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/ElSalvador.htm
El Salvador is a
source, transit, and destination country for women and children trafficked
for the purposes of commercial sexual exploitation and forced labor. Most
victims are Salvadoran women and girls trafficked within the country from
rural to urban areas for commercial sexual exploitation, although some adults
and children are trafficked internally for forced agricultural labor. The
majority of foreign victims are women and children from Nicaragua, Honduras,
Guatemala, Mexico, and Colombia who travel to El Salvador in response to job
offers, but are subsequently forced into prostitution or domestic servitude.
Some adults and children from neighboring countries are subject to forced
labor in agriculture and apparel assembly. - U.S. State Dept Trafficking in Persons Report, June, 2009 Check
out a later country report here or a full TIP Report here |
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CAUTION:
The following links have been culled from the web to
illuminate the situation in 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 Department of International Issues ***
FEATURED ARTICLE *** Testimony of Sonia
Beatriz Lara Campos The National Labor
Committee, October 1999 At one time this
article had been archived and may possibly still be accessible [here] [accessed 5
September 2011] About 800 people
work there. There are 8 production lines, with 60 to 63 people in each,
plus other sections. The work shift is Monday to Friday, beginning at
6:50am. They give us between 12 and 12:55 for lunch, with no other
break. Leaving time is 7pm. On Saturdays we worked from 6:50am to
4pm. Last year in April
we began to work at night. We worked from Monday to Friday 6:50am to
7pm, and from 7:30pm to 10:30pm. On Saturdays we worked from 6:50am
until 7pm. And on Sunday we worked from 6:50am to 5pm. Or, if we
weren't going to work on Sunday, we would work on Saturday all night until 5:00
on Sunday morning. The overtime hours,
and working on Sundays, was obligatory. As an inspector, I was required
to work all these hours on my feet. Amnesty International,
Index Number: AMR 29/004/2003, 28 July 2003 www.amnesty.org/es/documents/AMR29/004/2003/en/ [accessed 24
February 2015] Thousands of people
disappeared in ***
ARCHIVES *** Human Trafficking
and the Children of Central America Dr. Jarrod Sadulski, faculty member, Criminal Justice, American
Military University -- In Public Safety, 21 August 2019 inpublicsafety.com/2019/08/human-trafficking-and-the-children-of-central-america/ [accessed 21 August
2019] WHAT IS THE
DIFFERENCE BETWEEN HUMAN SMUGGLING AND HUMAN TRAFFICKING? There is a definite
difference between human smuggling and human trafficking. Human smuggling is
transportation based where a smuggler is paid thousands of dollars to guide
children - who may or may not be accompanied by family members from Central
America to the United States via the Mexico-United States border. However,
many families with migrant children do not have thousands of dollars to spend
on the trip, which often creates a gateway to human trafficking. Human trafficking
involves the exploitation of migrant families and their children who are
unable to pay the costs of being smuggled to the United States. They may be
susceptible to the three cornerstones of human trafficking, which are the sex
trade, forced labor, or domestic servitude to pay off their debt for being smuggled
to the United States. 2020 Country
Reports on Human Rights Practices: El Salvador 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/el-salvador/
[accessed 6 June
2021] PROHIBITION OF
FORCED OR COMPULSORY LABOR Children and adults
were exposed to forced begging, domestic work, agricultural labor, construction,
and street work. Adults from neighboring countries were forced to work in
construction, domestic work, and other informal sector jobs, sometimes under
threat of physical violence. Gangs subjected children to forced labor in
illicit activities, including selling or transporting drugs and committing
homicides (see section 7.c.) PROHIBITION OF CHILD
LABOR AND MINIMUM AGE FOR EMPLOYMENT There were reports
of children younger than age 16 engaging in the worst forms of child labor,
including in coffee cultivation, fishing, shellfish collection, and fireworks
production. Children were subjected to other worst forms of child labor,
including commercial sexual exploitation (see section 6, Children) and
recruitment into illegal gangs to perform illicit activities in the arms and
narcotics trades, including committing homicide. Children were engaged in
child labor, including domestic work, the production of cereal grains and
baked goods, cattle raising, and sales. Orphans and
children from poor families frequently worked as street vendors and general
laborers in small businesses despite the presence of law enforcement
officials. Freedom House
Country Report 2020 Edition freedomhouse.org/country/el-salvador/freedom-world/2020 [accessed 27 April
2020] G4. DO INDIVIDUALS
ENJOY EQUALITY OF OPPORTUNITY AND FREEDOM FROM ECONOMIC EXPLOITATION? El Salvador remains
a source, transit, and destination country for the trafficking of women, children,
and LGBT+ people. There are instances of forced labor in the construction and
informal sectors. The US State
Department’s Trafficking in Persons 2019 report noted that El Salvador
investigated one public official for their involvement in trafficking, and
convicted seven traffickers in 2018. The department went on to highlight the
country’s services for girls who survived trafficking, but called services
for boys, adults, and LGBT+ survivors critically insufficient. Children are
vulnerable to economic exploitation, and child labor is a serious problem.
