Human Trafficking in [Mexico] [other countries]Street Children in [Mexico] [other countries]Child Prostitution in [Mexico |
Child Prostitution The Commercial Sexual Exploitation of
Children In the
first ten years of the 21st Century -
2000 to 2009
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FEATURED ARTICLES *** Mexican Journalist Risks Life to Expose Child Sex Rings Mexican journalist Lydia Cacho is exposing the players in these Cancun-based sex rings, and risking her life for it. Her awareness led her to a life of activism and journalism. She started a high-security shelter for abused women in Cancun where children opened up to her about the dark underworld of child porn rings and prostitution. As a result, she says, “I’ve been taken to jail for telling other people’s stories. No one imagines that Cancun has this dark side.” The underage sex rings she has exposed include Mexico’s rich and powerful. Mexico is a country that doesn’t take kindly to exposure of corruption and greed. Currently the country is in the crosshairs of a violent drug war and some 17 journalists have been killed in the past five years for attempting to expose the corruption. Cacho, herself, is a target. Child Prostitution: A Growing Scourge A REGION OUT OF CONTROL - Mexico - More than 16,000 children are sexually exploited through networks involving foreigners and military, police, government and business officials. In Juarez alone, nearly 1,000 children are being sexually exploited, and in Guadalajara, officials report 750 cases of child prostitution. The US-Mexican border is one of the main centers for child sex tourism. Sterile at Age 12 ... Abortion at 13 ... AIDS at 14 Thousands of children in Mexico face a dismal future: sterility at age 12, an abortion at 13 or AIDS at 14. There is "great demand" for child prostitution and pornography, whose main victims are children who live and work in the streets, "greater than the demand for adults and even more profitable," says a government report released this week. According to UNICEF, nine million children live in absolute poverty in Mexico, 60,000 of them on the streets. ***
ARCHIVES *** Bur of Democracy,
Human Rights & Labor - Country
Reports on Human Rights Practices - 2005 CHILDREN - Trafficking in children for the purpose
of sexual exploitation was a problem. TRAFFICKING
IN PERSONS - Although
there were no reliable statistics on the extent of trafficking, the
government estimated that 20 thousand children were sexually exploited each
year. Sexual tourism and sexual exploitation of minors were significant
problems in the northern border area and in resort areas. Undocumented
migrants from Concluding
Observations of the Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC) - 1999 [31] In view of the assessment and
recommendations made by the Special Rapporteur on the sale of children, child
prostitution and child pornography regarding the situation of the sexual
exploitation of children in Mexico, the Committee welcomes the measures taken
by the State party to combat this phenomenon, in particular, the
establishment of the Inter-institutional Commission to Eradicate the Sexual
Exploitation of Children. [32] While the Committee is aware
of the measures taken by the State party on the situation of repatriated
children (menores fronterizos),
it remains particularly concerned that a great number of these children are
victims of trafficking networks, which use them for sexual or economic
exploitation. Concern is also expressed about the increasing number of cases
of trafficking and sale of children from neighboring countries who are
brought into the State party to work in prostitution. Mozambique: Press Freedom Prize for Campaigning Mexican Journalist allafrica.com/stories/200805050033.html Of the 11 winners of the prize to
date, three of them were unable to attend the prize-giving ceremonies because
they were in jail, and one (last year's winner, the
Russian Anna Politkovskaya) because she had been
murdered. Lidia Cacho was
more fortunate - she was in Maputo in person, but during her career she has
been beaten, jailed and subject to repeated death threats because of her
articles denouncing crime and corruption among the Mexican elite. A freelance reporter based in
Cancun, Cacho has contributed regularly to the
daily newspaper "La Voz del Caribe", denouncing organised
rings of child prostitution and paedophilia, and
other instances of organised crime. She wrote a
book, "Demons of Eden", which named prominent politicians involved
in child prostitution rackets. "This award", Cacho said, "may not protect me from death threats
or from death itself. But it certainly helps to protect my written work and
to enable a broader audience to know and understand the Mexican reality and
the impact of the global crimes of trafficking in persons and of child
pornography" MEXICO - An extensive study by Unicef Mexico and the DIF/National System for Integral
Family Development reveals that more than 16,000 children in Mexico were
involved in prostitution in June of 2000. The numbers are not definitive
because of the covert nature of the sex trade. The study found that girls,
mostly 13 to 17 years old, were prostitutes in Acapulco and Cancun, working
out of cafés and bars where they were waitresses. Massage parlours
and escort agencies often offer sexual services and openly promote this fact
in the media. MEXICO:
Key Video Evidence Blocked in Child Sex Ring Trial A 2004 study by researcher Elena Azaola estimated that some 17,000 children under the age
of 18 are victims of the sex trade in Mexico. Like Cacho’s
book, her study was based on interviews with minors who managed to escape. In
addition, the researcher collected information in visits to establishments
