Torture in [Nicaragua] [other countries]Human Trafficking in [Nicaragua Street Children in [Nicaragua] [other countries]Child Prostitution in [Nicaragua] [other countries] |
Human Trafficking & Modern-day Slavery In the early years of the 21st Century gvnet.com/humantrafficking/Nicaragua.htm
Nicaragua is principally a source and
transit country for women and children trafficked for the purposes of
commercial sexual exploitation and forced labor. Women and children are
trafficked within the country and to neighboring countries, most often to El
Salvador, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, and the United States, for
commercial sexual exploitation. The most prevalent form of internal
trafficking is the exploitation of children, both boys and girls, in
prostitution. NGOs identify Managua, Granada, Esteli,
and San Juan del Sur as destinations for foreign child sex tourists. NGOs
report instances of forced child marriages between young girls and older
foreign men, particularly in San Juan del Sur.
Children are trafficked within the country for forced labor in construction,
agriculture, the fishing industry, and for domestic servitude. - U.S.
State Dept Trafficking in Persons Report, June, 2009
[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 Gold Miners in Ivan Castro, Reuters, La Source of photographs is "The Legacy
of Greenstone Resources in www.minesandcommunities.org/article.php?a=1082 [accessed 11 March 2011] In a dim and
dangerous tunnel lit only by the flicker of candles, Juan Laguna and four
other children toil with rusty pick-axes to loosen chunks of rock they hope
will yield at least a little bit of gold.
Laguna then undertakes the arduous process of milling and washing the
ore. If it is a good day, it will give him enough gold to sell for about $3
(1.60 pounds). But he is not always lucky.
"Not every day goes well," says Laguna, who is 12 but has
the slight build of a child half his age.
Working with hundreds of other youngsters, Laguna has spent five years
scratching the walls of tunnels in the La India mining district, more than
100 miles (160 km) west of PHOTOS: Child gold miners in AlertNet, Reuters
foundation, 09 Dec 2004 At one time this article had been archived
and may possibly still be accessible [here]
[accessed 9 September 2011] Featured here are
images by Reuters photographer Oswaldo
Rivas of child gold miners working in Nicaraguan mines. While more than
300,000 children between five and 17 work at underpaid jobs instead of going
to school, the Nicaraguan government is working to pass a law to eradicate
the ten most dangerous jobs that exploit children. ***
ARCHIVES *** The Department of Labor’s 2004 Findings on
the Worst Forms of Child Labor www.dol.gov/ilab/media/reports/iclp/tda2004/nicaragua.htm [accessed 12 December 2010] INCIDENCE
AND NATURE OF CHILD LABOR - Some children are forced by their parents to beg,
and some are “rented” out by their parents to organized groups of
beggars. Human Rights
Reports » 2005 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices U.S. Dept of State Bureau of Democracy,
Human Rights, and Labor, March 8, 2006 www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/hrrpt/2005/61734.htm [accessed 12 December 2010] TRAFFICKING
IN PERSONS
– Government officials, NGOs, and other organizations characterized
trafficking as a growing problem throughout the region. The government, NGOs,
and media periodically reported cases of individual women trafficked to
brothels in Concluding Observations of the Committee on
the Rights of the Child (CRC) UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, 3
June 2005 www1.umn.edu/humanrts/crc/nicaragua2005.html [accessed 12 December 2010] [62] The Committee
further notes that the domestic legislation does not seem to contain
provisions punishing sale and trafficking of children for the purpose of
economic exploitation. The Protection
Project - The www.protectionproject.org/human_rights_reports/report_documents/nicaragua.doc [accessed 2009] FACTORS THAT
CONTRIBUTE TO THE TRAFFICKING INFRASTRUCTURE - Throughout the Central American
region, “machismo” attitudes are prevalent, and women are often viewed as
sexual objects. Interfamily violence, the breakdown of families, and poverty
push young people to leave their homes and communities to search for better
lives. The pull factor of the United States also causes many young people to
migrate northward. To a lesser extent, pull factors entice young people