Children perform dangerous jobs in agriculture, and are recruited by gangs
and other criminal elements to carry out illegal activities. While the
government made improvements in collecting and publishing data on this
activity, and continued a National Action Plan for the Protection of Children
and Adolescents in 2019, progress in combating child exploitation was slow. 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 17 April
2019] www.dol.gov/sites/dolgov/files/ILAB/child_labor_reports/tda2017/ChildLaborReportBook.pdf [accessed 27 April
2020] Note:: Also check out this country’s report in the more recent edition DOL
Worst Forms of Child Labor [page 387] Children in El
Salvador often lack economic and educational opportunities and are vulnerable
to the worst forms of child labor, including commercial sexual exploitation
and recruitment by gangs for illicit activities, such as committing homicides
and trafficking drugs. (22; 23; 24) Children often emigrate to escape
violence, extortion, and forced recruitment by gangs, in addition to seeking
economic opportunities and family reunification. Once en
route, they become vulnerable to human trafficking and commercial sexual
exploitation. (4; 22; 23; 24; 27) Child labor in El
Salvador is predominantly male, with boys comprising approximately two-thirds
of child laborers ages 5 to 17. (12; 28; 29; 30) However, girls comprise the
majority of children engaged in domestic work in third-party homes. (2; 12;
18) At schools, children are recruited and harassed by gangs, which may cause
children to stop attending school. Children who do not attend school are also
more vulnerable to child labor, including its worst forms. (4; 5; 27; 31; 32;
33; 34; 35) Although government programs have expanded basic education
coverage, gang violence, including the extortion of school children, has
hindered efforts to increase school enrollment and decrease dropout rates.
(34; 35; 36; 37) The Educated El Salvador Plan created 7 online study
programs and outlined additional government efforts to address this problem.
(35; 38; 39). Salvadoran child
may be victim of human trafficking News5, Channel 5 edition.channel5belize.com/archives/9435 [accessed 29 April
2012] But what would a
small Salvadoran be doing in Traffick Terry Eastland, The
Weekly Standard, Feb 11, 2004 www.weeklystandard.com/Content/Public/Articles/000/000/003/718xfsdl.asp [accessed 3 February
2011] www.christianheadlines.com/news/traffick-1246089.html [accessed 27 April
2020] Last year, Soto
enhanced his criminality by becoming a slaveowner: He told women (from El Salvador and Honduras) that they
couldn't leave his safe houses until they had "worked off" the debt
they owed for being smuggled into the United States. Soto meant no such
thing. During the day, the women worked as domestics for no pay. When night
fell, the raping began. Alberto Barrera,
Reuters, Caserio La www.thefreelibrary.com/Children+trade+school+for+sugar+fields.-a0119508423 [accessed 16 July
2013] Twelve-year-old
Joel Rivera missed school all last year after he slashed his leg to the bone
with a machete working in U.S. Apparel
Companies Hide Starvation Wages Behind Local Minimum Wage Hoax The National Labor
Committee At one time this
article had been archived and may possibly still be accessible [here] [accessed 5
September 2011] Testimony of Maria
Eva Nerio Ponce The National Labor
Committee, October 1999 At one time this
article had been archived and may possibly still be accessible [here] [accessed 5
September 2011] At this factory,
you are required to work from 6:40am to 7pm every day, with a small 15-minute
break in the morning, and lunch from 11:45 to 12:40. Saturdays you work
until 11am or until 4pm. When there was work, at times one was
obligated to work until 11pm. They paid us the minimum wage of 538
colones every two weeks plus production and a small bonus for working
overtime. I usually could earn 950 colones, or at the most, working
many overtime hours, 1,100. Concluding Observations
of the Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC) UN Convention on the
Rights of the Child, 30 June 2004 www1.umn.edu/humanrts/crc/elsalvador2004.html [accessed 3 February
2011] [63] The Committee
is concerned about the extent of sexual exploitation and trafficking in the
State party and about the lack of effective programs to address this problem.
