Human Trafficking in [Colombia] [other countries]Street Children in [Colombia] [other countries]Child Prostitution in [Colombia |
Child Prostitution The Commercial Sexual Exploitation of
Children Colombia [ Country-by-Country
Reports ] |
|
CAUTION: The following links and
accompanying text have been culled from the web to illuminate the situation
in ***
FEATURED ARTICLE *** Sexual exploitation of minors taints Colombia's Caribbean tourist city The city has become a magnet for men, many of them Europeans, seeking sex with young girls and sometimes boys, many of them from families displaced from their rural homes by fighting among leftist rebels, government forces and right-wing paramilitary groups. An estimated 1,500 girls and boys work in Cartagena's sex industry. Over the last three years, Renacer has learned of girls as young as 7 and boys as young as 9 being sexually exploited, Cardenas says. "The kids are on the street because of desperation," says Bruce Harris, the former Latin America director of Casa Alianza, a children's rights group. "The last thing they have to sell is themselves. This is mixed with the fact that the laws for the most part are still very weak, and there's corruption in the application of the law." Bolivar Province's police chief, Col. Jesus Gomez, who oversees Cartagena, says detectives are investigating criminal sex rings in the city, but have yet to make any arrests. ***
ARCHIVES *** U.S.
Dept of Labor Bureau of International Labor Affairs INCIDENCE
AND NATURE OF CHILD LABOR - Children are involved in commercial sexual exploitation in Bur of Democracy,
Human Rights & Labor - Country
Reports on Human Rights Practices - 2005 SECTION 6 WORKER RIGHTS – [d] Although there were no
reports of forced child labor in the formal economy, several thousand
children were forced to serve as paramilitary or guerrilla combatants, prostitutes, or coca pickers. Concluding
Observations of the Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC) - 2000 [67] While noting with
appreciation the revisions to the State party's Penal Code and the
establishment of a national plan of action to combat and prevent the sexual
exploitation of children, the Committee remains concerned at the insufficient
awareness among the population of these issues. ECPAT: Fifth Report on implementation of the Agenda for
Action [DOC] www.ecpat.net/eng/Ecpat_inter/publication/other/english/Doc_page/ecpat_5th_a4a_2001_full.doc [B]
COUNTRY UPDATES – COLOMBIA – The National Plan of Action against the Commercial Sexual
Exploitation of Children in Colombia (Plan de Acción en favor de los Derechos
de la Infancia Explotada Sexualmente y contra la Explotación Sexual Infantil)
is not being implemented. According to the ICBF, which had main
responsibility for the plan, it has been developed in an isolated manner and
according to the competencies of each institution involved. As a consequence, the ICBF says it has not
been possible to measure its impact. The Inter-institutional Committee to
fight the trafficking of women, girls and boys is putting into practice a
plan for the prevention and protection of victims and to stop the trafficking
of persons. Combating
Child Prostitution in Colombia Many parents send their children
out into the streets to help support the family by stealing, selling chewing
gum and cigarettes, or worse, selling themselves. It is estimated that there are 35,000 children
working as prostitutes in Soaring
Child Prostitution In Colombia Clients were often middle-aged
foreigners who paid the child-prostitutes around six US dollars. Victims were
often addicted to drugs and were as young as nine years old. Bogota
Curfew Aims At Child Sex The mayor of Bogata has imposed a
nighttime curfew on minors to clamp down on child prostitution and reduce
crime rates in the Colombian capital.
Children under the age of 16 on the streets after 11pm will be arrested. Committee
on the Rights of the Child (CRC) - Report of Colombia (Press Release) The culture of violence which
prevailed in Ashoka Fellow Profile - Stella Cárdenas Ovalle THE PROBLEM- A series of factors put children
at risk for sexual exploitation in Colombia
Launches Crackdown On Child Prostitution Twenty-nine adults were arrested
in the swoop and Sexual
exploitation of minors taints Colombia's Caribbean tourist city The city has become a magnet for
men, many of them Europeans, seeking sex with young girls and sometimes boys,
many of them from families displaced from their rural homes by fighting among
leftist rebels, government forces and right-wing paramilitary groups. An estimated 1,500 girls and boys
work in Cartagena's sex industry. Over the last three years, Renacer has
learned of girls as young as 7 and boys as young as 9 being sexually
exploited, Cardenas says. "The kids are on the street
because of desperation," says Bruce Harris, the former Latin America
director of Casa Alianza, a children's rights group. "The last thing
they have to sell is themselves. This is mixed with the fact that the laws for
the most part are still very weak, and there's corruption in the application
of the law." Bolivar Province's
police chief, Col. Jesus Gomez, who oversees Cartagena, says detectives are
investigating criminal sex rings in the city, but have yet to make any
arrests. The Protection Project - Colombia [DOC] GOVERNMENT RESPONSES - The Ombudsman’s Office and the Attorney General’s Office conducted a study on the prostitution of women and children. The National Police of Colombia runs a prevention program called Colombia without Prostitution. This program is designed to prevent child prostitution through educational activities for families and the community. In collaboration with nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), the government also created a Plan of Action on Child Sexual Abuse. All material used herein
reproduced under the fair use exception of 17 USC § 107 for noncommercial,
nonprofit, and educational use |
Human Trafficking in [Colombia] [other countries]Street Children in [Colombia] [other countries]Child Prostitution in [Colombia