Torture in [Panama] [other countries]
Human Trafficking in [Panama] [other countries]
Street Children in [Panama] [other countries]
Child Prostitution in [Panama] [other countries]
 

Child Prostitution

The Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children

In the early years of the 21st Century gvnet.com/childprostitution/Panama.htm

Republic of Panama Panama's dollarized economy rests primarily on a well-developed services sector that accounts for 80% of GDP. Economic growth will be bolstered by the Panama Canal expansion project that began in 2007 and is scheduled to be completed by 2014 at a cost of $5.3 billion - about 25% of current GDP. The expansion project will more than double the Canal's capacity, enabling it to accommodate ships that are now too large to transverse the transoceanic crossway, and should help to reduce the high unemployment

rate. Strong economic performance has reduced the national poverty level to 29% in 2008; however, Panama has the second most unequal income distribution in Latin America. [The World Factbook, U.S.C.I.A. 2009]

CAUTION:  The following links and accompanying text 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, misleading or even false. No attempt has been made to validate their authenticity or to verify their content.

*** FEATURED ARTICLE ***

Commercial Sexual Exploitation Of Children (CSEC)

James Varney, The Times Picayune (New Orleans), Sikaola Costa Rica

www.dol.gov/ILAB/media/reports/iclp/bulletin/Sept2002.htm

[accessed 3 July 2011]

[scroll down]

"As they say in this dingy border junction with Panama, everything has a price. Sex with children, for example, starts at $14.41. ‘ Just take a look around,’ said Nautilio Sanchez, a furniture store and pharmacy owner who is president of the local Council for Social Development. ‘There is no playground, no swimming pool, the children have nothing and so they turn to sex. Probably 60 percent of our prostitutes here are children, and what we're facing now is a critical problem in search of a solution…So is all of Costa Rica’” -Sikaola, Costa Rica: James Varney, The Times Picayune (New Orleans)

*** ARCHIVES ***

The Department of Labor’s 2004 Findings on the Worst Forms of Child Labor

U.S. Dept of Labor Bureau of International Labor Affairs, 2005

www.dol.gov/ilab/media/reports/iclp/tda2004/panama.htm

[accessed 15 December 2010]

INCIDENCE AND NATURE OF CHILD LABOR - Panama is a transit and destination country for girls, primarily from Colombia and the Dominican Republic, trafficked for commercial sexual exploitation.  Children are also trafficked within Panama for sexual exploitation, and are involved in child pornography.

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/2005/61736.htm

[accessed 15 December 2010]

TRAFFICKING IN PERSONS - Commercial sexual exploitation of minors continued to be a problem. Commercial sexual exploitation remained primarily an internal issue. However, perpetrators included foreigners, and there continued to be limited evidence of international trafficking networks of minors to or through the country. NGO and government efforts in prevention and education remained limited by lack of resources and coordination problems.

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]

[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.

Five Years After Stockholm [PDF]

ECPAT: Fifth Report on implementation of the Agenda for Action

ECPAT International, November 2001

www.no-trafficking.org/content/web/05reading_rooms/five_years_after_stockholm.pdf

[accessed 13 September 2011]

[B] COUNTRY UPDATES – PANAMA – There have been reports in the Panamanian media about a possible criminal network trafficking adolescents for sexual purposes. Nevertheless, the government is apparently not interested in tackling CSEC and few concrete actions have been taken against the problem. Civil society has now started to address the issue.

Child Prostitution: A Growing Scourge

W. E. Gutman, Panama News, Tegucigalpa, Vol. 10, No. 7, April - 17, 2004

www.thepanamanews.com/pn/v_10/issue_07/travel_01.html

[accessed 17 September 2011]

A REGION OUT OF CONTROL - Little is known about the sexual exploitation of minors in Panama. Massage parlors are said to be employing underage girls, mostly from Colombia and the Dominican Republic. According to INTERPOL, 10 percent of the 300 illegal migrants intercepted recently in Panama were minors.

IPEC action against child trafficking

International Labour Organisation ILO, World Of Work (No. 41, December 2001)

www.ilo.org/public/english/bureau/inf/magazine/41/traffic.htm

[accessed 3 July 2011]

SOUTH & CENTRAL AMERICA - The problem of sexual exploitation in Central America is acute, but has gone largely unaddressed by most governments. In Honduras and Panama, the problem is barely recognized; in El Salvador, the Government has expressed concern, but there is a lack of inter institutional coordination. The situation is similar in Guatemala. Costa Rica has also expressed concern, but there is no clear policy.

Commercial Sexual Exploitation Of Children (CSEC)

James Varney, The Times Picayune (New Orleans), Sikaola Costa Rica

www.dol.gov/ILAB/media/reports/iclp/bulletin/Sept2002.htm

[accessed 3 July 2011]

[scroll down]

"As they say in this dingy border junction with Panama, everything has a price. Sex with children, for example, starts at $14.41. ‘ Just take a look around,’ said Nautilio Sanchez, a furniture store and pharmacy owner who is president of the local Council for Social Development. ‘There is no playground, no swimming pool, the children have nothing and so they turn to sex. Probably 60 percent of our prostitutes here are children, and what we're facing now is a critical problem in search of a solution…So is all of Costa Rica’” -Sikaola, Costa Rica: James Varney, The Times Picayune (New Orleans)

Thematic Reports - Mechanisms of the Commission on Human Rights

Special Rapporteur on the sale of children, child prostitution, child pornography, (E/CN.4/1997/95, para. 20)

At one time this article had been archived and may possibly still be accessible [here]

[accessed 17 September 2011]

[scroll down to THEMATIC REPORTS

MECHANISMS OF THE COMMISSION ON HUMAN RIGHTS - The report refers to the adoption of Act No. 15 of 1990, which categorized certain activities involving minors (rape, sexual molestation and prostitution) as aggravated offences. The government indicated to the Special Rapporteur that the law has not succeeded in preventing such practices, partly because of the sophisticated communications technology currently used by organized crime.

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Torture in [Panama] [other countries]
Human Trafficking in [Panama] [other countries]
Street Children in [Panama] [other countries]
Child Prostitution in [Panama] [other countries]