Human Trafficking in  [Paraguay]  [other countries]
Street Children in  [Paraguay]  [other countries]
Child Prostitution in  [Paraguay]  [other countries]
 

Human Trafficking & Modern-day Slavery

In the first ten years of the 21st Century  -  2000 to 2009

Republic of Paraguay

Landlocked Paraguay has a market economy marked by a large informal sector, featuring reexport of imported consumer goods to neighboring countries, as well as the activities of thousands of microenterprises and urban street vendors. A large percentage of the population, especially in rural areas, derives its living from agricultural activity, often on a subsistence basis. Because of the importance of the informal sector, accurate economic measures are difficult to obtain. On a per capita basis, real income has stagnated at 1980 levels.

The economy rebounded between 2003 and 2008, however, as growing world demand for commodities combined with high prices and favorable weather to support Paraguay's commodity-based export expansion. Paraguay is the sixth largest soy producer in the world.  [The World Factbook, U.S.C.I.A. 2009]

Paraguay is principally a source and transit country for women and children trafficked for the purpose of commercial sexual exploitation, as well as a source and transit country for men, women, and children trafficked into forced labor. Most Paraguayan victims are trafficked to Argentina and Spain; smaller numbers of victims are trafficked to Brazil, Chile, Italy, and Bolivia.

The involuntary domestic servitude of adults and children within the country is a serious problem. Indigenous persons are vulnerable to forced labor exploitation, particularly in the Chaco region. Poor children are trafficked from rural areas to urban centers such as Asuncion, Ciudad del Este, and Encarnacion for commercial sexual exploitation and domestic servitude. Street children and working children are common targets for trafficking recruiters. According to the ILO, some traffickers coerce underage males, known as “taxi boys,” into transgendered prostitution. Some of these boys are trafficked abroad, particularly to Italy. Trafficking of Paraguayan and Brazilian women, girls, and boys for commercial sexual exploitation commonly occurs in the Tri-Border Area of Paraguay, Argentina, and Brazil. - U.S. State Dept Trafficking in Persons Report, June, 2009 [full country report]

 

CAUTION:  The following links have been culled from the web to illuminate the situation in Paraguay.  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.

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International Federation of Journalists - The 2002 Jury Report

IN THE REGIONAL CATEGORY OF LATIN AMERICA AND THE CARIBBEAN THE 2002 NATALI PRIZE GOES TO: - The series of five articles by Julio César Benegas concerning human violations within the Military Service of Paraguay is remarkable journalism, which highlights the corruption which is at the core of the recruitment of child soldiers as well as the cultural aspects involved. These articles also exposed the exploitation of child soldiers and other human rights violations, which resulted in the death of 10 soldiers a year on average. For military personnel Paraguay is one of the most dangerous countries worldwide in peaceful times, Benegas concluded in his report.

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

INCIDENCE AND NATURE OF CHILD LABOR - Paraguay is a source country for women and children trafficked to Argentina and Spain for sexual exploitation and forced labor as well as a destination country for girls trafficked from neighboring countries for sexual exploitation.  There are reports of children working as prostitutes in the border regions of Ciudad del Este, Hernandarias and Encarnación, where trafficking is a particular problem.  Children from poor families are trafficked internally from rural to urban areas.  Forcible recruitment of adolescents into the armed forces has decreased in recent years due to public pressure

Bur of Democracy, Human Rights & Labor - Country Reports on Human Rights Practices - 2005

TRAFFICKING IN PERSONS – Trafficking victims within the country worked in the sex industry. Underage girls reportedly also were forced to work as criadas, both domestically and in neighboring countries. According to the Secretariat for Children and Adolescents, many of these children were sexually abused. Government and NGO studies showed that most of the girls trafficked were working as street vendors when traffickers targeted them and that 70 percent of victims had drug addictions. The local NGO Grupo Luna Nueva and the International Organization for Migration reported that trafficking of women and children increased by 27 percent in the past five years.

The trafficking of women and children for sexual exploitation was a high-profit, low-risk activity for traffickers who moved easily across the borders with Argentina and Brazil. The traffickers took advantage of the poor who lived in the border departments, promising women, and in many cases young girls, jobs in the retail industry. In some cases, the parents were fully aware that their daughters planned to work in other cities or countries but were unaware of the conditions and actual job.