where underage girls and boys were forced to work as prostitutes. RIGHTS-MEXICO:
16,000 Victims of Child Sexual Exploitation International organisations
fighting child sex tourism say Mexico is one of the leading hotspots of child
sexual exploitation, along with Thailand, Cambodia, India, and Brazil. Another chilling statistic is that
95 percent of Mexico City’s 13,000 street children have already had at least
one sexual encounter with an adult. Many girls and boys are lured to
Mexico City from small towns or rural areas by criminal networks, through
false promises of domestic work or other jobs. - htsccp Child
Pornography and Human Trafficking: Cancun's Dark Side Cacho, one of Mexico's leading
defenders of women's and children's rights, often risks her own life to tell
the stories of those who cannot speak out for themselves. An investigative
journalist and gender-based violence specialist, Cacho
runs a crisis center and shelter in Cancun, a spring break hotspot where
white, sandy beaches and breathtaking coastal views give way to a harsher
reality -- one of sexual exploitation, domestic violence, human trafficking
and child pornography. Her 2005 book, "The Demons of Eden," exposes
Cancun as a destination for child sex tourism. Mexican
Journalist Risks Life to Expose Child Sex Rings Mexican journalist Lydia Cacho is exposing the players in these Cancun-based sex
rings, and risking her life for it. Her awareness led her to a life of
activism and journalism. She started a high-security shelter for abused women
in Cancun where children opened up to her about the dark underworld of child
porn rings and prostitution. As a
result, she says, “I’ve been taken to jail for telling other people’s stories.
No one imagines that Cancun has this dark side.” The underage sex rings she has
exposed include Mexico’s rich and powerful. Mexico is a country that doesn’t
take kindly to exposure of corruption and greed. Currently the country is in the crosshairs
of a violent drug war and some 17 journalists have been killed in the past
five years for attempting to expose the corruption. Cacho,
herself, is a target. RIGHTS-MESOAMERICA:
Child Sex Abuse - Everybody Knows, Nobody Says Casa Alianza,
which works with homeless children in several Central American countries,
estimates that between 35,000 and 50,000 children are forced into
prostitution in the region, and says that one of the driving forces behind
the abuses is, in fact, tourism. As for Mexico, the End Child
Prostitution, Pornography, and Trafficking of Children for Sexual Purposes
(ECPAT) network said it has become the major sex tourism destination in the
Americas. The number of children subjected to this form of exploitation is
estimated here at between 16,000 and 20,000. 16,000 Mexican children suffer sexual abuse According to the official, 10 per
cent of child prostitution took place in working-class areas like La Merced,
Garibaldi and Centro Historico, where adult
prostitution is an established tradition.
The DIF president said in La Merced -- a sprawling market surrounded
by slums -- there are more than 2,000 prostitutes, of whom half are underage. Payán: Thousands abused each year More than 20,000 minors were
victims of child prostitution in Mexico during 2005, the State System of
Integral Family Development (DIF) reported to the press on Tuesday. DIF President Ana Rosa Payán said in the news conference that child abuse has
increased considerably in the country since 2000 when there were 16,000 cases
of these violations reported. 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 At one time this article had been
archived and may possibly still be accessible [here] [B]
COUNTRY UPDATES – MEXICO – Over the last year, the states of Cancún,
Tijuana and Guadalajara have developed state plans of action against CSEC,
thus complementing the national plan of action. Inter-institutional commissions to develop
state plans have also been established in Child
prostitution on rise in border town Child prostitution in the
U.S.-Mexico border city of Tijuana is a growing problem receiving little
government attention, El Universal reported Monday. A recent study of child sexual abuse in 100
Mexican cities estimated Tijuana was home to some 5,000 children
"at-risk" of being forced into the sex trade. Threats Against Sinaloa Journalist Who Investigated Child Prostitution Reporters Without Borders today
called on the state prosecutor of the northern state of Sinaloa
to do everything possible to identify those responsible for the threats of the past few
months against Irene Medrano Villanueva, who has been investigating child
prostitution for some time. In a
report published on 6 December, she suggested that education department
employees were involved in the corruption of minors and a presumed
prostitution network. Child
Prostitution: A Growing Scourge A REGION
OUT OF CONTROL - Mexico - More than 16,000 children are sexually
exploited through networks involving foreigners and military, police,
government and business officials. In
Juarez alone, nearly 1,000 children are being sexually exploited, and in UNDERAGE
SEX WORKERS IN Boy
and Girl Victims of Sexual Exploitation in Mexico [PDF] The principal objectives behind
the study are: 1) to identify the
nature, extension and causes of the commercial sexual exploitation of girls
and boys in the towns chosen; 2) to
identify the ways in which they are recruited, the modes of operating and
movement of the children from one region to another by the persons who
exploit them and, 3) to collaborate
closely with the local and national authorities in order to collect the
information that is needed and use it to design policies that will make it
possible to confront the phenomenon and offer greater protection to the
children. Sterile at Age 12 ...
