CHILDREN IN
COLOMBIAN ARMED GROUPS; COLOMBIA'S ROLE IN PLAN PUEBLA-PANAMA - UK-based NGOs Save the Children
and Amnesty International report that more than 14,000 child soldiers are
fighting in the Colombian conflict, denouncing that the illegal armed groups
(FARC, ELN and AUC) are systemically recruiting children under 15 years
old from indigenous and rural communities, putting their lives at extreme
risk and sending them to the front line of battle. U.N.
Official Says Indigenous Face Extinction [Regarding Conditions in Colombia] Colombian indigenous communities
are in danger of extinction as paramilitaries and guerrillas target them for
massacre, torture, displacement, rape and forced recruitment, a U.N. official
said March 16. One group, the Kankuamos
of northern Colombia's Sierra Nevada Mountains, has lost more than 200
members to killings since 1986, said Stavenhagen, a
Mexican. Ten Kankuamos have been murdered since an
October demand by the Inter-American Commission for Human Rights that the
Colombian government adopt measures to prevent the group's genocide, he
added. While indigenous peoples
constitute only 2 percent of Colombia's 44 million inhabitants, their
traditional territories cover 30 percent of the country.
Paramilitaries, guerrilla groups and government forces fight to control rural
land and people for a variety of reasons, including drug cultivation, forced
conscription and land grabs. Colombia:
Violence Against Women -- Scarred Bodies, Hidden Crimes "Paramilitary and guerrilla
groups seek to intrude into even the most intimate aspects of women’s lives
in areas under their control by setting curfews and dress codes, and by
humiliating, flogging, raping and even killing those who dare to
transgress," said Ms Lee. Colombia:
Full-flexed war after government breaks off peace talks Those who will be hardest hit by
the government's offensive are the most marginalized Colombians ? poor,
indigenous and Afro-Colombian women and their families. Already, more than
25% of Colombians have been displaced by fighting between the FARC and the Colombian government (the latter aided by
paramilitaries that are responsible for 75% of the country's human rights
violations, including 3,500 killings each year). All warring parties stand
accused of grave human rights abuses, including assassinations, torture and
kidnapping of civilians. Crimes against women include forced servitude, sexual
slavery, forced prostitution, forced sterilization and forced pregnancy. IOM
press briefing notes 10 Aug 2004: Sudan, Colombia COLOMBIA - WORKSHOP TO PREVENT THE
FORCED RECRUITMENT OF MINORS - IOM Bogota has carried out the first of a
series of training workshops for government officials, UN agencies such as
UNICEF and UNDP and NGOs staff working with minors
at high-risk for recruitment into illegal armed groups. IOM presented the
"Vulnerability, Risk and Opportunity Map" (Mapa
de Vulnerabilidad, Riesgo
y Oportunidad), a methodology aimed at helping
local governments and civil society to work together to tackle and prevent
forced conscription. Plight
of Colombia's child recruits Some 112 former child combatants
were interviewed for the publication, which describes how children are
recruited into the ranks of the Marxist guerrillas and right-wing
paramilitaries from as young as eight years old and gradually hardened to
violence. Around 25% of guerrilla
ranks are female and the study highlighted the problem of sexual abuse many
young girls are subjected to by their guerrilla superiors. Females as young as 12 are forced to use
contraception and, if they get pregnant, must undergo abortions. “You’ll
Learn Not To Cry”: Child Combatants in Colombia RECRUITMENT METHODS - The great majority of child
recruits to the irregular forces decide to join voluntarily. Yet forcible
recruitment occurs in some parts of Colombia. Human Rights Watch interviewed
thirteen former combatants, all of whom had belonged to either the FARC-EP or the UC-ELN, who
described having been forced to join the ranks of the group unwillingly; they
made up slightly more than 10 percent of the children we interviewed. Another
two children said that they had been pressured to join a guerrilla group. And
even the voluntary decision to join irregular forces is more a reflection of
the dismal lack of opportunities open to children from the poorest sector of
rural society than a real exercise of free will. 'Street
of the Damned' Loses its Daughters; Colombian Kidnappers Target Poor Children Like a nightmarish fairy tale in
which young girls are spirited away by monsters, five were abducted from this
three-block stretch of 125th Street in Bogota's Miguelito neighborhood from November 1995 to July 1997.
Not one has been found. II. Colombia and
International Humanitarian Law The drama of Guintar
is repeated throughout Colombia, where war is not fought primarily between
armed and uniformed combatants on battlefields, but against the civilian
population and in their homes, farms, and towns. Many of the victims of Colombia’s
war wear no uniform, hold no gun, and profess no allegiance to any armed
group. Indeed, battles between armed opponents are the exception. Instead,
combatants deliberately and implacably target and kill the civilians they
believe support their enemies, whether or not the civilians are even aware
that they are in peril. All material used herein reproduced under the fair use exception of 17 USC § 107 for noncommercial, nonprofit, and educational use |
Human Trafficking in [Colombia Street Children in [Colombia] [other countries]Child Prostitution in [Colombia] [other countries]