On several occasions, Argentine police rescued Paraguayan women from Buenos Aires brothels, where they had been forced to work as prostitutes. On June 27, Argentine authorities detained two men in Buenos Aires for their involvement in holding 27 women and 5 young girls (one of whom was pregnant) in various locations for prostitution. On July 11, the country's ambassador to Argentina stated that 33 women and 10 girls had been rescued from brothels in Argentina. In both instances, the victims later were repatriated.

The government's primary focus in protecting victims was the repatriation of its own citizens.

Concluding Observations of the Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC) - 2001

[4] In light of its previous recommendation (CRC/C/15/Add.75, para. 41), the Committee notes with satisfaction the promulgation in 1997 of the Adoption Act to combat trafficking in children and establish strict control over all matters connected with adoption, especially inter-country adoption.

[49] The Committee expresses its deep concern that, with regard to the increasing phenomenon of commercial sexual exploitation of children, there are no data available, legislation is inadequate, cases involving sexually exploited children are often not investigated and prosecuted, victims are criminalized, and rehabilitation programs are not available. It further notes that a national plan against commercial sexual exploitation of children has not been developed.

Freedom House Country Report - Political Rights: 3   Civil Liberties: 3   Status: Partly Free

U.S. Library of Congress - Country Study

Save the Children Suecia en  Paraguay

www.scslat.org/eng/somos/pais.php?id=23

Save the Children Sweden works in Paraguay in association with Global ... Infancia, aiming at putting in place a system to advance the promotion and protection of children's rights. Work is carried out through training of the police forces, and child and adolescents defence offices (CODENI), besides support to School Councils and the Children and Adolescents' Rights Coordinator (CDIA).

Other matters of interest are identified at a regional level and include child trafficking, child soldier recruitment, and changing the image of children in the media.

Triple Border Project,Ciudad del Este, Paraguay

PERSONAL STORY MABELIA - Mabelia is 10 years old. On November 30, 2002, she was found by a merchant from Ciudad del Este on Adraina Jara y Pampliega street. It was approximately 9:00 p.m. when she was found in, what is perhaps, one of the most frequented corners of the centre of Ciudad del Este, Paraguay.

She was very dirty. Dressed in pants and a pullover, and wearing Japanese-style slippers, when she was found she had about 12 USD (80.000 Gs, Guaraníes) in her pockets, a product of her 'sexual activity'. It had been 48 hours since she had returned to her mother's home, but she feared going back, since she had not met the goal that had been established by her mother, Doña Maria.

At the Courthouse, the young girl told the judge that the money found in her pockets was the fruit of her 'sexual work'. She explained that, encouraged by her mother, she would leave her house in the morning and sometimes would cross the Puente de la Amistad (Friendship Bridge)to the border city of Foz de Iguazu in Brazil on the pretext of buying candies to sell later. She admitted to having an 'established clientele'. - htcp

ILO to mark World Day Against Child Labour

FROM LATIN AMERICA - The Triple Border region - where Argentina, Paraguay and Brazil intersect - is a vast area with porous borders, major regional commercial and tourism centres and a population of almost 500,000. The lack of vigorous border checks and law enforcement in the region facilitates illegal commerce, including weapons, drugs and the commercial sexual exploitation of minors.

Inter-American Commission on Human Rights - REPORT Nº 82/03

III. POSITION OF THE PARTIES … A. POSITION OF THE PETITIONERS

7. The petitioners argue that, despite the clear legal provisions prohibiting the recruitment of children under the age of 18, and repeated complaints on this score, “the military and police forces have made it a systematic, constant and frequent practice to recruit minors between the ages of 12 and 17, and to date no steps have been taken to curb this practice.”

International Federation of Journalists - The 2002 Jury Report

IN THE REGIONAL CATEGORY OF LATIN AMERICA AND THE CARIBBEAN THE 2002 NATALI PRIZE GOES TO: - The series of five articles by Julio César Benegas concerning human violations within the Military Service of Paraguay is remarkable journalism, which highlights the corruption which is at the core of the recruitment of child soldiers as well as the cultural aspects involved. These articles also exposed the exploitation of child soldiers and other human rights violations, which resulted in the death of 10 soldiers a year on average. For military personnel Paraguay is one of the most dangerous countries worldwide in peaceful times, Benegas concluded in his report.

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Human Trafficking in  [Paraguay]  [other countries]
Street Children in  [Paraguay]  [other countries]
Child Prostitution in  [Paraguay]  [other countries]