Abortion at 13 ... AIDS at 14 Thousands of children in The United Nations now lists Fact Sheet: Commercial Sexual Exploitation [PDF] www.unicef.org/protection/files/sexex2.pdf At one time this article had been
archived and may possibly still be accessible [here] FACTS AND
FIGURES - An
estimated 2 million children, the majority of them girls, are sexually
exploited in the multi-billion dollar commercial sex industry. An estimated
16,000 children in Women and Children --
Labor Base of Mexican, North American Economy Prostitution and Child
Prostitution - The most degrading and often dangerous work of women and
children can be found in prostitution. Tens of thousands of Mexican women and
girls (as well as men and boys) work as prostitutes in all of the major
cities of the country. A recent study by the Mexico City government Youth
Commission headed by Angeles Correa found that Mexico City had 50,000
prostitutes of whom 2,500 were minors. Elena Azaola
of the Center of Higher Research and Studies in Social Anthropology (CIESAS)
found that there were 5,000 child prostitutes in all of Mexico (90 percent
female). But Rosa Marta Cortina de Brown of the
Female Association of Tourist Enterprise Executive estimates that 250,000
children between 10 and 16 have been the victims of "sexual
tourism" in cities like Guadalajara, Cancun, Acapulco, Puerto Vallarta
and Tijuana. Recently there have also been reports on child prostitution in Veracruz, Queretaro, and Ciudad
Juarez. Girls in prostitution face constant problems of possible pregnancy,
immature childbirth, violence, alcohol and drug addiction, sexual transmitted
diseases including HIV-AIDS. Malevolent
Bargains: Slavery Continues in the Form of Forced Prostitution AMERICAN TASTE FOR TRAFFICKED GIRLS - Virtual sex is not the only
decadent delicacy for some Americans; the simple fact is that thousands of
trafficked women and girls are ferried into the U.S. for the purpose of
illicit sexual encounters. In an article for The Weekly
Standard, Hughes wrote about the extent of the sex trafficking industry that
shuttles girls through Mexico to brothels outside San Diego, California.
"Over a 10-year period, hundreds of girls, 12 to 18 years old,"
were brought into the U.S. by Mexican nationals. "The girls were sold to farm workers
-- between 100 and 300 at a time -- in small 'caves' made of reeds in the
fields. Many of the girls had babies, who were used as hostages with death
threats against them, so their mothers would not try to escape," Hughes
said. Mexican
Minors Prostituted To Farmworkers Near San Diego Told that they were going to work
in US factories or restaurants, these women and others like them from poor
Mexican communities were smuggled into the US only to be forced into
prostitution, says Venustiano, a farmworker that has befriended some of the women.
He says that the women do not protest how they are treated because they fear
deportation or retaliation against their families. Most of the ten women at the farm in Del
Mar are minors although the women vary in age from 14 to 22. Lawmakers
Want Registry For Tourists Members of Congress are calling
for a registry of foreign tourists as a way of combating a perceived growth
in the sexual abuse of children in Mexico. ''We need to diagnose the
problem,'' said one congressman, Arturo Nahle García. The problems of ''sex tourism'' -- foreigners
seeking sex with youths -- and sex trafficking in Mexico are thought to be on
the increase, although few reliable statistics prove it. The federal
authorities say 33 foreigners face trial in Mexico on charges of sexually
abusing children. Ashoka Fellow Profile - Claudia Colimoro Sarellano Claudia, concerned about the rise
in child prostitution in Mexico, and conscious that the principal victims are
children of the streets, has created the Casa de las
Mercedes, a home for young women with no place to turn. 79% of the women in Casa de las Mercedes began working as prostitutes between the
ages of 12 and 18, and a few even earlier. Since the appearance of AIDS, many
clients of prostitutes have tried to avoid the risk of this and other
sexually transmitted diseases by seeking sexual relations with younger women
or girls who have little or no sexual experience. Because of this, the demand
for child prostitution has risen, and it is not difficult to find prostitutes
due to the miserable conditions in which many children live. 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.
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Human Trafficking in [Mexico] [other countries]Street Children in [Mexico] [other countries]Child Prostitution in [Mexico