Human Trafficking in [Costa Rica Street Children in [Costa Rica] [other countries]Child Prostitution in [Costa Rica] [other countries] |
Human Trafficking & Modern-day Slavery Republic of Costa Rica [ Country-by-Country
Reports ] The Republic of
Costa Rica [map], located in Central America, is bounded by Nicaragua (N),
the Caribbean Sea (E), Panama (SE), and the Pacific Ocean (S & W). Its capital and largest city is Costa Rica is a source, transit, and
destination country for men, women, and children trafficked for the purposes
of commercial sexual exploitation and forced labor. Women and girls from
Nicaragua, the Dominican Republic, Colombia, Panama, Russia, Uzbekistan, and
the Philippines are trafficked into the country for sexual exploitation.
Costa Rica also serves as a transit point for victims trafficked to the
United States, Mexico, Canada, and Europe. Costa Rican women and children are
trafficked internally and to El Salvador, Guatemala, Japan, and the United
States for sexual exploitation. The government identifies child sex tourism
as a serious problem. Men, women, and children are trafficked within the
country for forced labor in fishing and construction, and as domestic
servants. Young men from Nicaragua, as well as Chinese nationals, are
trafficked to Costa Rica for labor exploitation, mostly in agriculture and
construction.
- U.S. State Dept Trafficking in Persons Report, June, 2008 [full country
report] |
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CAUTION: The following links have been
culled from the web to illuminate the situation in *** FEATURED
ARTICLE *** Child
smuggling is good business Guatemala City - A recently-busted
child smuggling ring charged handsomely for children sent to prospective
United States and Japanese parents, say investigating prosecutors. Ringleaders charged US couples up to $80
000 (about R568 000) for a child, and Japanese couples around $40 000 (about
R284 000), say the government prosecutors who are looking into 85 cases from
the past two years. On Sunday, Costa
Rican investigators in San Jose rescued nine Guatemalan infants assumed to
have been for sale to foreigners. ***
ARCHIVES *** U.S.
Dept of Labor Bureau of International Labor Affairs INCIDENCE
AND NATURE OF CHILD LABOR - The commercial sexual exploitation of children is a continuing
problem in Bur of Democracy,
Human Rights & Labor - Country
Reports on Human Rights Practices – 2005 TRAFFICKING
IN PERSONS – Although
the law prohibits the trafficking of women and minors for the purpose of
prostitution or forced labor, there is no comprehensive legislation to
address all forms of trafficking. The lack of a comprehensive
anti-trafficking law inhibited the government's ability to prosecute and
convict traffickers, and prosecutors relied on several criminal statutes to
bring traffickers to justice. There were reports that persons were trafficked
to, from, and within the country, most often for commercial sexual exploitation. Concluding
Observations of the Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC) - 2005 [35] The Committee welcomes the
proposed amendment of the Adoption Act as a follow up to its previous recommendation
to review its legislation in order to bring it in full compliance with
article 21 of the Convention and the 1993 Hague Convention on the Protection
of Children and Cooperation in Respect of Inter-country Adoption. But it
remains concerned that this bill is still pending with the Legislative
Assembly and that the practice of private or direct adoption which results in
cases of trafficking is still not effectively prohibited. Child
Trafficking Network Arrested in Costa Rica At 6am this morning the Judicial
Investigation Organization (OIJ) broke up another human trafficking ring,
which was dedicated exclusively to the trafficking of minors less than 1 year
of age. A total of 14 arrests were made, including a female Family
Judge who had been working in Liberia for 15 years on cases including
adoption of minors. Her computer and documents were confiscated from the OIJ
in Liberia to undergo investigation in San Jose. The judge was said to be
facilitating the sale of the minors who were obtained either illegally or
purchased from poor and indigenous families who did not want the children for
around $50 each, for a portion of the profits. They then sold the children for
an estimated $10,000. The group would contact pregnant women in free
clinics who could not afford the children and then have them put up for
adoption. Protection Project - Costa Rica [DOC] FORMS OF TRAFFICKING - Costa Rica is believed to have
the region’s largest child prostitution problem. One report claims that
3,000 underage girls are prostituted in Costa Rica, many of them trafficked
from Colombia, the Dominican Republic, Honduras, and Nicaragua. Many
children are promised work in Costa Rica, only to be sexually exploited when
they arrive. Costa Rican children are believed to be trafficked to other
countries for sexual exploitation purposes as well. Freedom
House Country Report - Political Rights: 1 Civil Liberties: 1 Status: Free Human Rights Overview by Human
Rights Watch – Defending Human Rights Worldwide Authorities
Probe Possible Child-Trafficking Network Child Welfare Agency (PANI) and
judicial authorities yesterday continued to investigate a possible
international child-trafficking network operating out of Costa Rica,
following a Sunday night police raid of an unlicensed adoption agency in La
Uruca, San Jose where nine Guatemalan babies were found. Child
smuggling is good business Guatemala City - A recently-busted
child smuggling ring charged handsomely for children sent to prospective
United States and Japanese parents, say investigating prosecutors. Ringleaders charged US couples up to $80
000 (about R568 000) for a child, and Japanese couples around $40 000 (about
R284 000), say the government prosecutors who are looking into 85 cases from
the past two years. On Sunday, Costa
Rican investigators in San Jose rescued nine Guatemalan infants assumed to
have been for sale to foreigners. Costa
Rica: Female Labour Migrants and Trafficking in Women and Children [PDF] [page 3] FOREWORD - Changing labour markets with globalization have
increased both opportunities and pressures for women to migrate. The
migration process and employment in a country of which they are not nationals
can enhance women’s earning opportunities, autonomy and empowerment, and
thereby change gender roles and responsibilities and contribute to gender
equality. But they also expose women to serious violation of their human rights.
Whether in the recruitment stage, the journey or living and working in
another country, women migrant workers, especially those in irregular
situations, are vulnerable to harassment, intimidation or threats to
themselves and their families, economic and sexual exploitation, racial
discriminatio n and xenophobia, poor working conditions, increased health
risks and other forms of abuse, including trafficking into forced labour,
debt bondage, involuntary servitude and situations of captivity. All material used herein
reproduced under the fair use exception of 17 USC § 107 for noncommercial,
nonprofit, and educational use |
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Human Trafficking in [Costa Rica Street Children in [Costa Rica] [other countries]Child Prostitution in [Costa Rica] [other countries]