toward more prosperous neighboring countries, for example, from Nicaragua
south to Costa Rica. At border crossings, children are especially vulnerable
to the whims of corrupt immigration officials or traffickers who help them
cross the border. FORMS OF TRAFFICKING
-
Young women leave Nicaragua for neighboring countries or other places for
promised jobs in hotels or factories or as domestics. One report recounts the story of a girl who
was kidnapped at the age of 12 as she was walking to school in Managua in
1998. She had set out for school alone, as she did every morning. A taxi
stopped her to ask directions. She remembers nothing more after that. She
woke up in an unfamiliar place among other young girls, guarded by three
women. Less than a week later, she was sold to some men, who sold her to
others, who brought her to the United States to work in a brothel. For the
next 6 years, until she was 18, she was “dragged from place to place and
passed from hand to hand.” At the age of 18, she managed to go to the
authorities, who deported her. She is now back in Nicaragua after “losing the
best years of [her] life and [her] adolescence.” Freedom House Country Report - Political Rights: 4 Civil Liberties: 3 Status: Partly Free 2009 Edition www.freedomhouse.org/report/freedom-world/2009/nicaragua [accessed 27 June 2012] Human Rights
Overview Human Rights Watch www.hrw.org/americas/nicaragua [accessed 12 December 2010] Library of Congress Call Number F1523 .N569
1994 lcweb2.loc.gov/frd/cs/nitoc.html [accessed 12 December 2010] Child Gold Miners in Ivan Castro, Reuters, La Source of photographs is "The Legacy
of Greenstone Resources in www.minesandcommunities.org/article.php?a=1082 [accessed 11 March 2011] In a dim and
dangerous tunnel lit only by the flicker of candles, Juan Laguna and four
other children toil with rusty pick-axes to loosen chunks of rock they hope
will yield at least a little bit of gold.
Laguna then undertakes the arduous process of milling and washing the
ore. If it is a good day, it will give him enough gold to sell for about $3
(1.60 pounds). But he is not always lucky.
"Not every day goes well," says Laguna, who is 12 but has
the slight build of a child half his age.
Working with hundreds of other youngsters, Laguna has spent five years
scratching the walls of tunnels in the La India mining district, more than
100 miles (160 km) west of PHOTOS: Child gold miners in AlertNet, Reuters
foundation, 09 Dec 2004 At one time this article had been archived
and may possibly still be accessible [here]
[accessed 9 September 2011] Featured here are
images by Reuters photographer Oswaldo
Rivas of child gold miners working in Nicaraguan mines. While more than
300,000 children between five and 17 work at underpaid jobs instead of going
to school, the Nicaraguan government is working to pass a law to eradicate
the ten most dangerous jobs that exploit children. Trafficking in Children in Latin America
and the Casa Alianza,
Covenant House – www.childtrafficking.com/Docs/casa_alianza__trafficking_i.pdf [accessed 11 March 2011] [page 4] FINAL DESTINATIONS - Child Labour News Service, March 15 2002 –
Source: La Prensa www.hrea.org/lists/child-rights/markup/msg00022.html [accessed 11 March 2011] [scroll down] CENTRAL AMERICA
BASTION OF CHILD SEXUAL EXPLOITATION - According to the
report, Nicaragua is the "principal supplier of sexual victims for the
whole region." Harris said,
"Many Nicaraguans, adults, adolescents and even minors, end up in centres in Honduras, El Salvador, and principally
Guatemala, and in the south their destination is Costa Rica, where there is
the most intense sexual tourism." Advancing the Campaign
Against Child Labor: Efforts at the Country Level – www.dol.gov/ILAB/media/reports/iclp/Advancing1/html/nicaragua.htm [accessed 11 March 2011] CHILD LABOR IN House Armed Services Committee Member
Criticizes US Army & Air Force Relationship with Burmese Sweatshop The National Labor Committee, December 19,
2000 At one time this article had been archived
and may possibly still be accessible [here]
[accessed 9 September 2011] On December 5th, at
a press conference on Capitol Hill, 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, "Human Trafficking & Modern-day Slavery - |
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Torture in [Nicaragua] [other countries]Human Trafficking in [Nicaragua Street Children in [Nicaragua] [other countries]Child Prostitution in [Nicaragua] [other countries]