Human Trafficking & Modern-day Slavery Poverty drives the unsuspecting poor into the
hands of traffickers Published reports & articles
from 2000 to 2025 gvnet.com/humantrafficking/Panama.htm
Panama is a source,
transit, and destination country for women and children trafficked for the
purpose of commercial sexual exploitation. Some Panamanian women are
trafficked to Jamaica, Europe, and Israel for commercial sexual exploitation,
but most victims are trafficked to and within the country into Panama’s sex
trade. NGOs report that some Panamanian children, mostly young girls, are
trafficked into domestic servitude. Government agencies indicate that
indigenous girls may be trafficked by their parents into prostitution in |
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CAUTION: The following
links have been culled from the web to illuminate the situation in
Panama. Some of these links may lead
to websites that present allegations that are unsubstantiated or even
false. No attempt has been made to
validate their authenticity or to verify their content. HOW TO USE THIS WEB-PAGE Students If you are looking
for material to use in a term-paper, you are advised to scan the postings on
this page and others to see which aspects of Human Trafficking are of
particular interest to you. Would you
like to write about Forced-Labor? Debt
Bondage? Prostitution? Forced Begging? Child Soldiers? Sale of Organs? etc. On the other
hand, you might choose to include precursors of trafficking such as poverty and hunger. There is a lot to
the subject of Trafficking. Scan other
countries as well. Draw comparisons
between activity in adjacent countries and/or regions. Meanwhile, check out some of the Term-Paper resources
that are available on-line. Teachers Check out some of
the Resources
for Teachers attached to this website. HELP for Victims Immigration ***
FEATURED ARTICLE *** Nations Make
Progress Against Trafficking in Persons, Charlene Porter,
Bureau of International Information Programs, www.scoop.co.nz/stories/WO0406/S00181/nations-make-progress-against-trafficking-people.htm [accessed 7 October
2013] The world's most
comprehensive report on trafficking in persons shows governments are making
some progress in their responses to this form of organized criminal activity
-- often called modern-day slavery -- with stronger laws, increased
convictions and greater protections for victims. Consistent with its
objective of inspiring action against human trafficking, the TIP report also
issues praise for localities that have adopted "best practices" in
their strides to prevent trafficking, provide for victims or prosecute
traffickers themselves. Panama has
passed a law that requires businesses in the tourist industry to inform travelers
about laws against child pornography and sex tourism. The city of Madrid has
taken strides to reduce both prostitution and trafficking by targeting the
customers of these illicit endeavors, while at the same time engaging in
prevention and victim assistance efforts. ***
ARCHIVES *** 2020 Country
Reports on Human Rights Practices: Panama U.S. Dept of State Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and
Labor, 30 March 2021 www.state.gov/reports/2020-country-reports-on-human-rights-practices/panama/
[accessed 20 June
2021] PROHIBITION OF
FORCED OR COMPULSORY LABOR There continued to
be reports of Central and South American and Chinese men exploited in forced
labor in construction, agriculture, mining, restaurants, door-to-door
peddling, and other sectors; traffickers reported using debt bondage, false
promises, lack of knowledge of the refugee process and irregular status,
restrictions on movement, and other means. There also were reports of forced
child labor (see section 7.c.). PROHIBITION OF CHILD
LABOR AND MINIMUM AGE FOR EMPLOYMENT Children were
exploited in forced labor, particularly domestic servitude, and sex
trafficking. Freedom House
Country Report 2020 Edition freedomhouse.org/country/panama/freedom-world/2020 [accessed 4 May 2020] G4. DO INDIVIDUALS
ENJOY EQUALITY OF OPPORTUNITY AND FREEDOM FROM ECONOMIC EXPLOITATION? Human trafficking
for sexual exploitation and forced labor remains a serious problem despite
some government efforts to combat it. Both Panamanian and migrant workers in
certain sectors—including the agricultural sector, where many workers are
indigenous people—are subject to exploitative working conditions. Enforcement
of basic labor protections is weak in rural areas and among informal workers. 2017 Findings on
the Worst Forms of Child Labor Office of Child
Labor, Forced Labor, and Human Trafficking, Bureau of International Labor
Affairs, US Dept of Labor, 2018 www.dol.gov/sites/default/files/documents/ilab/ChildLaborReport_Book.pdf [accessed 22 April
2019] www.dol.gov/sites/dolgov/files/ILAB/child_labor_reports/tda2017/ChildLaborReportBook.pdf [accessed 4 May
2020] Note:: Also check out this country’s report in the more recent edition DOL