It also regrets the lack of information on assistance and reintegration
programs for children who have been subject to sexual exploitation and
trafficking. Human Rights
Overview Human Rights Watch www.hrw.org/americas/el-salvador [accessed 3 February
2011] ***
EARLIER EDITIONS OF SOME OF THE ABOVE *** Freedom House
Country Report 2018 Edition freedomhouse.org/country/el-salvador/freedom-world/2018 [accessed 27 April
2020] G4. DO INDIVIDUALS ENJOY
EQUALITY OF OPPORTUNITY AND FREEDOM FROM ECONOMIC EXPLOITATION? El Salvador remains
a source, transit, and destination country for the trafficking of women and
children, though some sex trafficking cases have been prosecuted. There are
instances of forced labor in the construction and informal sectors, but the
government does not prosecute labor trafficking cases. 2017 Country
Reports on Human Rights Practices U.S. Dept of State Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and
Labor, 20 April 2018 www.state.gov/j/drl/rls/hrrpt/2017/wha/277331.htm
[accessed 22 March
2019] www.state.gov/reports/2017-country-reports-on-human-rights-practices/el-salvador/ [accessed 26 June
2019] PROHIBITION OF
FORCED OR COMPULSORY LABOR The law prohibits
all forms of forced or compulsory labor. The government generally did not
effectively enforce such laws. Resources to conduct inspections remained
inadequate. The labor code did not specify a fine for forced labor
violations. The code's default fine of $57 per violation applied. This
penalty was generally not sufficient to deter violations. The lack of
sufficient resources for inspectors reduced their ability to enforce the law
fully. The Ministry of Labor did not report on incidents of forced labor;
however, gangs subjected children to forced labor in illicit activities,
including selling or transporting drugs. PROHIBITION OF CHILD
LABOR AND MINIMUM AGE FOR EMPLOYMENT There were reports
of children under the age of 16 engaging in the worst forms of child labor,
including in coffee and sugarcane cultivation, fishing, mollusk shucking, and
fireworks production. As of November there were two incidents of minors
injured or killed due to the explosion of a clandestine fireworks factory,
most recently on March 23 in San Rafael Cedros, in
the department of Cuscatlan, which injured a
14-year-old child. Children were subjected to other worst forms of child
labor, including commercial sexual exploitation (see section 6, Children) and
recruitment into illegal gangs to perform illicit activities related to the
arms and drug trades, including committing homicide. Children were engaged in
child labor, including domestic work, the production of cereal grains, and
the production of baked goods. Orphans and children from poor families
frequently worked as street vendors and general laborers in small businesses.
Human Rights
Reports » 2005 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices 2009-2017.state.gov/j/drl/rls/hrrpt/2005/61727.htm [accessed 8 February
2020] TRAFFICKING
IN PERSONS
- Although there were no firm estimates on the extent of trafficking, the
country was a point of origin and destination for international trafficking
in women and children, particularly the harboring of child prostitutes. There
was evidence that the country was a transit point for girls trafficked to According to
immigration authorities, the principal traffickers in the country were
employment agencies, which offered inducements for work in beauty salons, as
models, in gyms, as maids, or in factories. The PNC reported that the most
common methods of obtaining victims were kidnapping, lucrative job offers,
and inducement into prostitution by family, friends, and smugglers. The Department of Labor's 2004 Findings on
the Worst Forms of Child Labor www.dol.gov/ilab/media/reports/iclp/tda2004/el-salvador.htm [accessed 3 February
2011] 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 - El Salvador is a source, transit, and destination
country for children trafficked for commercial sexual exploitation.
Salvadoran girls are trafficked to All
material used herein reproduced under the fair use exception of 17 USC § 107
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OF COMPONENT ARTICLES. Cite this webpage as: Patt, Prof. Martin, "Human
Trafficking & Modern-day Slavery - |
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