Human Trafficking in [Honduras ] [other countries]Street Children in [Honduras] [other countries]Child Prostitution in [Honduras] [other countries]
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Human Trafficking & Modern-day Slavery Republic of Honduras [ Country-by-Country
Reports ] The Honduras is
principally a source and transit country for women, girls, and boys
trafficked for the purpose of commercial sexual exploitation. Honduran
children are typically trafficked from rural areas to urban and tourist
centers such as San Pedro Sula, the North Caribbean coast, and the Bay
Islands. Honduran women and children are trafficked to Guatemala, El
Salvador, Mexico, and the United States for sexual exploitation. Most foreign
victims of commercial sexual exploitation in Honduras are from neighboring
countries; some are economic migrants en route to the United States who are
victimized by traffickers. Internal child labor and forced child labor for
violent criminal gangs are serious concerns. - 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 *** NO ONE CAN OR SHOULD SELL OUR
CHILDREN - On July
23, 2004, Aguas Ocaña, Honduras’ first lady, announced that the government
was preparing a lawsuit against the US organization Orphans Overseas for
offering an Internet network selling Honduran children for $11,500 each.
"No one can or should sell our children," she added. In an interview with the national HRN radio
station, Ocaña affirmed that in 2003 the government had rejected a request
from the US organization to operate in the country because it did not meet
the legal requirements. "The
company is now publicizing itself on the Internet as an adoption agency
operating in Honduras and what it is offering is the sale of Honduran
children," she stressed. ***
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 TRAFFICKING
IN PERSONS – Women
and children were trafficked into Most trafficking victims were
young women and girls, who were trafficked to Immigrant
sisters admit charges in human trafficking Two Honduran sisters admitted
yesterday that they helped smuggle dozens of illegal female immigrants --
some as young as 14 -- into the United States, then forced them to live
together and work at North Jersey bars. The admissions by Noris Elvira and
Ana Luz Rosales-Martinez, during a federal court hearing in Trenton, brought
to five the number of guilty pleas in what authorities say was a case of
indentured servitude. Under questioning from
prosecutors, the women said they helped oversee dozens of illegal Hondurans
who were forced to work six days a week and live in cramped Hudson County
apartments until they could repay smuggling fees as high as $20,000. The immigrants earned $5 an hour,
plus tips, by dancing and drinking with male patrons at bars in Union City and
Guttenberg. One ring member said the girls were encouraged to prostitute
themselves; another said they were beaten if they ignored the house rules. 10 Charged in International Human Smuggling
Ring The women, mostly from rural, poor villages in Smuggled Honduran Women May Be Allowed To Stay In U.S. But after delivering them to New
Jersey, smugglers demanded fees as high as $20,000, then forced them to work
off the debt by dancing with men in bars. ABSTRACT - Nineteen women and girls from
Honduras who were smuggled into the United States and forced to work in a bar
may be permitted to stay in this country as protected victims of human
trafficking, authorities said. 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 NO ONE CAN OR SHOULD SELL OUR
CHILDREN - On July
23, 2004, Aguas Ocaña, Honduras’ first lady, announced that the government
was preparing a lawsuit against the US organization Orphans Overseas for
offering an Internet network selling Honduran children for $11,500 each.
"No one can or should sell our children," she added. In an interview with the national HRN radio
station, Ocaña affirmed that in 2003 the government had rejected a request
from the US organization to operate in the country because it did not meet
the legal requirements. "The
company is now publicizing itself on the Internet as an adoption agency operating
in Honduras and what it is offering is the sale of Honduran children,"
she stressed. Focus
on Children - Child Soldiers "At the age of 13, I joined
the student movement. I had a dream to contribute to make things change, so
that children would not be hungry….Later I joined the armed struggle. I had
all the inexperience and the fears of a little girl. I found out that girls
were obliged to have sexual relations to alleviate the sadness of the
combatants. And who alleviated our sadness after going with someone we hardly
knew?…There is a great pain in my being when I recall all these things….In
spite of my commitment, they abused me, they trampled my human dignity. And
above all, they did not understand that I was a child and that I had
rights." - From a
Honduras case study, cited in United Nations, Impact of Armed Conflict on
Children: Special Concerns, 1998. All material used herein
reproduced under the fair use exception of 17 USC § 107 for noncommercial,
nonprofit, and educational use |
Human Trafficking in [Honduras ] [other countries]Street Children in [Honduras] [other countries]Child Prostitution in [Honduras] [other countries]