Worst Forms of Child Labor [page 786] Some children in
Panama are subjected to commercial sexual exploitation, mainly in tourist
areas in Panama City and in beach communities. (5; 6) According to the
results of Panama’s 2016 survey on child labor, the highest prevalence of
child labor is in rural areas and autonomous indigenous areas, or comarcas. The comarca Ngäbe Buglé and the provinces
of Panama and Bocas del Toro had the highest number of children engaged in
child labor. (1) UNICEF and Casa Alianza join efforts against violence UNICEF Press centre,
www.unicef.org/media/media_23426.html [accessed 15
December 2010] Assistance to
street children and the search for alternative lifestyles, as opposed to the
stigma against adolescents produced by the phenomenon of gangs or “maras”
constitute a key part of the work of UNICEF and Casa Alianza. Both
organizations share the idea that the solution to the social problems that
affect children and adolescents should come through public policies in
education, health, housing, employment and protection, that is to say,
through the creation of opportunities. The response of the state, faced with
this type of problem, is to punish the children who live in conditions of
poverty. Project DESTINO to
Combat Child Labor in Creative Associates
International, www.creativeworldwide.com//CAIIStaff/Dashboard_GIROAdminCAIIStaff/Dashboard_CAIIAdminDatabase /publications/Press_release_pg1.pdf [accessed 10
September 2011] www.creativeassociatesinternational.com/past-projects/panamacombating-child-labor-through-destino/ [accessed 11
February 2018] Many of Panama’s
poor and indigenous children must help their families by working on farms,
limiting their educational development and lifelong opportunities. To combat
these effects, three Panamanian organizations—Casa Esperanza, FUNDAMUJER and
Fundacion Tierra Nueva—are teaming up to provide nonformal and flexible
education opportunities for 7,100 child laborers. The three-part collaboration
stems from a newly launched project funded by the U.S. Department of Labor
(DOL) called Disminuyendo y Erradicando el Trabajo Infantil para Nuevas
Oportunidades (DESTINO). DESTINO will target poor and indigenous children in
the central Panamanian provinces of Chiriquí, Coclé, Veraguas, Herrera, Los
Santos, Darién and Comarca Gnobe Bugle, who are working on family or
commercial farms to help their parents make ends meet. Due to long work hours
and seasonal harvests, these children miss school, making it difficult for
them to keep up with schoolwork, and prompting many to drop out. Despite Panama’s
compulsory-education laws, tens of thousands of children—nearly 58,000 in
2002—between ages 5 and 17 were working. Of this group, only 42 percent
attended school. Concluding
Observations of the Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC) UN Convention on the
Rights of the Child, 4 June 2004 www1.umn.edu/humanrts/crc/panama2004.html [accessed 15
December 2010] [37] The Committee
welcomes the ratification of the Hague Convention on Protection of Children
and Cooperation in respect of Inter-country Adoption of 1993 but is concerned
that there is still a need for more effective measures to guarantee adoption
procedures respectful of the rights of the child and to prevent the abuse of
adoption, e.g. for trafficking of children. [58] The Committee
welcomes the ratification of the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the
sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography. It remains
concerned that sexual exploitation and abuse continue to be serious problems
and that the victims of sexual exploitation do not have access to appropriate
recovery and assistance services. The Committee also remains concerned about
the lack of data to determine the real dimension of the problem of child
abuse and sexual exploitation and about the insufficient measures to prevent
and combat trafficking of children. ***
EARLIER EDITIONS OF SOME OF THE ABOVE *** Human Rights
Reports » 2005 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices 2009-2017.state.gov/j/drl/rls/hrrpt/2005/61736.htm [accessed 10
February 2020] TRAFFICKING
IN PERSONS
– The country was a destination point for trafficked women. There was
evidence that rural children were trafficked internally to work as domestic
servants in urban areas. The country was a
transit point for Colombian sex workers to other Central American countries
and the The Department of Labor’s 2004 Findings on
the Worst Forms of Child Labor www.dol.gov/ilab/media/reports/iclp/tda2004/panama.htm [accessed 15
December 2010] Note:: Also check out this country’s report in the more recent edition DOL
Worst Forms of Child Labor INCIDENCE
AND NATURE OF CHILD LABOR - Children in Panama also work as domestic
servants. All
material used herein reproduced under the fair use exception of 17 USC § 107
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